In a final regular-season appearance on the road against an overmatched Newport squad, the Philomath High School girls basketball team on Tuesday rolled to a 59-20 victory.
The Warriors (13-10 overall, 5-3 Oregon West) will now wait to see where they will go for the first round of the playoffs. As the third-place team in the conference, Philomath will definitely be on the road. Projections published earlier Tuesday by OSAAtoday suggested that the Warriors would play at Molalla.
But as coach Ben Silva said, “There are a couple games that could change the rankings.”
Most teams will wrap up the season this week but the Oregon School Activities Association does not freeze the rankings until March 4. The first round of the playoffs is scheduled for March 7.
In the meantime, Philomath appears to be trying to arrange a tuneup game before the postseason. The team’s schedule as listed Tuesday night on the OSAA website shows a pending game for March 3 at Corvallis.
The victory over Newport was expected with the Cubs struggling to a 1-19 record this season. Philomath held leads of 21-6 after the first quarter, 39-13 at halftime and 59-15 going into the fourth quarter.
Warriors junior Annaleise Brown had a big game with 16 points on 7-of-11 shooting from the field and 2 of 4 from the foul line. Brown also grabbed a team-high nine rebounds and committed no fouls or turnovers in the victory.
Juniors Jordyn Hood and Reagan Heiken also hit double figures for scoring with 12 and 11 points, respectively. Heiken had an impressive statistic for shooting at 83.3% (5 of 6) and posted a team-high five assists.
“We got out and shared the ball really well,” Silva said. “Hood, Brown and Heiken finished at the hoop really well.”
Elsewhere on the stat sheet, senior Isabelle Muir and sophomore Bethany Cannon hit 3-pointers. Senior Shaylee May had three steals.
Freshman Rhianna Silva led Newport with eight points.
Philomath 59, Newport 20
Tuesday, Feb. 24 at Newport HS
PHILOMATH (59)
Reagan Nuño 1 1-2 3, Annaleise Brown 7 2-4 16, Shaylee May 0 2-3 2, Jordyn Hood 6 0-1 12, Reagan Heiken 5 1-2 11, Libby Kramer 1 0-0 2, Isabelle Muir 2 0-1 5, Bethany Cannon 1 0-0 3, Khali Toombs 1 0-0 2, Parker Maxey 1 1-2 3, Abby Harwood 0 0-0 0, Sienna Bushnell 0 0-0 0. Totals 25 7-15 59.
NEWPORT (20)
Iyanna Erwin 0 1-2 1, Rhianna Silva 4 0-0 8, Kiley Humphrys 0 0-0 0, Briahna Kirchner 0 2-2 2, Addison Taylor 0 0-2 0, Olivia Greenawald 0 0-0 0, Brehenna Bailey 2 1-2 7, Peyton Moody 1 0-0 2, Natasha Perez 0 0-0 0, Izzie Stark 0 0-0 0. Totals 7 4-8 20.
Team 1 2 3 4 F Philomath (13-10, 5-3) 21 18 18 0 59 Newport (1-19, 0-8) 6 7 2 5 20
3-Point Goals—Philomath 2 (Muir, Cannon), Newport 2 (Bailey 2). Fouled Out—None. Total Fouls—Philomath 11, Newport 11. Technicals—None.