Editor's note: This story was updated at 5:15 p.m. with information on Philomath's next opponent in the semifinals.
The Philomath High School girls basketball team advanced to the semifinals with a 53-35 victory Thursday afternoon over Crook County in the Class 4A state tournament at Forest Grove.
The Warriors (22-5) worked through a slow start, built a double-digit lead in the second quarter and pulled away for good in the third quarter behind a strong performance from sophomore Reagan Heiken.
Heiken, who was named Co-Player of the Year in the Oregon West Conference, could not be stopped in the third quarter when she scored 15 of her game-high 25 points. For the game, she hit 11 of 17 field goals and 3 of 6 free throws and finished with a double-double by grabbing 10 rebounds — five on offense and five on defense.
Top-seeded Philomath will face fifth-seeded Cascade (18-6) at 1:30 p.m. Friday. The Cougars beat La Grande in the quarterfinals, 66-47. Philomath and Cascade split their season series in the conference with the home team winning in those matchups. In last year’s tournament, Cascade was credited with a 35-33 victory over the Warriors in a game that had an unfortunate scoring error.
Crook County (16-10) drops down into a consolation semifinal and will play La Grande (19-4) game at 9 a.m. Friday.
Philomath failed to score through the first 4:10 of the game but the defense wasn’t allowing Crook County to do much either with the Warriors trailing just 3-2 when senior Zoee Howard broke through and scored on a layup. Philomath then took its first lead with 3:05 left in the first on a Heiken jumper in the paint.
Crook County, the No. 8 seed, regained the lead about a minute later on a layup but Philomath responded with a couple of free throws by sophomore Annaleise Brown. The Warriors never trailed the rest of the way and held a 13-8 lead by the end of the opening quarter.
In the second quarter, Philomath took its first double-digit lead with 6:25 left on a fast-break layup from freshman Reagan Nuño. The Warriors led by as many as 15 before the Cowgirls cut their deficit to 10 by the halftime buzzer.
Philomath outscored Crook County, 18-5, in the third quarter. Heiken developed a rhythm around the hoop with six baskets — three on layups and three on jump shots. She also got to the foul line and hit three free throws over that stretch of the game. The only players to score other than Heiken in the third were junior Isabelle Muir with a layup with 4:18 left in the quarter and Brown with a free throw at the 2:36 mark.
Philomath had its biggest lead with 5:41 left in the game at 48-21 when Muir hit the team’s first 3-pointer of the game. Senior Mica Boynton also buried a 3 in the fourth. Crook County scored some points late to account for the final 18-point margin.
Beyond those 25 from Heiken, Brown and Muir produced off the bench with nine and six points, respectively. Brown also had five rebounds — four of those on the offensive glass — and Heiken had five steals.
For the Tri-Valley Conference champion Cowgirls, senior Emily Henderson had a team-high 11 points.
