After taking care of business against Newport in a 52-20 win Tuesday night, the Philomath High girls basketball team can now officially go into playoff mode.
The Warriors ended the regular season at No. 1 in the Oregon School Activities Association rankings and thus are the top-seeded team going into the playoffs. As one of the top two teams in the Oregon West Conference — Stayton (9-1) won the league title and Philomath (8-2) was the runner-up — the Warriors avoided any play-in game scenarios and advanced directly into the 4A bracket.
Gallery: PHS girls basketball vs. Newport (Feb. 25, 2025)
A collection of photos from Philomath High’s 52-20 girls basketball win over Newport on Tuesday.
“There’s a few teams that have a good opportunity,” PHS coach Ben Silva said following the win over the Cubs. “If we lock in and play our defense, I like our chances.”
The top four teams in the OSAA rankings include Philomath (19-5), Stayton (23-1), Henley (22-2) and La Grande (18-4). The Eagles ended the season as the No. 1 team in the final release of the OSAAtoday coaches rankings.
“I personally think we can go win the championship,” said PHS senior Anneka Steen, who scored a game-high 18 points against Newport. “We’ve just got to work at it. I think our team is dedicated and works hard.”
Silva believes the team should have its full roster available for the playoffs. Junior Shaylee May missed the last 2-1/2 games.
Steen sees a PHS team that works well together — an important facet of the game that can be exposed in big games if players are not on the same page.
“We notice what we need to work on like in those losses,” Steen said, referring to the one-point loss last week at Stayton. “I feel like in practices, we have to work on those little things to get better in those games.”
Asked about a specific area of the team that needs improvement as the state playoffs arrive, Steen mentioned the offense.
“I think we’re a really strong defensive team,” she said. “I think we’re getting more to the point where we can execute (on offense). We need to be able to execute more.”
Against the Cubs, Philomath broke the game open with a 19-0 run that took up eight minutes of clock time. As the game wore on, Newport (5-15 overall, 2-8 Oregon West) was not able to keep pace with Philomath’s athleticism and skills around the hoop.
The game had a slow start offensively for both sides and was tied 3-3 with 3:37 left in the first quarter when Steen hit Philomath’s first basket. Newport seniors Emry Belloni and Blair Thompson hit back-to-back 3-pointers to give the visitors a 9-3 lead.
Philomath sophomore Reagan Heiken and senior Zoee Howard had layups and freshman Reagan Nuño hit a jump shot to tie the game at 9-9 by the end of the quarter.
In the second, Philomath continued its run, a stretch that included three 3-pointers. First, Heiken gave the Warriors an 11-9 lead when she scored on an offensive rebound. Three of the team’s next four baskets were 3-pointers on shots from Steen, senior Mica Boynton and junior Isabelle Muir. Steen also picked up two points while on the receiving end of a pass from sophomore Annaleise Brown.
Newport junior Addison Taylor finally broke the scoring run with a layup but Philomath finished the first half with three straight baskets for a 28-11 lead at the break. The final basket was scored by Heiken when she came up with a steal and finished on the other end.
The second half was much of the same with Philomath opening with a 9-0 run to lead 39-11. Steen was especially potent with seven of those points — all scored before the quarter had reached the halfway point.
In the fourth quarter, sophomore Jordyn Hood provided a spark off the bench with seven points, which included a 3-pointer about a minute in, a layup with 4:02 remaining and a reverse layup with 52 seconds left.
Steen scored her 18 points on eight field goals, one of those a 3-pointer, and 1 of 1 on free throws. Heiken hit double figures as well with 11 points.
Steen was one of five seniors to be recognized during pregame activities.
“It doesn’t feel real because in my head, it’s like we have another game,” Steen said. “I know not everybody feels that … I’m just excited for the next game.”
In addition to Steen, Howard and Boynton, other PHS seniors include Aspen Russell and Cali Cannon. Silva had those five seniors on the floor to start the game.
“I’ve spent as much time with them as any other group,” Silva said. “Three or four of them started contributing as sophomores so they’ve been on varsity as a group and were a big part of a lot of the success we’ve had.”
The last time PHS won the state title, Steen, Howard and Boynton were on the junior varsity team and Russell was on the JV2 squad.
“A lot of them played during that fourth-place run their sophomore year and then all of them played last year with our fifth-place finish,” Silva said.
Philomath will have two more home appearances — Saturday at 1 p.m. against Cowapa League champion Seaside in a tuneup game for the postseason and then March 7 against an opponent to be determined for the first round of the 4A playoffs.
If the Warriors win the first-round game, they would advance to the state tournament March 13-15 at Forest Grove.
