The Philomath High School girls basketball team took care of business against Crook County Thursday night in the first round of Marshfield’s South Coast Les Schwab Tournament with a 40-24 victory.
The Warriors (3-1) advance to the tournament’s semifinals and will play the winner of Marshfield-Mazama at 7 p.m. Friday. Philomath will then play Saturday either in the third-place game at 12:30 p.m. or the championship game at 4 p.m.
In a low-scoring affair most of the game, the two teams were tied 6-6 at the end of the first quarter. Philomath hit more in the second quarter, however, to take a 17-12 lead at the half. Junior Zoee Howard scored six points in the first half and junior Mica Boynton came off the bench to score four in the second to help the Warriors to the lead.
Philomath took a 24-17 lead into the fourth quarter and then pulled away over the final eight minutes for the 16-point victory. The Warriors scored half of those points in the fourth at the free-throw line.
Sophomore Emily Taunisila had a big second half with 10 of her game-high 13 points. Freshman Reagan Heiken added eight points with six of those coming in the fourth quarter and also finished with a team-high nine rebounds. Junior Anneka Steen grabbed seven boards and had three steals.
The Cowboys (3-2) came into the contest after winning back-to-back games over Mazama and Caldera but could never find an offensive rhythm against Philomath’s defense. The Warriors are allowing 32.5 points per game so far this season — 23.0 over the past two games.
