Philomath High’s girls basketball roster features an interesting mix of experienced players furthering their game and a collection of newcomers that are showing potential as immediate contributors.
The season tips off Saturday with a run over to Junction City as the Warriors begin a quest to string together wins against nonconference opponents, reclaim the top spot in the Oregon West standings and do some damage in the Class 4A playoffs.
“We’re relatively young with only two seniors but we have some juniors who have quite a bit of experience at the varsity level,” PHS coach Ben Silva said. “So it’s still going to be a work in progress as we’re kind of bringing everybody along but we’ll definitely be ready by the time we go to Junction City on Saturday.”
Other coaches in the state certainly believe Philomath will be a force in 4A again this season. In the OSAA preseason poll, the Warriors were ranked No. 4 behind Astoria, Henley and Cascade. Philomath brings back three of the team’s five primary starters on the team that won the fourth-place trophy at last season’s state tournament.
Ahnika Tryon returns to the program for her senior season and has taken on a leadership role among her teammates.
“She’s the one senior we have that’s been with us all four years,” Silva said. “She knows the expectations and she’s a leader — both vocally and on the court as far as playing hard all the time and keeping that standard and the expectation of excellence.”
Emily Taunisila burst onto the scene as a freshman last season for the Warriors and earned first-team all-conference recognition.
“She has been focused on some aspects of her game that she wanted to work on and that she’s improved on,” Silva said, “so I’m excited to see what she’s going to be able to do.”
Another returning starter for the Warriors is junior Anneka Steen.
“She’s improved on both ends of the floor,” Silva said. “She put in some big minutes for us, including in a state tournament game. She’s got quite a bit of varsity experience.”
Junior Aspen Russell was one of the team’s top players off the bench last season with a reputation for being tough on the defensive end. Another junior, Mica Boynton, has shown a lot of promise and will be expected to contribute more this season.
Sophomore Shaylee May and junior Hannah Bennett will also be in the mix for varsity minutes. Two students transferring in could have an immediate impact in senior Acacia Gonzalez-Bush (from Churchill) and junior Cali Cannon (Kelso, Wash.). Freshman Reagan Heiken will be suiting up with the varsity as well.
“We have 30 kids this year … so it’s a pretty good year for us,” Silva said. “We were down a couple of years after COVID. We’ll have three complete teams now whereas in the past we had to swing a lot.”
Philomath will still swing specific players between rosters.
“We think it’s important to get everybody minutes and if you’re not getting a ton of minutes at the varsity level but we can give you some more at the JV level then we’ll swing you so you can keep improving,” Silva said. “But it’s nice to have a full gym again after a couple of years with some smaller numbers.”
Silva has a new assistant coach in Steve Bennett, who is heading up the JV team. Bennett is not a newcomer, however, with several years of experience in the coaching ranks.
“He’s got some experience winning and he’s been here for a while so I’m excited for what Steve can bring out in the program,” Silva said.
Malori Ambrose will again lead the JV2 squad and Mitch Gross will help out with JV and JV2.
The Warriors will see what is expected to be an improved Junction City squad in the season opener on the road. The Warriors will then play back-to-back home games next week with visits from South Albany and Pendleton.
Philomath will compete in two December tournaments — Dec. 14-16 at the Les Schwab South Coast Tournament in Coos Bay and Dec. 27-29 in a home round-robin tournament. The Warriors will go up against Sutherlin, Scappoose and Marist Catholic in those three contests.
After four more nonconference games in January, Philomath will then get into Oregon West play beginning with Newport on Jan. 19.
“Our conference, I think, will be tough,” Silva said. “Again, we have Cascade, who has the returning Player of the Year in the conference and another first-team kid — they returned basically everybody from last year.”
Cascade, ranked No. 3 in the preseason coaches poll, won the Oregon West with a 10-0 record last season with the Warriors finishing in the runner-up position at 8-2. The Cougars, however, got tripped up in the first round of the state playoffs while Philomath advanced to the tournament at Forest Grove and ended up bringing home that fourth-place trophy with an overall record of 19-8.
Among the other teams in the league, Stayton could be a factor as well, Silva said.
