In a fight that came down to the final seconds, Philomath High’s girls basketball team survived a stiff challenge from defending state champion Baker and posted a 53-52 win Saturday evening to reach the 4A tournament for the sixth straight year.
“We battled and we’ll take it,” PHS coach Ben Silva said. “At this point in time, you’ve got to win — that’s all that matters.”
Gallery: PHS girls basketball vs. Baker (March 2, 2024)
A collection of photos from Philomath High’s 53-52 girls basketball win over Baker in the first round of the 4A playoffs on Saturday
The third-seeded Warriors (20-5) will play a familiar opponent in the quarterfinals this coming Thursday in Forest Grove. Marist Catholic, the No. 11 seed, upset sixth-seeded La Grande, 36-30, on the road to advance for a third date this season against Philomath. The two teams are scheduled for a 6:30 p.m. tip-off.
The Warriors beat Marist in a home tournament back in December, 46-32, and then defeated the Spartans just last week in a playoff tuneup game, 39-24.
If Philomath can beat Marist again, the Warriors would play in the semifinals against the winner of No. 2 Henley and No. 7 Madras on Friday. The championship game is scheduled for 8:30 p.m. Saturday.
Against the Bulldogs Saturday night, Philomath junior Anneka Steen’s free throws with 25 seconds left made it a two-possession game at 53-49 but the visitors came back with a 3-pointer by junior Emy Myer. The basket came with 13 seconds remaining.
Philomath’s in-bounds pass that followed sailed over everybody’s heads toward the far side of the court. Baker could’ve let the ball go out of bounds to stop the clock with around 7 seconds remaining to set up the potential game-winning shot. But instead, a Baker player sprinted into the corner for possession and opted to bring the ball upcourt as precious seconds ticked away. Three seconds remained when the Bulldogs crossed center court and then, while trying to shake off defensive pressure from Warriors senior Ahnika Tryon, Baker ended up getting whistled for double dribble with 1.7 seconds left.
Tryon successfully inbounded the ball to junior Zoee Howard and the final buzzer sounded to send the Warriors to Forest Grove.
“They’ve got a championship pedigree and they’re not going to give up fighting,” Silva said about the Bulldogs. “It felt like everything they shot there for a stretch went in. You’ve got to give them some credit for being ready to go.”
Baker entered the game as the No. 14 seed with a record two games under .500 on a squad that lost all five starters from last season’s title team.
“I expected it,” Silva said about Baker’s effort Saturday. “Everybody’s good at this point in time of the season and I don’t pay any attention to seeding or anything like that.”
Sophomore Emily Taunisila came up big during crunch time for the Warriors with 13 second-half points and a team-high 18 for the game.
Taunisila had a little bit of a slow start with no points in the first quarter but in the second, she had a steal and a hoop at the midway point and buried a 3-pointer 55 seconds before halftime. It was the first of her four 3-pointers on the evening.
“I just want to make sure I keep my head up and have fun with it,” Taunisila said when asked about how she finds the zone when hitting 3-pointers. “I just have to think about how I worked so hard, you know, and I don’t want to go home crying after a loss. I just want to get the ‘W’ and play basketball.”
After Baker had taken a 34-30 lead with 1:17 left in the third, Taunisila responded with a 3-pointer to cut the deficit to one while sparking a quick 7-0 run to regain the lead. In the fourth with 5:45 left, Taunisila’s fourth trey of the game put the Warriors up 46-35.
“Emily put us on her back and knocked down a lot of shots,” Silva said. “She did a great job keeping us in it and … did a great job offensively. She had a really good week of practice shooting the ball so I kind of was expecting her to break out a little bit.”
Philomath went cold over the second half of the fourth quarter with the team’s last field goal from the floor coming on a Reagan Heiken hoop at the 4:02 mark. Steen hit a free throw with 40 seconds left and then added two more with 25 seconds remaining to set up the crazy finish.
“We practice for this,” Taunisila said about the final anxious seconds. “We know as a team we can pull through.”
Philomath appeared to be on its way toward a rout with a 16-3 lead by the end of the first quarter. Heiken came off the bench and scored 11 of her 17 points over a stretch of 4-1/2 minutes.
“We started really hot and then we slowed down,” Silva said. “They did a good job defensively, taking away some of the things where we had advantages early on.”
Steen also hit double digits with 14 points, a tally that included an 8-of-12 performance at the foul line. Taunisila, Heiken and Steen accounted for 49 of the team’s 53 points.
Sophomore Gracie Spike scored 19 points for Baker (12-15), a stat line that included a trio of 3-pointers. Junior Ashlynn Dalton finished with 13 points and Myer ended up with 11.
