Sports B1 Appeal Tribune, www.silvertonappeal.com Wednesday, March 15, 2017 PHOTOS BY DANIELLE PETERSON/STATESMAN JOURNAL Silverton players embrace as the Foxes fall to LaSalle 42-28 in the OSAA Class 5A state championship on Friday at Gill Coliseum in Corvallis. Valiant Silverton falls in state championship game GARY HOROWITZ STATESMAN JOURNAL CORVALLIS – As the final seconds ticked off the clock in the OSAA Class 5A girls state championship game, there were few tears of sadness from Silver- ton players. Sure, there was disappointment in a 42-28 loss to No. 1 seed La Salle Prep on Friday at Gill Coliseum, but the Foxes were valiant in defeat. No. 3 seed Silverton (21-5), which was undefeated last season on its way to the state title, made it back to the final game. That’s an accomplishment to be proud of. “I’m just happy we made it here and happy to be in the championship game,” said senior wing Hannah Munson, who scored seven points. “La Salle’s a really good team.” No one will dispute that fact. La Salle (26-2), which defeated Silver- ton 47-32 at home Dec. 10, closed the sea- son on a 22-game winning streak. Senior guard Aleah Goodman, who will join the Pac-12 champion Oregon State women’s basketball team next sea- son, had a game-high 15 points. “Super proud of our girls,” Silverton coach Tal Wold said. “Just couldn’t get some shots to fall.” Silverton stayed close behind its trademark tight man-to-man defense and trailed 12-11at halftime despite miss- ing its first 11 shots. Junior guard Brooke McCarty’s 3- pointer gave Silverton its first lead at 14- 12 in the opening minute of the third quarter and for a moment an upset seemed like a possibility. “I felt like we could win the whole game,” Munson said. “We never got Silverton’s Madison Ulven and the Foxes fall to La Salle 42-28 in the OSAA Class 5A state championship on Friday, March 10 at Gill Coliseum in Corvallis. down on each other. We kept going and never stopped.” But after Silverton pulled in front, the Falcons responded with an 11-0 run as ju- nior guard Taycee Wedin scored eight of the points. Munson’s basket stopped the run, but La Salle scored the last seven points of the quarter to take a commanding 30-16 lead. Silverton was unable to cut the under double digits the rest of the way. In a matchup of the previous two state champions – La Salle won in 2015 – the Falcons had too much firepower and Sil- verton picked the wrong night to strug- gle from the field. The Foxes made just 7 of 36 field goal attempts (19.4 percent), including 2 of 15 on 3-pointers. La Salle was 14 of 33 (42.4 percent) and for most of the game, got better looks at the basket. Silverton was coming off a dramatic 37-34 triple overtime victory Thursday over No. 2 seed Corvallis in the semifi- nals, but fatigue was apparently not a factor in the championship game. “I think we were as ready as we ever were,” said junior wing Maggie Roth, who was held to one point after averag- ing 16.5 points in state tournament wins over No. 6 Hillsboro in the quarterfinals and Corvallis in the semis. “We were ready to come out and play and give it our best.” Against a dominant team like La Salle, which beat defending 6A state champion South Salem by 33 points on Dec. 30, Sil- verton’s best effort wasn’t quite enough. Still, a second straight trip to the championship game, despite the gradua- tion of 2016 5A Player of the Year Alia Parsons, was impressive. It was the final high school game for a senior class that included Munson, Kayce McLaughlin, Elena Smisek, Hai- ley Smisek, Ashtin Alexander, Madison Ulven and Jaeda Leggett. “It’s bittersweet because there’s so many seniors,” Roth said. “I’m super proud of everything we’ve accomplished and that we even made it here again.” ghorowitz@StatesmanJournal.com, or Twitter.com/ghorowitz North Marion girls hoops squad falls in 4th-place tourney game PETE MARTINI STATESMAN JOURNAL North Marion’s girls basketball team had a shot at placing fourth at the OSAA Class 4A state tournament after beating Baker 52-44 in the consolation round on Friday. In Friday’s consolation game, Emily Scanlan had a team-high 15 points, and both Ally Umbenhower and Hannah Kin- niburgh finished with 13 points. North Marion jumped out early to a 19-12 first quarter lead and was able to hold off Baker. They fell to Cascade 41-33 and placed 6th. The Huskies had faced Cascade twice already this season, losing both times. MOLLY J. SMITH/STATESMAN JOURNAL Cascade’s Mariah Hollenbeck (33) drives down the court in a game against North Marion on Feb. 21 at Cascade High School.