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.