PORTLAND – Juniors Zoe Borter and Madison Naro sparked an 11-0 run late in the third quarter to propel No. 1 Beaverton to a 44-31 win at No. 2 Jesuit in a pivotal 6A Metro League girls basketball game Tuesday night.
Borter scored nine points in the surge as the Beavers turned a three-point deficit into an eight-point lead. All three of her baskets during the run came off assists from Naro, two of them long passes from near half-court.
“She did a really great job of seeing the floor and creating,” Borter said of Naro. “Our team did a really good job of moving the ball, and we were bound to hit open shots. The key honestly was moving and going inside and outside. That's what opened up shots.”
Borter scored 13 of her team-high 17 points in the second half as the Beavers (15-1, 6-0) extended their winning streak to nine. They moved one game ahead of the Crusaders (16-2, 5-1), who lost for the first time in 10 games.
“It feels really good to get a good win against a really good team,” Borter said. “I think it gives us more confidence starting the second half of league. Just gives us a little motivator.”
Beaverton coach Kathy Naro called it a “gutsy win.”
“I'm super proud of the girls,” Kathy Naro said. “It also gives us a lot to work on. There's a lot of different things I thought we could've done better, but that's a credit also to Jesuit. They took some things away from us.”
The Crusaders rallied from an 18-10, second-quarter deficit to take a 25-21 lead early in the third quarter. They hurt the Beavers with the rugged inside play of sophomore post Kendra Hicks, who had 17 points and 20 rebounds.
But after Hicks scored on a putback for a 27-24 lead, Beaverton took control. Borter turned an assist from Naro into a three-point play to put the Beavers ahead 30-27. Borter and Naro combined for the next two baskets, the latter a three-pointer to make it 35-27 after three quarters.
“Her vision on the court is just insane,” Beaverton junior Lainey Spear said of Naro. “Sometimes she'll throw passes that I don't even see. Her having that gift just creates so much for the team. It makes everyone else's job easier when she can give us great passes.”
The chemistry between Naro and Borter is no accident.
“They've played together for a long time, since they were tiny,” said Kathy Naro, Madison's mother.
The Beavers methodically retook control of the game after falling behind.
“They went on a run and we just had to regroup, calm ourselves down,” Borter said. “It was like, 'We're just as good as them, we can take it.' I feel like we started the game a little hesitant, not attacking, and once we started doing that, it just opened things up.”
Jesuit was unable to recover from the Beaverton flurry.
“I think we just had two minutes where they just got their run,” Hicks said. “We gave everything we had.”
Kathy Naro liked how her players responded after giving up their lead.
“I just felt like we hung together,” she said. “We weren't making shots, we were stagnant. Things weren't going like we wanted, but we hung together.”
Jesuit got baskets from Hicks and junior point guard Emma Sixta to pull within 35-31, but Beaverton outscored the Crusaders 9-0 in the final 6:37. Leading 37-31, the Beavers went into a semi-delay game, draining the clock and forcing Jesuit to chase after them.
“We weren't necessarily stalling, we were just like, 'Let's get the best shot possible,'” Borter said.
Beaverton got 10 points each from Spear and junior guard Jaydin Lutu. The Beavers had a big advantage in free throws, making 12 of 17 while Jesuit shot 1 of 1.
Sixta, who scored 23 points and made a buzzer-beating game-winner in a win over No. 4 South Medford last week, managed only six points as she was hounded by Madison Naro.
“She was really good defensively, I thought,” Kathy Naro said of Madison. “Emma's an amazing player and she's having a great year. She's one of the best.”
Beaverton has been on a roll since losing to No. 3 Barlow in the POA Holiday Classic. In their nine-game winning streak, the Beavers have held opponents to 31 points or fewer seven times.
“I think we still have a ways to go,” Spear said. “I think our second half today was way better than our first. But I think as the season progresses, we can show people even more of what we are and what we can do.”
Jesuit will get another crack at the Beavers in the regular-season finale Feb. 24 at Beaverton.
“I think we'll get our momentum going again,” Hicks said. “We're going to pick it back up. We got them next time. We're going to come back and hit them with the same force they hit us with.”
jerryu@osaa.org
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