By JOHN GUNTHER/THE WORLD
COOS BAY — Throughout the first three years of her distinguished career, Philomath’s Sage Kramer never suffered an injury.
Early in her senior year, that changed, with a lower-leg injury that slowed her some. Then she went down less than four minutes into Philomath’s game against Mazama in the quarterfinals of the OSAA/OnPoint Community Credit Union 4A girls basketball tournament Thursday at Marshfield High School.
Kramer missed the rest of the first quarter while receiving treatment for the ankle, then returned to lead the Warriors to an easy 58-30 win over the Vikings, a victory that put Philomath in the semifinals against Hidden Valley.
“She gutted it out,” Philomath coach Ben Silva said, noting that Kramer was probably playing at 75 percent the final three quarters.
“Sage is a fantastic player. We want her at 100 percent. Even not going 100 percent, she was able to knock down a couple threes and get to the hoop.
“She’s been a gritty, tough leader for us.”
Kramer finished with 22 points and nine rebounds in the win and post Abigail Brown added 15 points and six boards.
Philomath’s offense, combined with tough defense, was more than enough to overcome Baker, which had more turnovers (16) than points (14) in the first half.
“We overall did a fantastic job on the defensive end,” Silva said. “That’s where we’ve been all season.”
He noted senior guards K Bacho and Reagan Larson, along with Kramer, leading that defense.
“K really set the tone at the top of the press,” Silva said.
Philomath also did a good job getting the ball inside to Brown, who had a big height edge on the smaller Vikings.
“We knew we had a big size advantage inside,” Silva said. “That’s where we knew we could exploit them.”
When Philomath got the inside game going, the Warriors were able to kick it outside for 3-pointers. Hailie Couture hit two, to go with two by Kramer and one by Brown.
Silva called the victory a good team win.
“Mazama is a great, gritty team,” he said, noting the Vikings are regular tournament participants under coach Joy Lease.
“That’s a good win against a quality program.”
Ella Baley had 11 points and six rebounds to lead Mazama, which faces Marist Catholic in the consolation semifinals at North Bend on Friday morning.
No. 13 Hidden Valley 41, No. 12 Marist Catholic 34: The Mustangs held the Spartans to one point in the opening quarter and went on to win and set up a rematch with Philomath, the team Hidden Valley beat in overtime to win the 4A Showcase last June.
Teryn Powers had 11 points, Sana Noga nine and Skylar Willey eight for the Mustangs in the win. McKenna Henderson had 10 points for the Spartans.
Hidden Valley pulled within three points at 37-34 on a jumper by Henderson with 38 seconds to go, but the Mustangs hit four free throws down the stretch to clinch the win.
No. 11 Corbett 61, No. 3 Baker 46: The Cardinals used a big second quarter to pull away from the Bulldogs and stayed in front in the second half to reach the semifinals.
Corbett will face Madras in the semifinals Friday night at Marshfield.
Allyson Schimel had 23 points, Ella Holwege 15 and Isabelle Van Hee 14 for Corbett, which led 12-8 through one quarter and then outscored Baker 23-12 in the second.
Jozie Ramos had 21 points for Baker, which faces Cascade in the consolation semifinals at North Bend.
No. 7 Madras 69, No. 2 Cascade 60 (OT): The White Buffaloes upset the Cougars when they scored nine straight in overtime and held on.
Cascade forced the extra session on a jumper by Abby Jeppsen with 23 seconds to go and was even at 55 early in the overtime when ChaCha Ramirez put Madras in front for good with a layup. Kalise Holliday added a jumper, Sasha Esquiro made a pair of free throws and Rylan Davis had a free throw and a jumper to give Madras a nine-point lead that put the game out of reach.
Esquiro had 24 points, Davis 13 and Holliday 10 for the White Buffaloes.
Ariel Tobiasson had 18 points and Meah Carley had 12 points and 12 rebounds for Cascade.
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