Jefferson struck the first blow in its red-hot Portland Interscholastic League girls basketball rivalry with Benson on Saturday night.
Before a packed gym in the PIL Showcase at Franklin High School, the No. 3 Democrats opened a 13-point lead after one quarter and held off the No. 6 Astros 76-60.
Senior Chauncey Andersen scored 31 points to lead Jefferson (10-1, 3-0), which is tied for first place with Grant (8-4, 3-0), one game ahead of Benson (7-3, 2-1) and Cleveland (7-4, 2-1). The Democrats and Astros shared the league title last season, when Jefferson ended Benson's league winning streak at 48.
Andersen poured in 10 points in the first quarter as the Democrats, with their all-senior starting lineup, pulled ahead 26-13. Seniors Abrianna Lawrence and Charisma Johnson added eight and seven points, respectively, in the quarter.
The Astros, who have two freshmen and a sophomore in their starting lineup, weren't able to get any closer than 10 points the rest of the way.
“It was a very important thing to jump on them,” Jefferson coach Andre Lawrence said. “If you don't, and you let them get in there, it gives them confidence.”
Andersen made two three-pointers early in the fourth quarter as the lead expanded to 74-52.
“She got out into the lanes, hit her open shots,” Andre Lawrence said. “Her teammates found her. It was a team effort to make sure everybody does their thing. She got that, but other people got rebounds, steals, assists. We're taking that next step in learning to play together. It was a good, tough win.”
Johnson had 17 points, five steals and four rebounds and Abrianna Lawrence added 12 points, four assists and three steals.
Jefferson has won seven in a row since losing to No. 2 Tualatin 55-48 in the POA Holiday Classic on Dec. 27. Since that loss, the Democrats have come a long way in learning how to trust one another, according to Andre Lawrence.
“If you take a loss, you want it to be to a good team – Tualatin is a very good team – and you want to take it early,” he said. “That way you can fix things. That loss has helped us come together, get refocused, understand the little things we have to do to beat a good team.
“We've grown from that loss, but we still have a long ways to go. Right now we're not all the way where we want to be. But we're getting better.”
Benson got 14 points from junior forward Samarah Massey in the loss. Freshman point guard Kyoko Beasley made three three-pointers and finished with 13 points. Freshman post Jayla Lackey had 10 points and 10 rebounds.
The Benson-Jefferson game has become a hot ticket in recent seasons. Saturday's game was sold out.
“It's a great thing for the ladies to play in a packed stadium where they're not letting anybody else in,” Andre Lawrence said. “It just shows where girls basketball is going and how big it is to have Jefferson-Benson. It's a beautiful thing to have the girls on that stage.”
Crater flexes
Crater, No. 1 in the OSAAtoday 5A coaches poll, flexed its muscles with a convincing road win over the top-ranked team in 4A last week.
The Comets (13-1) cruised to a 60-44 win at Philomath on Jan. 7, ending the Warriors' six-game winning streak. It was the most points scored this season against Philomath (10-2), which entered allowing 29.6 points per game.
“They looked fast on film and they were faster in person,” Philomath coach Ben Silva told the Philomath News. “That caught us a little bit early on and they got some easy layups.”
Senior guard Sage Winslow and junior guard Taylor Young scored 21 and 16 points, respectively, for Crater, which also got 10 points from 6-4 senior Lydia Traore. Sophomore post Reagan Heiken led the Warriors with 21 points.
With the loss, Philomath slipped to No. 2 in this week's coaches poll, behind Oregon West Conference rival Stayton (12-0).
The Warriors bounced back Friday with a dramatic 35-34 win at 4A No. 7 Astoria (4-6). Senior Anneka Steen made a short jumper with eight seconds left to put Philomath ahead. Astoria was unable to get off a shot on the final possession.
Senior Zoee Howard scored nine of her team-high 11 points in the second half for the Warriors.
Big wins for Silverton
Reigning state champion Silverton, No. 2 in the OSAAtoday 5A coaches poll, recorded two key wins in the Mid-Willamette Conference last week.
The Foxes (9-1, 3-0) beat No. 5 West Albany 52-40 at home Jan. 7 and won 53-51 at No. 3 Corvallis on Friday. The latter avenged their only conference loss from last season, when they fell 65-50 at Corvallis.
After Corvallis split two free throws with 6.6 seconds left to tie 51-51, Silverton called timeout at halfcourt to set up a final shot. Two Corvallis fouls later, the Foxes inbounded on the baseline with 1.5 seconds remaining.
Senior Hadley Craig caught a pass on the baseline and made a shot at the buzzer for the 53-51 win. Craig scored Silverton's last six points of the game.
Senior Grace Hayashida led Silverton with 15 points. Craig had 10 points and 14 rebounds and junior Allie Mansur added 10 points, five rebounds and six assists.
Craig had 19 points and 10 rebounds in the win over West Albany.
Silverton is tied with Lebanon (7-2, 3-0) for first place.
Starwalt clutch
Sophomore Payton Starwalt made two free throws with 11 seconds left to give No. 5 West Albany a 50-49 home win over No. 4 South Albany in a Mid-Willamette game Friday.
Sophomore Natalie Tidwell shot 5 of 9 from three-point range and finished with 15 points and six rebounds for West Albany (7-3, 1-2), which rebounded from back-to-back losses to Crescent Valley and Silverton. Sophomore Karlee Martirano had 15 points and eight rebounds and Starwalt had 14 points, five assists and three steals.
South Albany (6-4, 2-1) got three three-pointers and 17 points from junior Taylor Donaldson and 10 points, six rebounds and five assists from junior Kaylee Cordle.
Notes: Sophomore wing Kendall Kuni helped Oregon Episcopal win its first two games in the 3A Lewis & Clark League last week, compiling 39 points, 25 rebounds, 16 steals, nine assists and six blocks as the Aardvarks defeated De La Salle North Catholic 38-25 and Catlin Gabel 66-9. She shot 78.3 percent from the field. … Yoncalla freshman post Tori Noffsinger put up 31 points and 23 rebounds as her team opened 1A Skyline League play Friday with a 57-20 win at Riddle. Noffsinger is averaging 18 points and 17 rebounds per game.
jerryu@osaa.org
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