As the Cascade Christian and St. Mary’s girls basketball teams traded leads several times over the final four minutes on Friday, it was apparent the crosstown rivalry at St. Mary’s High School was going to come down to the wire.
And as it is commonly goes, it came down to who had the ball last.
With five seconds remaining and St. Mary’s up by one point, Challengers freshman guard Katelyn Willard pierced the net with a 15-foot game-winning jumper to deliver a 46-45 victory for Cascade Christian in a classic Southern Cascade League opener.
“Both teams played great,” said Challengers coach Scott Martinez. “We were lucky enough to have the ball with 12 seconds left and both teams were in bad foul position.”
Willard finished with 17 points and knocked down three 3-pointers while Sophie Ferreira recorded 10 points and nine rebounds for the Challengers (8-8, 1-0 SCL). Abbey Alexander added eight points.
Emma Bennion poured in 20 points for St. Mary’s while Emma Ward and Ainsley Dunn chipped in eight apiece.
CASCADE CHRISTIAN (46): Willard 17, Reed 4, Alexander 8, Meilicke 3, L. White 2, Ferreira 10, R. White 2. Totals: 11 12-25 46.
ST. MARY’S (45): Bennion 20, Alvarez 3, Conner 2, Dunn 8, Christman 4, Ward 8, Alftine 0. Totals: 16 10-17 45.
Cascade Christian;15;7;7;18;—;46
St. Mary’s;7;10;8;20;—;45
3-point goals — Cascade Christian 4 (Willard 3, Meilicke 1), St. Mary’s 1 (Bennion).
SPRINGFIELD 38, CRATER 17: At Springfield, Crater was able to hold one of the state’s top Class 5A players in check but wasn’t able to produce enough offense to keep Springfield from claiming the Midwestern League opener for both teams.
Led by Mackenzie Ryerson, Crater’s defense helped limit Millers senior guard Cielo Gonzalez to just six points heading into the fourth quarter. Gonzalez finished with 11.
The Comets (9-2, 0-1 MWL) were paced by Maya Van Hook’s eight points and Sydney Gray collected four steals.
The Millers (10-1, 1-0) outrebounded the Comets, 25-14.
CRATER (17): Westbrock 0, Idiart 2, Van Hook 8, Ryerson 0, Robison 0, Duran-Espino 0, Gray 2, Ellis 2, Bowers 0, A. Woodard 3, Young 0, K. Woodard 0: Totals: 7 2-6 17.
SPRINGFIELD (38): Todd 5, Newell 4, Durbin 11, L. Barraza 0, Birkby 0, Brooks 0, Dade 3, J. Barraza 0, Gonzalez 11, Travertini 3. Totals: 11 15-21 38.
Crater;2;4;5;6;—;17
Springfield;8;6;8;16;—;38
3-point goals — Crater 1 (A. Woodard 1), Springfield 1 (Durban 1). Fouled out — Van Hook.
JV score — Crater 46, Springfield 18.
CHURCHILL 70, ASHLAND 33: At Eugene, Churchill used a 17-0 first-quarter run to pull away from Ashland in the Midwestern League opener.
Sophie Elstone scored 17 points and Kayla Nesbitt 12 to lead the Lancers (4-6), who opened up a 22-point lead through one quarter and snapped a three-game skid.
Nina Munson scored 13 points and Malia Rodriguez seven for Ashland (3-8), which also received three steals apiece from Mya Elder-Hammond and Jayd Sollinger.
ASHLAND (33): Voskes 0, Sollinger 0, Barnes 0, Gorringe 2, Moran 1, LaCoste 2, Munson 13, Elder-Hammond 1, Summers 2, Witnauer 5, Rodriguez 7, Abel 0. Totals: 13 7-20 33.
CHURCHILL (70): N. Elstone 8, Smith 6, S. Elstone 17, Williams 8, Nesbitt 12, Acker 8, Reyes 2, Miller 7, Aley 2. Totals: 29 5-10 70.
Ashland;5;14;11;3;—;33
Churchill;27;16;12;15;—;70
3-point goals — Churchill 7 (N. Elstone 1, S. Elstone 3, Williams 2, Nesbitt 1).
JV result — Churchill won.
NORTH EUGENE 34, EAGLE POINT 21: At Eugene, Eagle Point used a hot start in the third quarter to rally and tie the game but North Eugene responded with a run of its own to capture the Midwestern League victory.
The Eagles (5-6, 0-1 MWL) went on a 6-0 run to even the score at 17-all at the 3-minute mark in the period. The Highlanders (4-7, 1-0) were able to respond with a pair of 3-pointers and closed the frame with eight unanswered points.
Odalis Rincones logged six points and five blocks for the Eagles.
EAGLE POINT (21): Hogan 1, Burgess 4, Rincones 6, Meerten 4, Hart 6, Flores 0, Swanson 0, Lawler 0. Totals: 9 3-8 21.
NORTH EUGENE (34): Cook 10, Baboyan 8, Manley 5, Carrier 5, Ahlstrom 6, Slaughter 0, Oravec 0, Lundin 0, Smith 0, Collie 0. Totals: 10 9-21 34.
Eagle Point;5;6;6;4;—;21
North Eugene;11;6;8;9;—;34
3-point goals — North Eugene 5 (Baboyan 2, Cook 1, Manley 1, Carrier 1). Fouled out — Rincones.
JV result — North Eugene won.
PHOENIX 34, SIUSLAW 33: At Merlin, senior guard Taylor DeVry made the winning free throw with 0.9 seconds to play in regulation, leading Phoenix to an opening-round victory in the Skywest Crossover at North Valley High.
DeVry scored nine of her season-high 22 points in the fourth quarter, sinking three of her five 3-pointers for the Pirates (3-9). She was fouled on a box-out after missing a 3-pointer from the corner, then made the first attempt of a one-and-one and intentionally missed the second.
DeVry added four assists, four steals and five rebounds, combining with freshman center Delani Parent (nine rebounds) for nine of Phoenix’s 21 offensive rebounds for the game.
Phoenix’s Maggie Carrillo made a pair of free throws to tie the game with less than 30 seconds to play and freshman center Josephine Bolstad added a career-high four blocked shots.
Alyssa Richards scored 15 for Siuslaw (3-9).
SIUSLAW (33): Long 4, Blankenship 5, Collins 3, Richards 15, Reynolds 4, Greenburg 2, Freudenthal 0, White 0. Totals: 12 8-16 33.
PHOENIX (34): DeVry 22, Carrillo 4, Lopez 4, Parent 4, Kentner 0, Badillo 0, Tellez 0, Perez-Hernandez 0, Bolstad 0. Totals: 10 9-14 34.
Siuslaw;13;5;5;10;—;33
Phoenix;3;11;2;18;—;34
3-point goals — Siuslaw 1 (Blankenship 1), Phoenix 5 (DeVry 5).
NORTH VALLEY JV 43, ROGUE RIVER 42: At Rogue River, North Valley JV rallied late behind Hannah Kersten’s 12 points in the nonconference game.
Jesse Langford scored 19 points to lead Rogue River (6-6).
NORTH VALLEY JV (43): Kersten 12, Arana 10, Fields 2, Stewart 4, Miller 6, K. Cohee 5, Jenkins 4, Jasperson 0, Parza 0, Mohr 0. Totals: 19 4-15 43.
ROGUE RIVER (42): Langford 19, Sizemore 4, Rangel 4, Worthington 4, McKown 3, Howard 6, Spaeth 2, Earnest 0, Reeder 0. Totals: 16 9-20 42.
North Valley JV;9;12;7;15;—;43
Rogue River;8;11;16;7;—;42
3-point goals — North Valley 1 (Kersten 1), Rogue River 1 (Langford 1)
CHILOQUIN 58, PROSPECT 15: At Chiloquin, Prospect fell to 0-2 in Mountain Valley League play and 0-8 overall, while Chiloquin (9-1) improved to 3-0 in the MVL.