MCMINNVILLE – Olivia Boyd hit the second of two free throws with 0.3 seconds remaining in overtime to complete a third quarter Silverton comeback from down 17 points to Crater late Saturday night at the 2024 OSAA / OnPoint Community Credit Union 5A Girls Basketball State Championships held at Linfield University.
Silverton’s 61-60 win in overtime gave the Foxes their fourth title all time, but their first since 2016, and denied Crater its first-ever state title.
“These kids they just stay in it,” said Silverton’s second-year head coach Alyssa Ogle. “They don’t ever quit. That’s what great teams do. They never go away.”
Despite near-constant foul trouble, Crater remained in front for the vast majority of the game. The Comets led, 56-54, and were mere seconds away from winning the 5A title in regulation when the Comets committed one of the cardinal sins of basketball: they fouled a three-point shooter.
The seconds were ticking down in the game when Silverton superstar Kyleigh Brown jumped to launch an off-balance three. She made contact with a Crater defender upon landing. A foul was called, one of 28 whistled on the Comets in the game, giving the senior point guard three free throws with 4.1 seconds left on the clock.
Brown missed the first and needed to make the next two to force overtime. Brown, one of the greatest prep players in Oregon history according to Ogle, clutched up and sank the next two to knot the score. Crater did not score in the final four seconds, making overtime necessary to determine a champion.
When overtime began, Silverton had the distinct advantage despite having led for just 52 seconds the entire game. Sage Winslow, Crater’s superstar player, was out of the game, disqualified by five fouls late in the fourth quarter. And the Comets’ four other starters each had four fouls, a precarious position for Scott Dippel’s team despite the presence of a deep bench.
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Crater came to the state tournament this year as the No. 2 overall seed, but many thought the Comets were the favorites to win the tournament. Fifth a year ago, Crater lost just once on the regular season, to 6A Willamette; and led 5A in both most points scored and fewest allowed.
The Comets play a style unlike any other team in Oregon. They press and trap constantly and have the athletes to turn over even the most skilled teams. They turn defense into easy offense with bucket after bucket from the havoc they create.
Crater demonstrated its power almost from the opening tip and led, 17-10, after one quarter, closing the period on a 9-2 run, highlighted by two Sage Winslow assists and points from Lydia Traore, Addison Vranes, Addison Dippel and Abigail Winslow.
The second quarter started with more Crater brilliance and finished with the Comets’ three biggest stars all saddled with two fouls.
The only thing that stops Crater, you see, is the whistle. When it blows too many times, Crater’s rhythm is disrupted and its best players have to take seats.
Within two minutes gone by in the second quarter, the Winslow sisters and Traore all had two fouls. Troare, a 6-4 junior post, stayed in the game after being whistled for her second and scored twice in close to increase Crater’s lead to double digits, 21-10, but Sage and Abigail, the team’s two best players, and biggest pests, had to come out.
This freed up Silverton to attack and the Foxes did just that. Brown scored from the elbow to get the lead back to single digits. She subsequently fed Justina Semerikov for a lay in, scored again from in close and hit Marley Wertz in stride for a breakaway lay-up as part of an 8-0 run that put the top seeds right back in the game.
Sage Winslow subbed back in for Crater on offense and scored immediately on a flip shot to stop Silverton’s run. Sage Winslow played offense and Sam Gish defense for the final three minutes of the half, with each subbing in for the other depending on whether Crater was on offense or defense. When Crater had the ball, Sage Winslow could be seen in constant motion, always attacking, always looking for a crease. She scored the last eight points for the Comets, who managed to build the lead back to 10 again, but saw it cut to six at the intermission after Brown hit Grace Hayashida for a basket, then scored herself in the final 11 seconds.
The third quarter started and Crater’s starting five returned to the floor. Intact, the Comet quintet was dominant and quickly extended its lead back to double digits, 37-25, on an Abigail Winslow triple assisted by her sister. Sage Winslow then added two buckets in succession and Dippel scored off of an assist from Sage Winslow. Crater led, 43-26, with just over five minutes to play in the third.
Not everything was perfect, however, for the Comets. When the lead was 16, Abigail Winslow picked up her third foul. Fourteen seconds later, Traore was assessed foul No. 3. Both had to come out.
The momentum started to turn towards Silverton when Crater fell asleep on an inbounds play and Semerikov scored an easy two. After a Crater miss, Allie Mansur spotted Hayashida spotting up behind the line in the corner. The senior not only made the triple, she was fouled and completed a four-point play! Less than 20 seconds later, Hayashida was in the very same spot. This time Brown found her. Hayashida did not miss. A Crater lead that had been 17 with 4:20 remaining in the third was now just eight only a minute later.
Momentum and adrenaline can take a team a long way in a basketball game. Silverton had both and the Foxes showed no inclination to take their foot off the gas. Brown scored from the line, Mansur hit a three from outside and Hayashida scored from inside. Silverton’s run reached 16-0.
“We were trying to manage our foul trouble,” Dippel said. “They hit two big shots in the corner. Those were big swing plays.”
Sage Winslow hit one free throw to stop the scoreless streak, but Brown scored two from the stripe with 11 seconds remaining in the third to tie the game for the first time since 8-8 three minutes into the first quarter. It took just five minutes to erase Crater’s 17-point lead.
Sage Winslow used the final 11 seconds to good effect, slicing through Silverton’s defense for a lay-up as time ran out, giving Crater some measure of hope going to the fourth period.
Early in the fourth, Crater, with its full lineup back on the floor, fended off two Silverton attempts to take the lead from long range. The Comets responded with two points each from Abigail Winslow, Sage Winslow and Traore to lead by six with five minutes to play.
Nothing happened to change the scoreboard for the next two minutes, but things were happening on the court that proved meaningful indeed.
Traore picked up her fourth foul and was subbed out. Sage Winslow was whistled for her fourth 14 seconds later and came out. Abigail Winslow was assessed foul No. 4 a minute later
Sage Winslow then picked up her fourth foul and took a seat.
With those three out, Silverton scored four straight points, as hard-nosed Brooklyn Pfeifer fed a wide-open Semerikov underneath for two. Semerikov then sank two free throws to cut Crater’s lead to just two, 54-52 with 2:10 to play. This prompted Dippel to sub his foul-troubled trio back into the game.
Twelve seconds later, Sage Winslow was gone. The junior dribbled left and attacked the basket. Pfeifer stood her ground. It could have gone either way, just like so many plays before. The official ruled that Sage Winslow was responsible for the player-controlled foul. That was No. 5. Crater would have to play the rest of the way without her.
Seventeen seconds later, Semerikov was again alone under the basket. Hayashida delivered the perfect pass. The game was tied with 100 ticks on the clock.
Crater scored on a elbow jumper on its next possession, courtesy of Alexa Gugliotta. The junior’s only field goal of the day gave the lead once more to the Comets and held up for more than a minute as regulation play started to wane. Indeed, she might have worn the hero's cape on this night, but for Brown’s off-balance three and the landing and the contact and the two free throws that tied the game and sent the teams to extra time.
The overtime was remarkable because Silverton should have dominated. Crater was without Sage Winslow, who’d scored 22 points in her 20 minutes of action; and it would soon be without Abigail Winslow, who fouled out, having played just 17 minutes total, 45 seconds into overtime.
Silverton went 4-for-4 from the line in that first minute. Brown’s two freebies gave Silverton its first lead since 2-0 and Brown 22 points on the night. She would also finish with 12 rebounds and five assists.
Hayashida’s two free throws that followed gave the Foxes their largest lead of the game, 60-56.
Crater should have been done, but the Comets on the floor refused to buy in to that notion. Dippel scored inside to halve Silverton’s lead and then Jazmine Fernandez, whose three-pointer on Friday had been critical to Crater’s semifinal win over South Albany, threw in another unlikely shot to knot the score at 60-60 with just over one minute to play.
For the next minute, aside from a missed Boyd jumper, very little happened besides steals and turnovers.
The last turnover was the most bizarre, a travel call on a Crater player after a Silverton played knocked her to the ground with two hands going for the steal.
“It’s too bad some of the decisions that were made in a game where the kids on both teams played so hard,” Dippel said. “I’m going to think about that call for a long time.”
The closing sequence was frenzied. Brown missed a jumper with four seconds on the clock. Hayashida rebounded the miss and put her own shot up two seconds later, which also missed. Boyd rebounded – Silverton was relentless on the glass, winning that battle, 46-28 – and put up her shot. She was fouled with 0.3 seconds to play.
Boyd is a very good free throw shooter with a high, soft arc, but she missed the first one.
“I was really, really nervous,” she said. “My legs were shaking and everybody was yelling. I just really, really, really wanted to make the second one.”
The second one went in.
“I felt immediate relief but I knew there was time left on the clock and I didn’t want them to pass it in and shoot a crazy three-quarter length shot so I wanted to stop that, too,” Boyd explained.
There would be no Crater miracle in the few tenths remaining. The desperation shot fell well short, and prompted Silverton’s state title celebration.
“Crater is an unbelievable basketball team,” Ogle said. “No one in the state does it like Crater High School.. But we figure that no one does it like us. We knew it was going to be a great game and it turned out to be a great, great basketball game.”
“I’m really proud of my team,” Dippel said. “Silverton’s a great team. They deserve a state championship. I felt like the fact that we got into overtime was great. The fact that we were without three starters and my bench kids played like they’ve played all year and just stepped up. I’m so proud of them and so proud of our group. We can hold our head high.”
The game was the last as coach for Dippel, who step down to become Principal of Crater High School next year.
"While missing out on the title yesterday would have been the storybook ending, I feel like the tournament was icing on the cake to a wonderful season and a blessed career in coaching girls basketball at Crater," Dippel said.
Ogle was asked what the win meant to her team.
“It means everything to these kids,” she said. “We had big aspirations. Kyleigh Brown’s legacy was cemented tonight. She is one of the best players to ever play the game of high school basketball in the state of Oregon. She needed that. She deserved it.”
In the girls 3rd/5th game…
No. 6 South Albany 47, No. 5 Redmond 32
South Albany went on an 8-0 run to end the first quarter and led by as many as 21 points in the third quarter before calling off the dogs in the 15-point win. South Albany had never been to the state tournament before last year and leave this year as third-place finishers.
Two sophomores, Taylor Donaldson and Kaylee Cordle, led the way for South Albany. Both are adept at scoring inside and out and each did a little of both in this game. Donaldson finished with 19 points and eight rebounds. Cordle had 13 and was 3-of-5 from long range.
South Albany led 15-7 after one and 28-14 at the half. Donaldson scored on a three-ball from the top of the key to open the scoring in the third quarter. Three threes and three frees accounted for all 12 points as the RedHawks stretched their lead beyond 20 in the period.
Redmond showed some spirit in the final period and scored nine straight, sparked by Peyton Stewart inside and Azlynn Ure from deep, to pare the lead to 13. Phara Dickson had two free throws for South Albany to produce the final margin of victory.
Freshman Freya Snow was named Player of the Game for Redmond. She scored eight points and had a blocked shot.
In the girls 4th/6th game…
No. 7 Springfield 72, No. 8 Mountain View 53
The 2023 champion Millers outscored Mountain View, 46-28, after halftime to claim the convincing win. Springfield shot 53 percent from the field and 60 percent from the three-point line in the final two quarters to break open what had been a one-point game at intermission.
Diamond Wright had a huge game for the Millers, scoring 30 points, with nine rebounds and four assists. Senior Danaeja Ronero-Ah Sam, the two-time 5A state POY, capped a brilliant career with 19 points and nine assists.
Kasey Booster and Avery Andrews combined for 30 points in the loss for Mountain View, which was outrebounded by 12.
Team Sportsmanship Award: Redmond
All-Tournament Second Team
Kasey Booster, Mountain View
Avery Andrews, Mountain View
Abigail Winslow, Crater
Dylan Cheney, Redmond
Grace Hayashida, Silverton
All-Tournament First Team
Kyleigh Brown, Silverton
Sage Winslow, Crater
Taylor Donaldson, South Albany
Danaeja Romero-Ah Sam, Springfield
Diamond Wright, Springfield
johnt@osaa.org
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