Philomath girls back at Gill after failing to advance last year

By Steve Gress
Gazette-Times Sports Editor

PHILOMATH — When the Philomath High girls basketball team celebrated a 35-32 victory over Pleasant Hill this past Saturday night, the Warriors had accomplished a goal.

After not making the 3A state tournament for the first time in a decade, the Warriors were back, fulfilling a dream that failed to materialize last year.

"It was our dream last year to be playing in Gill after the previous year," said senior Kristi Currans, alluding to a disappointing 1-2 finish at the state tournament in 2003.

"For us seniors, three years ago we didn't get far. We told them we would get back and finish what we didn't finish."

But the Warriors were unable to make a return last year. So they regrouped and set out to work harder for this season.

"We wanted to get to Gill last year and when we didn't it was important to us this year becuase our goal last year wasn't met," Currans asid. "We are ecstatic that we get to finally finish our goal."

Now that the Warriors have reached the tournament, it won't be an easy road.

The seventh-ranked Warriors (20-4) face No. 2 Tillamook (22-1) tonight at 6:30 in the first game of the evening session.

The winner tonight advances to face either No. 6 Ontario or No. 10 Martist at 6:30 p.m. Friday.

Philomath was right where it wanted to be in 2003, facing Tillamook in the quarterfinals.

But the Cheesemakers came away with a 51-47 win that ended the hopes and dreams of a second state title in four years.

Philomath went undefeated in the ValCo, a league that didn't receive much respect for being that strong. Both second-place Yamhill-Carlton and third-seeded Central lost in the playoffs.

The Warriors are ready for the challenge.

"I think it's awesome because we are one of the top teams in the state as ranked right now," said junior Jenneca Crocker, a first-team ValCo League selection.

"It's going to be good to have that level of competition. The ValCo League isn't the strongest league. We had some challenging games but its going to be a lot of fun to get out there and see how we compare to other teams."

Added Currans: "This is sort of the icing on the cake for us so no matter who we get to play it will definitely give us an idea of where we stand because every team is good. It will show us how good we are becuase we don't know what we are capable of until we actually show it."

That doesn't mean the players are content with reaching the tournament. They want to go as far as possible.

"There's pressure because we want to move on and we want to do good, but at the same time we've done so well that we are happy how we have played so far," Currans said. "It's just that we want to show ourselves that we're capable of the state title."

The Warriors started strong with a 5-0 record before dropping three straight on the road, including setbacks against Marist and Cascade, two tournament teams.

PHS has defeated Junction City, the only other tournament participant on their schedule.

The Warriors have won 11 straight and 15 of the last 16 with a loss at North Marion on January 14 the last setback.

"People didn't really think we could do very well this season," Crocker said. "I don't know what it is — girls basketball it automatically means they are going to have a struggle this year, but we came out and I think we surprised a lot of people, including our coach actually. I think that he was pretty happy with the outcome of our season.

"We worked really hard this season and I think that the work paid off. It was a rough start, kind of slow but we got into the groove of things and really came on."

The Warriors aren't an explosive offensive team, but finished the season as the second-best defensive team in points allowed per game at right around 40.

"We like to use defense as a tool to help us becuase our offense isn't always on and so our defense is the only thing we have to compete with against higher up teams a lot of the times," Currans said.

"For us, defense is not something to fall back on, but something that definitely helps us get ahead."

It will take a strong defensive effort against Tillamook, as well as mental focus.

"We have to be in the game, we have to want to win," Crocker said. "That's the big thing, having heart and going out there and working hard no matter what the scoreboard says.

"We have to play as a team, communictae, play our game and if we can play to our full potential, then we can beat anybody."