Friendly competition

Gabe Johnson and McKenzie Redberg have been waging their own personal battle on the basketball court over the course of the second-half of the Mid-Willamette Conference girls basketball season.

The two Corvallis High juniors were close to having the same number of steals and decided they wanted to compete against each other to see who could finish the year with more.

“It was kind of a way for us to have fun and at the same time not be so serious all the time,” Johnson said.

In a game at Woodburn, Johnson was trailing Redberg by a few steals and asked if it would count as a steal if she were to play thief against her own teammate.

“I was in desperate need of some steals,” Johnson said with a smile.

All joking aside, Johnson and Redberg have been defensive stoppers for the Spartans, who won a share of the MWC title and will host Mazama at 7 Friday night with a chance to play in the Chiles Center next week on the line.

The backcourt tandem were each voted to the MWC first team last Sunday, with Johnson earning co-player of the year honors.

In addition to their defense, both have been solid offensive contributors. Johnson leads the Spartans with 13.1 points per game, while Redberg is second at 9.5. In conference play, Redberg is up to 11.1 ppg.

The offensive success for Redberg was a bit of a surprise. She led the Spartans with 23 3-pointers in conference play.

“This is the first year where I have been enjoying basketball,” Redberg said. “It’s something new. I never knew I could go out and hit 3-pointers and score more than five points a game. It’s a whole new thing. I like it.”

So does Johnson, who early on felt the pressure to be the scoring leader. But her success, along with Redberg’s, has helped open opportunities for other players to step up and provide a scoring punch.

And they have.

Syree Gerner, Karly Laney, Alaina Adams, Katie Schrock, Taylor Westly and Eva Oriakhi, before she was lost for the season with a knee injury, have all had games where they have scored in double figures.

Kayla Laney and Leah Seitz have each come close to that feat, scoring nine in a game.
That has taken a lot of the pressure off Johnson and Redberg.

“I am very proud of the team and Z for helping and stepping up,” Johnson said.

The Spartans are in position to reach the Chiles Center for the first time since 2002, when they last were league champions. All that stands in their way is a Mazama team that knocked off Glencoe 61-49 in a first-round game on Tuesday.

The Vikings finished third in the Southern Oregon Conference and have a good transition game and can get hot from the outside.

“They have some streaky shooters so they can be on or off,” CHS coach Joe Williamson said. “So we don’t want to give them the opportunity to get going.”

Williamson said he isn’t concerned that Mazama played on Tuesday while the Spartans have been off since last Thursday.

“It would be if we were going there,” he said. “The fact they are coming here I think neutralizes it.”

The gameplan is the same as it always has been, Williamson said.

“We are going to come out and give the effort we expect out of our team each game,” he said.

Johnson said the Spartans feel confident and are focused on the task at hand.

“I think we need to penetrate a lot and keep moving and set our own tempo and don’t let them control us and I think we’ll be fine,” Johnson said.

Of course, there is still that steals battle, which Redberg leads 88-79.

“I think we should make them count double,” Johnson said of the steals in tonight’s game and for however long the Spartans remain alive in the postseason.

Redberg disagrees.

“No, because then I would shatter you,” she replied with a laugh.