Knocking off the former team

After finally getting home and getting some food in his system, the knots in Joe Williamson’s stomach began to fade away late Wednesday night.

Those knots had been churning all afternoon as Williamson, the first-year coach for the Corvallis High girls basketball program, prepared to lead his new team into his old home.

Williamson spent five season coaching at Lebanon before taking over at Corvallis this past summer.

Wednesday night was the first time the two programs had met since Williamson’s departure.

“It feels good that it is over,” Williamson said late Wednesday night. “It’s been one of those games that you see on the calendar and you know it’s there and you look forward to playing it.”

He wanted the Lebanon crowd to see how hard his new team worked, how intense they play, that they rebound and that they liked each other.

“I want this game bad,” he told the players minutes before they took the court for warmups.

The players wanted the game as bad, if not more.

“We really wanted this win,” junior post Kayla Laney said. “We wanted it for coach and we wanted it for ourselves.”

They got a win and much more.

Using an impressive 10-0 start and another 14-0 run, the Spartans bolted to a 24-1 lead and never looked back in demolishing the Warriors 62-21 to remain tied for first in the Mid-Willamette Conference standings heading into Friday night’s game at Woodburn.

The seventh-ranked Spartans improved to 12-4 overall and 5-1 in the MWC.

What had Williamson so pleased with the start was that on the first three possessions, the Spartans had an offensive rebound basket by Laney, and girls were diving on the floor for loose balls.

“I knew Lebanon was really jacked up and excited to play,” Williamson said. “I wasn’t sure if our girls would be as ready as they needed to be. In the first three possessions of the game we had girls on the floor diving and getting after it.”

They never let up and frustrated the Warriors, especially star post Alexis Nissen. With Laney, Alaina Adams and Karly Laney playing defense against her most of the night, Nissen found no room to be an offensive threat. She attempted just four free throws and the only really good look at the basket she got resulted in a layup in the third quarter. She finished with four points.

“I think the fact she only got one open shot and the only points she got were off free throws (and a layup), I think that’s huge,” Kayla Laney said. “I know in the CV game, they left her open and she got a lot of points.”

Unlike in its upset win at CV last week, Lebanon struggled shooting on Wednesday. But the Spartans didn’t allow many offensive rebounds.

“I told them after the game I was most impressed with how they boxed out,” Williamson said. “They boxed out almost every time a shot went up. It was almost a blocking out clinic.”

The Spartans never let up on defense and harassed the Warriors into numerous turnovers.

“I think it’s a big win because we just went out there and hustled and played as a team,” Kayla Laney said. “We all hustled so hard and we blocked out the posts. I’ve never seen us rebound better.”

Williamson also liked the offensive balance as six players had at least eight points.

Williamson wasn’t sure what to expect when he got off the bus so he spent his time helping coach the freshman and JV teams before getting ready for the varsity game.

Walking into the locker room after the game, Williamson saw what he had been waiting for all season — a little bit of emotion from his players as they were vocal and celebrating.

“They are first in league and got a big win,” he said. “It was good to see that.”

Kayla Laney said the players were happy to let out the excitement.

“It was nice,” she said. “We were proud, he was proud. He was proud of us, we were proud of him and he coached extremely well. It was just a good win overall.”

Corvallis is at Woodburn on Friday, then will face Dallas on Saturday at home in a makeup game.

Corvallis 62, Lebanon 21
CORVALLIS 20 16 14 12 — 62
LEBANON 1 12 2 6 — 21
Corvallis: Gabe Johnson 10, Syree Gerner 10, Schrock 8, Westly 8, M. Redberg 8, Kay. Laney 8, Adams 4, Kar. Laney 4, Hendrickson 2, W. Redberg
Lebanon: Kim Duerr 4, Katy Ellis 4, Alexis Nissen 4, Kuhns 3, Adams 2, Ragsdale 2, Parks 2, Brown, Kirby, Gerson, Benedict, Steward
JV: Corvallis 39, Lebanon 23
Frosh: Lebanon 50, Corvallis 39