Spartans enjoy the journey

The Corvallis High girls basketball team had a secret slogan all season.

They wore shirts that read TJNTD, and kept it’s meaning from those outside of the team.

The letters stood for “The journey not the destination.”

The destination turned out to be a fourth-place finish at the OSAA 5A state tournament after knocking off No. 2-ranked Ashland 49-39 at the Chiles Center on Saturday.

The journey, however, was one the players will always remember.

It’s a journey coach Joe Williamson hopes continues next season.

“I told the girls this gives them a lot of motivation to work hard in the offseason and to make ourselves better,” Williamson said Saturday afternoon.

The Spartans rebounded from a 9-16 overall mark and 4-10 Mid-Willamette Conference recordlast season to win a share of the conference crown at 11-3 with West Albany and Silverton this season.

They then received the top seed to the playoffs in a draw, allowing them an opportunity to host a playoff game.

The Spartans knocked off Mazama to advance to the Chiles Center for the first time since 2002.

Corvallis ran into a tough Hermiston team that eventually reached the state title game, dropping a 51-46 decision in the quarterfinals.

The Spartans lost first-team all-conference selection McKenzie Redberg to a knee injury early in the second quarter of that game. Redberg didn’t play the rest of the tournament.

The Spartans rebounded with a 56-38 victory over Crater, then completed the sweep of Southern Oregon Conference teams with Saturday morning’s win for fourth place.

Most of the players couldn’t have imagined they would have been playing for fourth last summer.

“Honestly, when were at that summer tournament and coach said he could see us being league champs, I was wondering what he was thinking,” junior Kayla Laney said. “I mean did you not see us play last year? We played against you?

“Then (Friday) night I was thinking, you know what? We can do this. We can get fourth.”

The Spartans lose just two seniors - Taylor Westly and Eva Oriakhi. Oriakhi missed the last half of the season with a knee injury, so a young team got even more playing time.

That should bode well for next season.

“Taylor and Eva were amazing and they definitely brought so much to the team,” Laney said. “But we have five returning going-to-be seniors. Most of those seniors have played quite a bit during the games.”

That group of seniors-to-be include MWC player of the year and point guard Gabe Johnson, Redberg, Kayla Laney, Karly Laney and Leah Seitz. Johnson averaged 19.3 points per game in the tournament and was named to the all-tournament second team.

Add in juniors-to-be Katie Schrock, an honorable mention MWC pick, and Alaina Adams, a second-team all-MWC selection, and the Spartans look primed for another strong year. Syree Gerner, who played key minutes as a freshman, will also be back.

Schrock had a standout tournament, hitting five 3-pointers in the second half against Crater, and three more in the first half against Ashland to give the Spartans a spark.

“I think next year we will have a really strong, deep team,” Schrock said. “We have everybody returning but also the swing players who came up to state and got to play in the game at the end and get some experience at the state tournament.”

But Williamson doesn’t want the players to think too far ahead. He knows there is a lot of work to be done.

“I want them to continue to go on the journey, not that there is pressure to do this again or match exactly the same,” he said.

“Next season is a whole different journey. We have to make it our own season and not compare anything. We need to enjoy it. The biggest thing is to not put too much pressure on ourselves. We need to enjoy the journey.”