What an accomplishment: Spartans finish fourth

There was a sense of accomplishment for the Corvallis High girls basketball team early Saturday morning.

A team that won just nine games a season ago, completed a storybook season with a 49-39 victory over Ashland in the Chiles Center.

That win gave the Spartans fourth place in the OSAA 5A state tournament, equalling the fourth-place finishes by the 1988 and 1989 CHS teams back in the old 4A classification.

"It's the icing on the gorgeous wedding cake," CHS senior Taylor Westly said.

Added sophomore Katie Schrock: "It's pretty exciting. We came back from last year when we weren't even remotely close to the state playoffs and here we are fourth. I believe we could have gone all the way. We just needed to get our act together in the first game."

The Spartans finish the season officially at 18-10, with three of those losses coming via forfeit after using an ineligible player in the Lake Oswego tournament in December. On the court, the Spartans won 21 games.

"It's pretty unbelievable," first-year coach Joe Williamson said. "The expectation that we put on them, I think we surpassed them. We had big league goals and to get to the Chiles Center but to go 2-1 ... To beat Crater and Ashland, two very good teams, I couldn't be any more happy or proud of the girls. They played with a lot of heart and desire."

Maybe their finest game came Saturday morning. Ashland (25-4) entered the tournament on a 24-game winning streak and nearly knocked off last year's champion, Willamette, in the quarterfinals.

The Grizzlies also had a good tandem with point guard Allison Gida and 6-foot-3 post Brenna Heater, who scored 36 points in the loss to Willamette.

But the Corvallis posts -- Kayla Laney, Alaina Adams, Karly Laney and Syree Gerner -- did enough to limit Heater's touches and to keep her in check most of the game.

Heater finished with 20 points, but managed just 12 shots, She did convert 7 of 11 from the free-throw line.

"Every look she had she was doubleteamed," Williamson said. "I thought our girls played interior defense better than I could have ever asked for."

Said Kayla Laney: "We played amazing helpside (defense). We had each other's backs."

Ashland took an early 10-4 lead, but the Spartans weren't about to go quietly. After struggling in the first half of their first three playoff games, the Spartans rebounded quickly thanks to back-to-back threes by Schrock and Gabe Johnson.

Corvallis took a 16-14 lead into the second quarter, and gradually increased the lead each quarter.

"I think it was huge because we totally broke their confidence," Kayla Laney said of the first-quarter success. "Because then they realized we wanted it so much better than they did. We knew that if we played tough and if we played Heater pretty tough that they weren't going to be able to score enough. Coach told us exactly what to do to win and we did it."

Corvallis led 29-22 at the half after Schrock's third three of half with 10 seconds to go. Schrock hit five threes in the second half to help the Spartans pull away from Crater on Thursday.

"It was really nice, shots were falling early so people weren't afraid and weren't feeling rushed to take shots so they took shots we knew they could make, Schrock said.

Ashland tried to work the ball inside to Heater in the second half, but for the most part the Spartans were able to control her.

"We came out hard, played good D and bodied the big girl up," Westly said. "She's a big girl, hard to body up and I think we did a really good job with that."

Johnson finished with a game-high 22 points, while Adams added 11 and Schrock nine.

"I'm speechless," Kayla Laney said.

Corvallis 49, Ashland 39
CORVALLIS 16 13 8 12 -- 49
ASHLAND 14 8 6 11 -- 39
Corvallis: Gabe Johnson s22, Adams 11, Schrock 9, Kay. Laney 4, Gerner 2, Seitz 1, Westly, Kar. Laney, Hendrickson, McGowan, W. Redberg
Ashland: Brenna Heater 20, Sievenlist 8, Gida 6, McKinnis 5, Pavlich, Van Vleck, Silbowitz, Zare, Petitt, Delcarlo, Contreras