What's up with those fire alarms?

Just about the only thing that slowed down the Corvallis High girls basketball team Friday night was a pesky fire alarm in the second quarter.

The Spartans were rolling along with a 33-16 lead when the alarm sounded with 2:43 left in the half.

When the Spartans returned to the floor, they appeared to have lost a bit of the focus and energy they started with.

South Albany was only able to trim three points off the Spartans lead, however, and Corvallis came out in the third quarter with a vengeance.

The Spartans scored 13 of the first 15 points and coasted to an 80-39 Mid-Willamette Conference victory that kept them tied with Silverton for first.

Silverton (9-1) routed Crescent Valley (5-5) at home, West Albany (8-2) knocked off Lebanon (2-8) at home and Dallas (5-5) cruised past Woodburn (0-10) and is now tied with CV for fourth place.

It was the second time in the past year that a game at CHS has been interupted by a fire alarm. It happened in the regular season finale against Lebanon last year and the Spartans had a hard time readjusting after returning to the floor before eventually getting past the Warriors to earn a share of the MWC title.

Maybe the fire alarm heard that it was being talked about earlier by senior McKenzie Redberg.

"I was talking to Cameron (Horrell) today that the fire alarm hasn't gone off recently and (then an) alarm," she said following the game.

The final three minutes of the half was about the only time the Spartans struggled on Friday night.

"We came out strong but I think the fire alarm messed up our flow," Redberg said. "We needed to relax. It was good to have the halftime to regroup."

And regroup they did.

Up 36-22, the Spartans scored 13 of the first 15 points to push the lead to 49-24 after two Karly Laney free throws with 3:35 left in the quarter.

South Albany closed the third quarter on a 7-2 run to come within 20 at 53-33, but the Spartans were nearly perfect in the fourth with a 27-6 advantage.

The Spartans had four players finish in double figures with Katie Schrock leading the way for the fourth straight game with 15 points.

Gabe Johnson and Kayla Laney each finished with 14 points and Redberg had 13. Karly Laney nearly made it five in doubles with nine points.

For Kayla Laney, it was her second straight double/double as she finished with 10 rebounds. She has 25 points and 28 rebounds in her last two games.

Johnson had five assists to go with her 14 points and Redberg also had five assists and seven steals.

The 25 points out of the posts was a solid effort, especially since there were only three in the rotation on Friday with Syree Gerner home with a high fever. Sophomore Megan Olayinka did see her first varsity action late in the game.

"We are able to step up when we need to step up," Redberg said. "It showed again with our posts stepping up and being smart with fouls and stuff. It's good to have that coming up to state because we don't know what's going to happen or who's going to get hurt."

And it was nice to put together back-to-back games. Coach Joe Williamson challenged the team before the game to not be satisfied with the last game, a 70-15 drubbing of Dallas. He wanted them to show no mercy and to go take the game from the start.

They did that.

"It's good at this stage of the season to actually play complete games and (play) hard," Redberg said. "We didn't really do that the second quarter. But excluding that we did really well. And to build toward state that is what we need to do."

They will need to do it again next Wednesday when the travel to Crescent Valley for the crosstown rivalry rematch. As with all rivalry games, you can throw out the records. While the Spartans are playing for a possible conference title, the Raiders are battling to stay in the playoff hunt.

It will take another balanced and focused effort like the last two games to come away with a win and keep alive the quest for a title.

Corvallis 80, South Albany 39
SOUTH ALBANY 8 14 11 6 -- 39
CORVALLIS 25 11 17 27 -- 80
South Albany:Megan Hortsch 17, Moner 7, A. Trower 6, Calderon 4, Bethards 3, C. Trower 2, Swartzendruber, Mitchell, Sherman, Dixon, Prince
Corvallis: Katie Schrock 15, Johnson 14, Kay. Laney 14, M. Redberg 13, Kar. Laney 9, W. Redberg 5, McGowan 4, Adams 4, Hendrickson 2, Olayinka
JV: Corvallis 56, South Albany 53 (OT)
Frosh: South Albany 43, Corvallis 35