Bandon’s girls basketball team used a huge run to open the game to build a big lead and cruised to a 62-24 win over visiting Santiam in the Class 2A playoffs on Saturday.
The Tigers earned a return trip to the 2A state tournament in Pendleton, where they will be the No. 2 seed and face Valley Coast Conference foe Oakridge in the quarterfinals Thursday night at the Pendleton Convention Center.
Oakridge, the No. 10 seed, beat Weston-McEwen 59-52 to earn its spot in Pendleton.
Bandon scored the first 22 points against Santiam and never looked back. The Wolverines didn’t score until hitting a free throw just over six minutes into the contest. By then Bandon was well in front.
Katelyn Senn finished with 24 points and Olivia Thompson hit five 3-pointers and scored 21. Makenna Vierck had five of her seven in the first quarter.
As usual, it was Bandon’s defense that sparked the big early lead, forcing numerous turnovers that led to quick points.
“One thing that’s been really big for us this year and kind of been our foundation of our season is our defense,” Bandon coach Jordan Sammons said. “Everybody on our team really buys into the defense mentality, and when you have five people on the floor that pride themselves on the defensive end it can make you pretty tough.
“This group has always been offensively talented and Katelyn, Olivia and Makenna have really been stepping up as scorers for us this season, but really everybody on the team is doing a good job playing their role offensively as well.”
Bandon led Santiam 26-1 through one quarter Saturday. Even though the Wolverines bounced back some in the second quarter, outscoring the Tigers 12-10, Bandon stretched the lead in the second half.
Maizy Dawny led Santiam with nine points.
Bandon, which is No. 1 in the coaches poll and No. 2 in the OSAA power rankings, beat Oakridge twice this year — 67-36 during the regular season and 59-46 in the league tournament.
The Warriors feature talented twins Jade and Sadie Snyder and were tied with Bandon 44-44 in the league tournament before the Tigers finished on a 15-2 run. They also beat Bandon during the season last year, but when both Senn and Thompson were out with injuries.
The Tigers have been looking forward to the state tournament, but not taking anything for granted.
That led to good preparation for the Santiam contest.
“The girls worked hard locking in and knowing the game plan,” Sammons said. “We had a long week. We’ve been practicing 7:30 to 9 p.m. in case we got the win, since we knew we’d be playing at 8:15 p.m. over in Pendleton as long as we keep winning. We’ve been preparing ourselves for that timeframe of a game.”
The other teams in Pendleton are top-ranked Western Christian, which meets No. 8 Enterprise at 1:30 p.m. Thursday; No. 4 Knappa and No. 5 Nestucca, which face off at 3:15; and No. 3 Regis and No. 11 Stanfield, which meet at 6:30. Stanfield upset East Linn Christian 51-36 in the playoffs Saturday.
If Bandon wins Thursday, the Tigers would face Regis or Stanfield in the semifinals Friday.
“I’m super proud of this group and we’ve been talking about for the last two months taking it one game at a time and just going 1-0 each night, and that’s the plan next week as well,” Sammons said. “I’m thankful to get to be their coach and get back to Pendleton.”
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