PENDLETON — Bandon’s girls came up just short of the first state title in program history Saturday, falling to Western Christian 45-40 in the final at the Pendleton Convention Center.
An injury to one of the team’s key players hampered Bandon’s chances of winning.
The Tigers were ranked No. 1 in the coaches poll and the Pioneers were No. 1 in the power rankings. Bandon beat Western Christian earlier this year and the Pioneers avenged that defeat in the final.
The Tigers got off to a slow start, trailing 15-8 through one quarter and 23-14 at halftime. But they came storming back and had a few chances late in the game trailing by three. The last of those was off the mark with five seconds to go and a foul led to two free throws by Western Christian’s Runon Muroya for the final margin.
“We got two good looks but the ball didn’t bounce our way,” Bandon coach Jordan Sammons said in a story on OSAAtoday. “That’s how it is sometimes.”
Bandon, playing in its first championship game, was led by Katelyn Senn, who had 16 points and eight rebounds, and Makenna Vierck, who had 15 points.
The Tigers played the final three quarters without Olivia Thompson, Senn’s partner as the team’s senior leaders. Thompson suffered an ankle injury seven minutes into the game and wasn’t able to play any more. Before the injury, she hit her only 3-pointer to finish with three points.
Complicating matters was foul trouble for Vierck at the same time.
Western Christian’s largest lead was 14 points, but Bandon kept battling in the second half.
Sammons’ message for the team was “leave everything you have on the floor.”
Even without Thompson, the Tigers pulled within one at 36-35 with 6:23 to go in the game on a steal and hoop by Senn, but that’s as close as they got.
But it was a great effort.
“We talked a lot before the game about playing as a family, playing for each other and playing together,” Senn said in the OSAAtoday story. “I think that family bond brought us together there to have a nice fight back. I’m happy with how our team competed.”
“This group is just resilient,” Sammons said. “My heart breaks for them because they battled. One thing about them is they never give up. All the things they’ve gone through will make them great people because they battle through adversity and they never give up. I don’t think I’ve ever been prouder of a team than I am tonight because of the heart and fight they played with.”
Avery Herber had 18 points and nine rebounds and Haley Ferry had 10 points and 11 rebounds for Western Christian.
Senn was named to the all-tournament first team while Thompson and Vierck both were on the second team. The all-tournament teams are selected by the coaches.
Bandon’s road to the championship included wins over a pair of cold-shooting teams — and the Tigers didn’t shoot particularly well in the quarterfinals, either.
Bandon beat Valley Coast Conference for Oakridge 34-23 in the quarterfinals after trailing 12-8 at halftime. The Tigers outscored the Warriors 26-11 in the second half.
Makenna Vierck had 11 points and 12 rebounds and Senn had 10 points and eight rebounds. Thompson scored nine points, but was just 1-for-8 from 3-point range.
Each team went 1-for-19 from long range and Oakridge shot just 17 percent overall for the game, while Bandon shot 24 percent.
In the semifinals, the Tigers stymied Regis in the first half, holding the Rams to just four points and one field goal on the way to a 43-21 win. Bandon used a 17-0 run bridging the first and second quarters on the way to a 28-4 halftime lead.
For the game, Regis shot even worse than Oakridge — 13 percent. The Rams were 1-for-15 from 3-point range.
Bandon, meanwhile, shot nearly 40 percent and Thompson shot 4-for-7 on 3-pointers and scored 15 points. Senn had 15 points, six rebounds and five assists.
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