Playing at home for the first time in about a month, Henley girls and boys basketball delivered a pair of wins over Mazama in the first leg of this year’s South Side Series. Here’s how each game unfolded Thursday.
Girls: Henley 68, Mazama 15
Henley (14-0, 2-0 Skyline Conference) easily handled a Mazama (1-14, 0-2) team made up of mostly freshmen and sophomores, scoring the first 15 points and leading 25-7 at the end of the first quarter.
All nine Hornets players who dressed out scored as Henley led 39-13 at halftime and 58-13 after shutting out the Vikings in the third quarter. The Hornets also didn’t allow a field goal in the fourth quarter, which was played with a running clock (except on free throws). The 53-point margin of victory was their largest since a 93-40 win at Phoenix during the 2015-16 season.
The Hornets recorded 28 steals and forced several five-second violations on inbounds. Offensively, their scoring was very balanced, with only two players finishing in double figures.
Senia Campos led Henley with 16 points (including 7 in the third quarter), 4 steals, 2 rebounds and 2 assists, followed by Prestyn Schade with 13 points, 5 rebounds and 2 assists; Kennedi Modin with 9 points, 3 steals (her second straight game with both of those totals), 3 assists, 2 rebounds and 1 charge taken; Lily Fussell with 9 points, 5 steals, 4 rebounds and 2 assists; Bayli Ladner with 7 points, 5 steals and 5 rebounds; Annie Campos with 5 points, 6 steals, 4 rebounds and 2 assists; Mya Mauch with 4 points, 3 steals and 2 rebounds; Meredith Brown with 3 points and 2 assists; and Jewell Northcutt with 2 points and 2 rebounds.
Mazama’s scoring, though much lower, was also balanced; Leah Hernandez had 5 points, Shakyla Jackson had 3, Caelyn Davis, Hannah Giacomelli and Aurora Garcia each had 2, and Addison Slezak had 1.
The Henley girls have another long break before their next outing; they face Cascade at 5 p.m. Jan. 27. The game will be played at Hidden Valley High School.
Boys: Henley 50, Mazama 40
Henley (8-6, 1-1 Skyline Conference) got clutch buckets from three different players–Markus McCreadie, Chris Janney and Luke Bennett–in the final 2:09 to seal the win after a back-and-forth game in a packed gym.
Mazama (2-13, 0-2) climbed out to a 10-2 lead with 3:20 remaining in the first quarter, but the Hornets scored the next five points to make it 10-7 heading into the second, and four straight free throws from Markus McCreadie helped Henley take their first lead at 11-10 in the opening minute of the period. Trailing 15-13 after a Marcos Ulloa-Ford jumper at the 6:07 mark, the Hornets went on a 13-0 run over the next 3:30 to take a 26-15 lead. However, the Vikings’ Gabe Nanni responded with an individual 9-2 run to close the half, hitting a trio of 3-pointers in the final 2:37 to cut it to 28-24 at the break.
It took Mazama more than three minutes to score their first points of the third quarter, at which point Henley had built a 36-24 lead. Kai Hunt’s three sparked another Vikings run, though, as they outscored the Hornets 7-2 over the remainder of the frame to make it 38-31 at the start of the fourth.
Chris Janney put Henley back up double digits at 41-31 after converting an and-one with 6:13 left in the game, but Mazama chipped away again, and with 3:16 remaining the Hornets’ lead was reduced to 42-37.
After a timeout, the teams traded empty possessions before Aiden Hayes threw the ball to McCreadie in the paint and watched him power through heavy contact from three defenders to sink a jump hook, giving Henley a 44-37 lead with 2:09 to go. On the ensuing possession, Owen Harper rebounded a missed three, dribbled up court, and threw it to a wide open Chris Janney at the top of the key. He buried the triple to put Henley back up 10 with 1:40 on the clock.
After a Ryan Hayden putback made it 47-39 with 1:11 left, Luke Bennett took a pass from Hayes in the low post and hit a fadeaway over three defenders with 55 seconds to go, putting a damper on any momentum for a last-minute Vikings run.
McCreadie led the Hornets with 15 points (despite being held to 2 in the fourth quarter), 6 blocks and 5 rebounds, while Harper had 12 points and 6 rebounds. Bennett made a free throw after his game-sealing basket to finish with 7 points, 5 steals and 3 rebounds. All of Chris Janney’s 6 points came in the fourth quarter, and he also had 3 steals, 3 rebounds and 2 assists. Hayes ended up with 5 points, 5 steals and 3 rebounds. Other contributors for Henley were Bryson Montag with 2 points and 8 rebounds; Joe Janney with 2 points (his first of the season) and 2 rebounds; and Lane Frank with 1 point.
For Mazama, Kai Hunt had 17 points (including four threes), Gabe Nanni had 14 (including four first-half threes), Ryan Hayden had 4, Dominic Melgoza had 3 and Marcos Ulloa-Ford (an Oregon Tech baseball signee) had 2. The Vikings finished with nine made 3-pointers, including six in the first half.
The Henley boys are scheduled to host 5A Ashland at 7 p.m. Tuesday.
