Photo courtesy of God’s Gifts Photography
No. 3 seed Henley (23-2) saw a 22-point second-half lead reduced to six, but the Hornets held on for a 72-60 win over No. 14 seed St. Helens (15-8) in the first round of the 4A playoffs.
It’s the second year in a row Henley has eliminated St. Helens in the first round. The second-seeded Hornets beat the 15th-seeded Lions 71-48 in last season’s matchup.
“I expected them to give it their all,” Henley head coach Randy Denson said. “They had a nothing-to-lose mentality…I was expecting a fight, and I was just glad that we were able to pull through.”
The Hornets, who hadn’t played a game since Feb. 25, fell down 7-2 with 3:51 remaining in the first quarter but went on a 17-2 run the rest of the period to take a 19-9 lead. A 9-0 run over the last 3:18 of the second quarter pushed the advantage to 39-21 at halftime, with sophomore Prestyn Schade scoring five points in the final minute.
Henley took its largest lead of the game at 51-29 when senior Anna Harper cleaned up her own missed jump shot with 3:31 remaining in the third quarter. This time, it was the Lions who closed the frame with a big run, outscoring the Hornets 12-0–including seven straight points from junior Maddie Hancock–to cut the lead to 51-41 entering the fourth quarter.
Another Hancock bucket drew St. Helens within 52-46 with 6:44 left in the game, but Henley junior Lily Fussell answered immediately with a 3-pointer on the other end. The Hornets regained their footing after that, and the Lions never got closer than seven points again.
“I think it was great for us to get tested a little bit, get pushed around a little bit,” Denson said. “That’s what it’s going to be like in the final site, and I was just glad that we learned about ourselves a little bit tonight.”
Schade finished with 15 points, 3 assists and 2 rebounds; Fussell had 14 points, 10 rebounds, 4 steals and 3 assists (her second double-double of the season); freshman Makayla Schroeder had 13 points and 15 rebounds (her 18th double-double of the season); junior Senia Campos had 13 points; Harper had 12 points, 9 rebounds and 3 steals; junior Kennedi Modin had 3 points, 2 rebounds and 2 steals; and senior Bayli Ladner had 2 points, 5 rebounds, 5 steals and 2 assists.
Hancock led St. Helens with 20 points (16 in the second half), junior Devan Lee had 15 (including three triples), senior Michaela Dueck had 10 (including two threes), junior D’Aye Davidson had 7, senior Bella Meuchel had 6 and sophomore Libby Hasenkamp had 2.
The Lions made a total of nine threes, while the Hornets made four.
With the win, Henley advanced to the OSAA quarterfinals for the third year in a row, a feat the program hasn’t accomplished since making it to four straight quarterfinals from 1988 to 1991. The Hornets made three consecutive trips to the OSAA 3A State Championships from 1999 to 2001, when 16 teams rather than the current eight advanced to the final site.
St. Helens graduates four seniors from this year’s team: Dueck, Meuchel, Mckenna Eagleston and Nyah Schur. The Lions’ 15 wins were their most since winning 21 games in the 1996-97 season, and the program recorded back-to-back playoff appearances for only the second time, previously doing so in 1989 and 1990.
Henley faces No. 11 seed Baker (17-9) in the quarterfinals of the OSAA 4A State Championships at Forest Grove High School at 6:30 p.m. March 13. The Bulldogs upset No. 6 seed Marshfield 59-46 in the first round Friday.
