3A Basketball: Warriors set for win-or-go-home, Pirates late rally falls short

Feb. 17

Amity 57

Blanchet Catholic 63

After splitting the regular-season series, the No. 19-ranked Amity boys basketball team (16-9, 12-4) played its closest game to date against No. 9 Blanchet Catholic (19-6, 13-3) but was on the wrong end of a first-round PacWest playoff match.

Amity entered the league playoffs as the No. 3 seed, but with the loss, will have to defeat No. 21 Scio (14-10, 8-8) to earn a berth into the 3A state tournament.

The Warriors won at Scio, 61-50, on Dec. 11, but lost to the Loggers, 55-52, at home on Jan. 23. Amity hosts the win-or-go-home match at noon in the Warrior gymnasium on Saturday.

Feb. 18

Dayton 40

Santiam Christian 46

The No. 26-ranked Pirates girls basketball team (13-12, 7-9) ended its season on Wednesday in a first-round PacWest tournament loss at No. 21 Santiam Christian (13-13, 10-6).

Offense was hard to come by for the Pirates in the first half, as they trailed 9-7 following the first quarter and 24-15 during the midway intermission.

Junior forward Hadley Hughes turned on the jets in the third quarter, scoring 14 of the team’s 16 points to bring Dayton back within four at 35-31 in the lead up to the final eight minutes.

Both teams spread the floor a little more in the final quarter. With three minutes remaining, the Pirates trailed by nine, but 3-pointers from Lou Auvil and Jayden Mayhew helped the Pirates cut the deficit to 45-40 with just under a minute left.

Dayton tried to force a turnover but was unable to find late magic as Santiam Christian made a free throw to close out the game.

Hughes led with 17 points, while Mayhew added nine. Auvil tallied six and Charlie Upmeyer fought for eight.

The Pirates finished fifth in the PacWest and above .500 for the first time since the 2021-22 season. First-year Dayton Head Coach and longtime regional mentor Bruce Moore was proud of the character and perseverance shown by his squad throughout the year.

“We did some pretty amazing things these past three months, and now we have a benchmark established to begin working toward the next level,” Moore said.