SPRINGFIELD, Ore. — It was an overcast Friday the 13th at Thurston High School, where the 8-12 Colts took on the 17-4 and defending 5A state champion, Crater Comets.
Thurston came into this game on a three-game losing streak that stretched all the way to Jan. 30th, in its win over Ashland. Meanwhile, Crater had been hot as of late, winning its last three games, all in dominant fashion. The two teams’ previous meeting earlier this year resulted in a 61-19 Crater victory on Jan. 16th.
Crater was ranked as the third best team in 5A going into this one according to OSAA, hoping to add another victory to its already promising season, and continue its quest of winning back-to-back state championships. Thurston was rated as the 18th best team coming into the game, on the outside looking in, when talking about playoff implications.
Early full-court pressure from Crater was a lot to handle for Thurston early on, resulting in a 25-0 Comet run to start the game, led by Oregon State commit Senior guard Taylor Young. Young’s sister, freshman Brynlee Young, was also a strong early contributor for the Comets, knocking down a couple of threes in the first.
The quarter ended with the Colts making a free-throw to add their first point on the board, but it was Crater that led after one, 25-1.
Turnovers were a problem for Thurston early, often leading to wide-open fast-break layups for Crater. Particularly Taylor Young, who herself had half a dozen steals in just the first half.
After the first quarter domination from Crater, it opted to stop the full-court press, which led to a little more offensive success for the Colts. But turnovers were still a problem as they trailed 46-7 going into the half.
Thurston focused its attention defensively towards Taylor Young in the second half, which allowed her to showcase her playmaking skills, finding open teammates near the rim to add a few assists to her stat line.
Crater was able to expand its lead to 78-11 in the third, with heavy thanks to its intense defensive presence.
It was Brynlee Young who was the star of the show for the fourth quarter, showing off her tremendous potential with two layups that felt very similar to the way her sister Taylor would score. With four minutes left in the game, Crater head coach Amber Adkisson decided to pull her starters and give her bench players a little court time. It was a dominant performance by this Crater team from start to finish, as it ended up winning emphatically 82-13, in a game that felt like it was over in the first quarter. The win allows Crater to have a battle with Springfield with the Midwestern conference regular-season title on the line.
As for Thurston, the loss makes its playoff aspirations that much slimmer. With just three regular-season games left for the Colts, they will likely have to win out to have any chance of making the playoffs.
Thurston will make the short trip east to take on the Springfield Millers next on Feb. 17th at 5:30 PM.