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Evergreen back in league race

Plainsmen beat Skyview to stay in league-title race

By Paul Valencia, Columbian High School Sports Reporter
Published: January 22, 2011, 12:00am
2 Photos
Skyview center Katie Swanson (42) reaches for the ball as Evergreen forward Tori Conley (R) defends during first half of girl's basketball game at Evergreen.
Skyview center Katie Swanson (42) reaches for the ball as Evergreen forward Tori Conley (R) defends during first half of girl's basketball game at Evergreen. Photo by Steve Dipaola Photo Gallery

Just like that, there is a race for a girls basketball championship in the Class 4A Greater St. Helens League.

Shamerica Scott scored 16 of her 18 points in the second half, Justine Joudrey also scored 18 points as Evergreen pulled closer to Skyview with a 55-50 victory over the Storm on Friday night.

“It feels like we’re on our way to state after this win,” Joudrey said. “Our team has really come together. We’re so much better than we were at the beginning of the season.”

That whole state thing will have to wait, but the least challenging road to take to get to the state tournament would come from a league championship and a top seed for the bi-district tournament. The Plainsmen put themselves in position to fight for that spot.

Skyview fell to 6-1 in league play, while Evergreen improved to 6-2.

If both teams take care of business against the rest of the league, their third matchup of the season — Feb. 7 at Skyview — would be for the league title. Head-to-head record is the tiebreaker, and the two teams have split the first two games of the series.

Had Skyview won Friday night, the league title pretty much would have been secured.

“This game means we should have won the first one against them, to be honest with you,” said Scott, who also had nine rebounds. “It shows how good we are. We battled. We never gave up.”

Scott went 5 of 6 from the line in the first three minutes of a close fourth quarter. Joudrey’s three-point play with 4:30 remaining gave the Plainsmen a 50-49 advantage, a lead that would hold the rest of the period.

Skyview suffered from turnovers all night, including seven in the final quarter. The Storm were held to one point over the final 4:42 of the game.

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The Plainsmen, who had 13 steals, call it Code Blue.

“It means getting after them,” Joudrey said. “Our defense was amazing.”

“When we’re flowing, oh my goodness, we can’t be stopped,” Scott said.

Scott’s final two points, with 2:35 remaining, gave Evergreen a 53-49 lead.

“It was her night,” Evergreen coach Jay Foreman said. “It was Shamerica’s game.”

After another Skyview turnover, Scott made a perfect entry pass to Jessica Chatman for a lay-up and a 55-49 advantage with 2:15 remaining.

That six-point lead was the biggest margin either team had in this heated contest, which featured 14 lead changes and eight ties.

Delaney Keser, who made three 3-pointers, sparked the Storm with 17 points on 6-of-9 shooting. She had nine points in the second half, but the Skyview offense was hurt when Keser fouled out with 3:08 left in the game.

Aubrey Ward-El added 11 points and Katie Swanson had nine points and nine rebounds for Skyview.

Chatman had five steals and Joudrey had four for the Plainsmen, who pushed the pace but were not out of control themselves. Evergreen limited its turnovers to 13. The Plainsmen also won the battle of the offensive boards. Those rebounds, combined with the turnover edge, allowed Evergreen to take 19 more shots than Skyview.

“If we could get the pace to a frantic pace, we felt that would be to our advantage,” Foreman said. “We didn’t take as much advantage of our opportunities as we should have, but our frantic pace worked.”

Chatman finished with eight points, and post Tori Conley added seven points, including her first 3-pointer of the season.

By the end of the night, Skyview remained alone in first place. The cushion, though, is gone. Evergreen is right there.

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Columbian High School Sports Reporter