Appearing in Oregon’s postseason basketball playoffs for the first time ever, the Trout Lake High Mustangs — “Road Warriors” — advanced to the OSAA Class 1A girls state tournament following a, 37-33, second-round state playoff win over the St. Paul Buckaroos (20-3) Saturday at St. Paul High School.
The No. 10-ranked Mustangs (13-3), the Big Sky League’s third-place team, overcame a one-point third quarter deficit and outscored the No. 6-ranked Casco League Champion Buckaroos, 16-11, over the last 11 minutes of the game to capture their second straight road playoff win. The Mustangs won, 45-34, over the Powder Valley High Badgers Feb. 23 in North Powder.
The victory over St. Paul propelled the Mustangs to the eight-team state tournament March 3-5 in Baker City. The Mustangs, guided by Coach Dennis Anderson, will play the No. 3-ranked Damascus Christian High Eagles (22-2) in the March 3 quarterfinals at 6:30 p.m. at Baker High School.
“It was just a hard-fought game against an evenly matched team, and we just played tough defense and we rebounded pretty well,” said Anderson of the St. Paul contest. “In the end, it was kind of the senior leadership from Wynsome Painter and Carme Brown that helped us hold them off. Having leadership is so important and those two have done that all season.
“This is so good for our kids. They’ve worked really hard, and they’re just so thrilled to be going. Every game has been a fight in the postseason, and they’ve really showed a lot of backbone. I couldn’t have a nicer group of kids to coach. They just get better every time they play.”
The evenly played, seesaw contest included five ties and six lead changes. Trout Lake took a 9-7 lead at the end of the first quarter after frosh Violette Anderson (13 points) sank a jumper in the lane. The Mustangs jumped in front 13-8 on a Willa McLaughlin steal and breakaway layup. The Buckaroos came back, outscoring the Mustangs 9-4 to knot it 17-17 at halftime.
The teams traded baskets at the outset of the third. An eight-foot side jumper by Brown lifted the Mustangs in front, 21-19, and forced a Buckaroo timeout with 5:19 on the clock. The Buckaroos took their final lead of the game, 22-21, with 3:40 left in the quarter, forcing a Mustang timeout.
“I’m very happy and it was kind of a stressful game, but we did pretty good,” said Brown. “Especially, being a seniors I think we’ve grown so much over the season and I’m so glad that we have the opportunity to go to Baker City and I’m so excited and I just can’t believe it, this is just great. I’ve been having so much fun and we’ve been working so hard. This is definitely the highlight of my basketball career.”
The Mustangs led 26-25 after three quarters and they matched their largest lead of the game, 32-27, when McLaughlin sank a free throw with 4:53 remaining. The Buckaroos trimmed the margin to 32-30 with 3:24 left. Following a Trout Lake timeout, McLaughlin sank a jumper in the paint — which proved to be the game-winning basket — putting the Mustangs in front, 34-30. St. Paul fought back, narrowing the margin to 34-33 with 1:29 left.
“Willa McLaughlin has been such a consistent post player for us this season,” said Coach Anderson of the junior, who her season average — 13 points — vs. St. Paul. “We have relied heavily on her rebounding (11 per game average) and scoring throughout this season and her defense has come on especially strong in the postseason. Gabby Basch’s defense has been very important for us these last three games, too. She has been playing excellent defense and rebounding well all season long. Freshmen Kinsley Lanz and Nancy Painter have been giving us important minutes as well and both are good defenders. Kinsley has been an important offensive contributor.”
After an exchange of possessions in which both teams had turnovers, Anderson was fouled with 27.5 seconds left and made one of two free throws for a 35-33 lead. On their ensuing possession, the Buckaroos missed an outside jumper and Anderson grabbed the rebound and was fouled with 12 seconds left. She missed both free throws, but there was a scramble for the loose ball as both teams were trying to get the rebound. Painter retrieved the ball and was fouled with 5.6 seconds on the clock. Painter sank one-of-two at the line for a 36-33 advantage.
“Moving into this new league (Big Sky) was a little scary because we didn’t know anything about the teams and it was the first time playing against them,” said Painter. “We have a pretty tough league and we’re so grateful to get third place and now to be able to win against a No. 1 team from another league, I’m so proud of my team and it’s been a great senior year. Heading to Baker City, we’ll just try to do our best there and we’ll come away from there with whatever we can. I’m just grateful that we get to go and that was our goal this year.”
The Mustangs’ full-court defensive press forced a Buckaroo turnover on St. Paul’s next possession. Anderson was fouled immediately on the Mustangs’ ensuing possession and she went to the line and sank a free throw for the final score. St. Paul was unable to score on its final possession of the game.
“I knew that if I made it, then it would be really hard for them (Buckaroos) to come back, because we were only ahead by three and if I missed then they would be able to make a three-pointer to tie it,” said Violette Anderson. “I was really under a lot of pressure, and I usually shoot better at the line, but I felt really nervous. I’m so excited about going to Baker, but I was feeling kind of nervous before the game, because I heard that they (Buckaroos) were a pretty good team.”
The Mustang players and the approximately 100 hometown fans who accompanied them to St. Paul then had a joyful celebration, with everyone hugging each other and giving high five’s, along with loud cheers.
“This is what we were hoping to do, but it sure was an uphill climb,” said Coach Anderson. “We’ve been on the road on both sides of the state, and they were up to the challenge and I’m just super happy.”
The winner of Thursday’s Trout Lake-Damascus game will play in Friday’s 8:15 p.m. semifinals against the winner of a quarterfinal match-up between Echo and North Douglas. Loser of Thursday’s game plays in a 10:45 a.m. consolation round contest Friday.
In last Wednesday’s first-round playoff game versus Powder Valley (14-12), the Mustangs jumped in front 20-8 at the end of the first quarter and never trailed the rest of the game. Painter scored a game-high 14 points and led the Mustang defense.
Trout Lake outscored the Badgers 10-6 in the second period, but Powder narrowed the 30-14 halftime margin to 39-25 after three. McLaughlin and sophomore Basch scored eight points, Brown had five and freshman Nancy Painter scored two.
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