Three Millers earn All-Tournament awards for state
For every state basketball tournament the Oregon School Activities Association (OSAA) puts together two All-Tournament teams. These teams are composed of players who competed at a high level during the state tournament and three Springfield Millers girls made all-state teams.
Danaeja Romero-Ah Sam made 1st-team all-tournament for the second-consecutive year after averaging 14.3 points on 55% shooting and 4.7 steals over three games. This year she was joined on the 1st-team by sophomore JB Robinson, who averaged 16 points and 5.3 steals in the three wins.
Meanwhile sophomore Juju Henderson made her second consecutive 2nd-team all-tournament appearance after averaging 6.7 points, 6 rebounds and 1.7 blocks per-tournament game.
Five boys teams repeat as champs
During the two weeks of Oregon state basketball tournaments 12 champions were crowned, six boys teams and six girls teams. On the girls side no team repeated as champions. New winners were: Clackamas (Class 6A), Springfield (5A), Baker (4A), Banks (3A), Gervais (2A), and Damascus Christian (1A).
The boys side was almost the opposite, with five teams repeating as champions. Salem Academy (Class 2A) was the only non back-to-back champion. In Class 6A, No. 1 West Linn and Oregon-commit Jackson Shelstad were upset by defending champs No. 3 Tualatin 60-47. Class 5A was a similar story, with No. 1 Summit getting upset by defending champs No. 3 Wilsonville. Class 4A was Cascade repeating, Class 3A was Cascade Christian going back-to-back with 7-foot junior Austin Maurer, and Class 1A saw Crane dominate Crosshill Christian 58-26 in the most lopsided championship game of the year.
State tourneys give high schoolers big stage
One of the best things about state tournaments in Oregon is it gives high school athletes the chance to compete on the big stage. “The big stage” can have many different meanings. It can mean Class 3A teams traveling to Coos Bay for a weekend of bonding and competition. It can mean Class 5A teams heading to Corvallis to compete on Oregon State’s campus in the historic Gill Coliseum, which has been around since 1949. Or it can be Class 6A teams competing at University of Portland’s Chiles Center, which had its 4,852 seats sold out for the championship game of West Linn vs. Tualatin. Either way, state tournaments give high-school athletes a unique opportunity that they otherwise would never have.
