SPRINGFIELD – The Springfield Millers girls basketball team struggled with an unwavering Silverton defense and fell to the Foxes 41-38 at the Miller Pavilion on Thursday while top returner Ryan Kelley sustained a possible season-ending injury.
The recent history between the Foxes and the Millers is a symphony of upsets and conquests – one that would offer no other option than their relationship catching fire into an ablaze rivalry over time. In 2022, when a sophomore Danaeja Romero-Ah Sam started to rise, the seventh-seeded Millers upset No. 2 Silverton in the Class 5A girls state quarterfinals, despite losing their regular-season game with the Foxes earlier. The Millers then went on to clinch their state championship in 2023 and finish fourth in the state in 2024, downing the Foxes both seasons. However, the Millers persevered with a rather tight 47-42 win in 2023, juxtaposed with their 54-39 win the previous year.
“We were ahead by more last year, so we controlled the first three quarters better,” coach Joe Williamson said. “But then they had a really good fourth-quarter rally, so we ended up winning in overtime.”
So it was no surprise that Thursday’s game would be very physical and intense. The Millers’ Pavillon was an eruptious chorus of shouts, screams and slamming on Thursday night. Visiting families and home families on the benches took their turns from an enthusiastic roar to an angry grunt and boos. “We had two of our best players foul out and lost one starter to injury,” Williamson said about the fouls and physicality. “It was a lot of fouls, but I don’t think it was unfair.”
Kelley injured
At the start of the third quarter, Kelley, still recovering from a knee injury that caused her to miss last season, collapsed onto the Millers’ court after a defensive tussle. She buried herself in a fetal position while her sobs echoed in the gymnasium. Officials gathered around her and promptly stopped the game.
Amid the incident, a Springfield parent shouted out, “It’s that girl! She keeps pushing!” implying that Kelley’s injury was from a particularly physical player from Silverton. After a couple of minutes, she gathered herself up and walked off the court while held up by others for support. She was not seen in the Pavilion again for the rest of the game.
CRAIG STROBECK / THE CHRONICLE PHOTO
Williamson was gloomy after the game at the potential prospect of losing Kelley for another season. However, he emphasized that her status remains uncertain. Kelley sat out for the Crescent Valley game this Monday but her condition is yet to be determined.
The Millers’ biggest area of improvement after their first game against Canby on Monday was communication and “tightening up defense.” The Millers polished their defense enough for Silverton, but what they lacked instead this time was their offense.
“Our defense is good now,” Williamson said. “We had just a few break-downs tonight, but overall, the entire game we talked, we covered, and improved. What got us is that Silverton’s a very defensive team. We didn’t really get to run our offensive sets. That’s what makes us better, though, playing a team like that. Now we get to practice and tighten up our offense.”
The first half of the game was static for the Millers. The first quarter ended 9-3, in Silverton’s favor. The second, the Millers dealt with a 6-11-point deficit. It wasn’t until right before halftime that the Millers caught up with 10 points within a fi ve-min- ute rally. One of which was a two-point play from Darissa Romero-Ah Sam who made a steal, and got a layup right as the buzzer went off and brought the score to 21-16.
Darissa’s move sparked momentum for the Millers in the second half as they began to close it to a one-point game. “It felt like the opposite this year than last year’s game,” said Williamson. “They were ahead this time and instead, we were the ones rallying in the fourth quarter. And we did put ourselves in the position to win at the very end of the game, about the last 30 seconds, but we just fell short.”
Next up, the Millers travel to the annual Nike Tournament of Champions in Arizona. There, they’ll play regional teams around the area the entire weekend
