THURSTON — A young and inexperienced Thurston girls basketball team downed the Ashland Grizzlies on campus Friday night, pulling away in the second half to win 59-38, its third straight victory.
Coach Kevin Durfee, in his second year at the helm, has focused on building a platform of success first and foremost. Last year the Colts were 7-17 and now they are 8-9. The results speak for themselves.
“The girls know what we’re doing now,” Durfee said about settling into this year. “I mean, we could have beaten them by a bigger margin – we were showing sportsmanship. We took our presses off.”
Payton Tovey and Addi Nelson remain the leading scorers for the Colts while Gabriella Montes leads in rebounds. Durfee explains that, coupled with his second-year system, the younger players’ athleticism has championed their success this season. This is evident with top players such as Payton Tovey, Kylee Skinner, and Jennifer Newell, who play high school volleyball and are on the year-round Game Day club volleyball team.
“It makes a big difference,” Durfee said. “We’ve got some kids that are real athletes and play a lot of sports. So we’ve got some teams in our league whose girls play almost no other sports except basketball.”
That athleticism is apparent in the Colts’ speed and conditioning. Tovey had a three-point play at one juncture where she made a steal, flew downcourt, and got a layup with an added free throw.
Though the Colts look strong at midseason, the real challenge is yet to begin. They face two crucial games coming up against teams they are tied with in league: North Eugene (3-3) and Eagle Point (3-3).
“Those games will be key. But we have a shot because we’re improving,” Durfee said.
