The Philomath High School girls basketball team rallied from a six-point halftime deficit to win its season opener on the road over Junction City Saturday evening, 43-37.
Freshman Reagan Heiken came off the bench to score 16 points, including six in the fourth quarter, when the Warriors pulled away for good. Junior Anneka Steen battled foul trouble but still finished with nine points — seven of those coming in the third. Sophomore Emily Taunisila also had to sit for stretches because of fouls and finished with eight.
Junction City (0-1) held leads of 9-7 after the first and 23-17 at halftime. Junior Ophelia Johnson buried two 3-pointers in the second quarter to spark the Tigers. She finished with four 3-pointers for the game and along with 4 of 6 on foul shots, shared game-high scoring honors with 16.
“We started off a little slow — the offense looked a little rocky, we had too many turnovers,” PHS coach Ben Silva said. “We also missed a lot of shots that we will be making from now on.”
Philomath (1-0) took a 29-28 lead going into the fourth quarter after outscoring the home squad 12-5 in the third. Steen hit a big 3-pointer and was finding a rhythm at the hoop early in the quarter but had to sit again with a fourth foul.
“I guess that kind of slowed down our momentum there for a little bit but we played much better in the second half,” Silva said.
The Warriors scored six straight to open the fourth with Taunisila sinking a shot followed by back-to-back hoops by Heiken. The second of those Heiken hoops came on a third-chance putback on a play that also drew a foul. Heiken missed the opportunity for the three-point play but the Warriors had a seven-point lead at the 5:28 mark.
“She gave us a big spark off the bench,” Silva said, “and so did Shaylee May … she gave us a lot of energy and did a great job.”
Junction City’s Johnson hit her final 3-pointer to cut the deficit to four but the Warriors responded with a 6-1 run to create separation. Heiken hit a pair of free throws, junior Zoee Howard scored and Taunisila sank two foul shots during that stretch to give PHS a 41-32 lead with 1:05 left.
Heiken’s 16 points came on six field goals and 4 of 8 on free throws.
The Warriors will play their first home game at 5:30 p.m. Tuesday with a visit from South Albany, a 5A school that went 22-6 last season and will be playing its season opener at the PHS gym.
