By Jeremy McDonald

jeremymcdonald73@gmail.com

JEFFERSON, Ore.—The Jefferson Girls Basketball team’s press had come in the clutch when they needed it the most Saturday afternoon against Santiam.

The Wolverines entered the second quarter in the Lions 48-17 victory, riding some momentum down 11-4 following Jefferson’s 11-0 start to the game.  Santiam had an opportunity or two to close the game further before the Lion three-quarter, nearly full-court press regained its focus and had shut down the threat. 

Giving their offense an opportunity to capitalize and flip that slight change in fortune back into their favor with Jefferson finishing the game on a 37-13 rally on their Wolverine counterparts.

“We’ve been a little off lately with our games getting into it, but it was great to work together, talk and do good,” Gretchen Orton said.  “It was so much fun, so much fun.  It brought up the whole team, we started working harder.  It was really fun compared to the other games that we’ve had.  We’ve played hard teams.”

Orton finished with a game-high 19 points.  Emily Kunkel and Amira Saad each finished with ten points.

Kristen Crofoot led Santiam with seven points and Maddie Forste contributed another four as the rally over the final three quarters of the game served as a good learning experience.

“It’s been a rough start but I think we can improve by playing our game mentally,” Crofoot starts.  “I think we played badly because we weren’t in it mentally.  We need to go into practice just going in harder and thinking about the game’s we have and playing to win.”

Santiam travels to play Gervais Tuesday at 7pm while Jefferson plays host to Blanchet Catholic the same night at 6pm.

Photos By Jeremy McDonald