By Jeremy McDonald

jeremymcdonald73@gmail.com

AMITY, Ore.–  A little confidence can go a long way, and Amity found that out in a good way Saturday night in their 53-30 win over Rainier.  A win that has sent the Warriors to Coos Bay for the 3A Final Site for the first time since the 2015-2016 season.

The Coulmbians had Amity within reach going into the second quarter, down 15-10 to the PacWest Conference Champions in the Warriors on the heels of Mya Haarasma’s fastbreak lay-in at the buzzer pushed the then-lead to two possessions as they came out for the second eight minutes with some momentum.  But what was coming was probably a prime look of what the Warriors could do if given the chance.

Behind strong defense, pressuring for turnovers and get up shots, eventually the 15-10 lead evolved into a 32-14 lead by the mid-game intermission.

“We just got our confidence back.  There’s a lot of people in the gym, there’s a lot of us in our first playoff game.  We haven’t had the experience and then in that second quarter we just kind of clicked,” Haarasma msam said. “We kind of let-go and calmed down and we were ready to go.”

Confidence.  They’ll need that in a big way.  There’s no easy games once you get to the postseason.  It gets tougher once you get to the final site.

And for Amity, their next one is tough:  Sutherlin.

The two teams met before at the Crusader Classic with the Bulldogs, coming off their lone loss of the season to Gervais, winning by thrity in the non-league match-up as the Warriors look to try to step-up their game in the rematch on Thursday.  Building from this big playoff experience going into the next two games that are guaranteed.  

“It was a huge game.  It was a really good experience for all of us and we have practice on Monday and Tuesday and work hard and prepare for Sutherlin,” said Haarasma.

“We’re going to carry this momentum right into Coos Bay.  We’re going to strive through this and keep going,” adds Sara Grove.  “Be patient mainly.  Playing our own game, taking open shots and not letting them get into our heads of how good they are and how hard it’s going to be.”

Grove hit four of the Warriors five first half three-pointers, she finished with 16 points in the win  with Amity pushing their lead to 44-18 after three quarters.  Haarasma finished with 13 and Ellie McMullen finished with seven.  Amity’s quarterfinal game is slated for 6:30pm at Marshfield High School.

Lacey Makinson led Rainier with 11 points.

Photos By Jeremy McDonald