By Mike Warner
For The New Era
Lebanon clinched a fourth-place finish in the Mid-Willamette Conference girls basketball standings last week with wins over Crescent Valley and Central.
The Warriors finish the regular season Tuesday at second-place South Albany. While Lebanon’s place in league is secure, another win could influence their positioning in the state tournament.
Lebanon 61, Crescent Valley 58
After celebrating their seniors Friday night, Feb. 27, the Warriors delivered a close, hard-fought win over the visiting Raiders, who came into the game one step below Lebanon in the league standings and were loaded for bear.
The teams faced each other knowing their opponent’s strengths and weaknesses. Both teams had quality players and exceptional coaching. The upshot: The team with the fewest mistakes would have the best chance to win.
Lebanon exerted its influence and took a 20-16 lead at the end of the first quarter. The second quarter was much the same, the Warriors extending their lead at halftime to 34-28.
One issue was that Lebanon’s starting center, Hazel Pepperling, got into foul trouble and had to sit for parts of the last three quarters. That allowed Crescent Valley to narrow the score.
At the end of the third quarter, Lebanon was down to a 44-43 lead.
Two good things came from Pepperling’s forced hiatus. First, the team learned to play significant time without her on the floor. Second, her backup, younger sister Harper, a freshman, played exceptionally well and filled in admirably in Hazel’s absence.
The Warriors’ toughness and grit won out in the end, despite their shooting leaving something to be desired. Lebanon hit only 30.2% (16-52) from the field and 21.5% (6-29) from the three. Their free throw shooting was much better at 65.6% (21/32).
In fact, one of the keys to the win was the number of free throws taken (32) and made (21) compared to Crescent Valley’s (three for seven). In addition, Lebanon forced 21 turnovers, including 18 steals. Finally, Lebanon had eleven assists on the sixteen made baskets which is a very high average and shows strong teamwork.
Contributors for the Warriors included some regulars and several new participants. Despite her foul trouble, Hazel Pepperling recorded another double-double with 12 points, 11 rebounds, five steals and three blocks; and Peyton Vorderstrasse recorded sixteen points, three rebounds, two assists and five steals.
New contributors making themselves known were Jayden Hare, who scored nine points and recorded four rebounds and two steals, and Harper Pepperling, who scored 11 points, with two rebounds and one steal.
Girls Dominate Central
The girls were on the road Tuesday, Feb. 24, at Central. The Warriors hosted the Panthers earlier in the season and recorded a dominating win.
Tuesday was much the same as Lebanon won easily, 70-34.
As Coach Andrew Evans said, “The girls came out fired up and responded well from our showing against West. A huge focus for us is having a ‘next play’ mentality and that’s with all adversity we deal with and the girls have been getting better with this idea each day.”
The Warriors set the tone early, leading 16-9 after the first quarter.
Their pressure defense and up-tempo offense took control and never let go. The Warriors led 44-15 at the half, then continued to press in the second half, leading upping their lead to 58-26 at the end of the third quarter.
Lebanon’s shooting was much improved in this game, making 41.2% (28-68) from the field, including a strong 33.3% (10-30) from three. Free throw shooting 44.45 (4-9), normally a strong point, was a non factor, given the pace of the game.
The Warriors’ defense was key, creating 19 steals and 12 other turnovers to ease the way for their offense.
Contributors to the game were Hazel Pepperling, who recorded another double-double with 17 points, 10 rebounds, five assists and six steals; Vorderstrasse, whose improved offensive efficiency was evident as she scored 11 points on just five shots from the field and two free throws. She also recorded eight rebounds, five assists, three blocks and three steals.
Piper Sewell also had a strong game, scoring 16 points and recording three rebounds. Finally, VandenBos scored 11 points, making four Warriors who scored in double figures.
