When it comes to women’s community college basketball this season, the South has risen again.
Fierce South Region rivals Lane and Clackamas each won their semifinal games Monday night at the Northwest Athletic Association of Community Colleges championships at the Toyota Center in Kennewick.
The two teams will meet at 5:30 p.m. today for the NWAACC title, and it’ll be their fourth meeting this season.
“It’s kind of how we hoped it would turn out,” said Clackamas sophomore Jenny Johnson, who scored 32 points to lead the Cougars past Skagit Valley 73-56 in the late semifinal. “We get another shot at (Lane). There has been some tension between the two teams. Nothing off the court, but on the court.”
For the record, Lane holds a 2-1 lead in their matchups.
But before they could meet, the two teams had to win their semifinals.
For Lane, now 29-2, it wasn’t hard, as the Titans rolled past Chemeketa — another South Region team — 83-58.
The Storm had high hopes of knocking off Lane, but it suffered a severe blow just two minutes into the contest when standout 3-point shooter Jordan Klebaum went down with a knee injury. She never returned.
Still Chemeketa stayed close with Lane for much of the first half, trailing 25-23 with 8:30 to play when Haley Guest sank a 3-point field goal.
But things started to click for the Titans, and it was Tori Mahaffie who led the way.
She alone went on a 10-0 run — four baskets and two free throws — starting at the 7:50 mark that gave Lane a 35-23 lead.
“Tori played fantastic tonight,” said Lane coach Greg Sheley of the 5-10 freshman from Willamette High School in Eugene. “She has had flashes of that all season.”
If that wasn’t enough, Lane went on another mini-run of 12-3 soon after Mahaffie’s scoring explosion, and by halftime the Titans had the game well in hand with a 47-31 lead.
“Our game plan was to keep them in front of us, make them shoot,” said Sheley. “I didn’t expect them to have nine 3’s.”
That included six of them by the Storm’s Briana Stacona, who finished with a game-high 28 points.
Mahaffie finished with 19 points and 12 rebounds, and Hermiston High School graduate Courtney Walchli added 13 points — including three treys in the first five minutes to get the Titans off to a quick start.
It took Clackamas a little longer to get its key run, like around the 11-minute mark in the second half.
Leading 41-39, Alex Howe sank a trey — and that started a 13-0 Clackamas run for a 54-39 lead. Howe had six points in the run, Johnson added five more, and Jordin Feldman added a basket.
But on this night it was Johnson who was the key player.
“The nice thing about this team is that a different person steps up each night for us,” said Johnson.
Clackamas co-coach Kaylas Steen agreed.
“There has not been a lot of weight on one person’s shoulders this season,” said Steen. “Numerous players have stpped up. We’ve had so many people in the double-digit scoring department.”
Jordin Feldman added 16 points for the Cougars. Sophia Baetz led the Cardinals with 19 points, while Laken McClelland added 16.
Lane 83, Chemeketa 58
CHEMEKETA — Stacona 9-20 4-5 28, Fredrick 3-11 4-7 10, Munson 1-5 3-5 5, Tillery 3-8 0-0 8, Klebaum 0-0 0-0 0, Shull 0-3 0-0 0, Guest 2-7 2-2 7, Kastrava 0-4 0-0 0. Totals 18-58 13-19 58.
LANE — K. Wilcox 3-7 1-2 9, Hannifan 4-6 1-2 10, Walchli 4-11 2-2 13, Shields 3-10 2-2 8, Mahaffie 8-17 2-3 19, Lucero 1-4 0-0 3, Rodriguez 0-0 0-0 0, Moore 0-0 1-3 1, Thompson 1-4 2-2 5, J. Wilcox 2-4 0-0 6, Schmidt 4-7 0-0 9. Totals 30-70 11-16 83.
Halftime—LCC 47, ChCC 31. 3-point goals—ChCC 9-28 (Stacoma 6-13, Tillery 2-5, Guest 1-2, Shull 0-2, Munson 0-1, Kastrava 0-1), LCC 12-30 (Walchli 3-10, K. Wilcox 2-2, J. Wilcox 2-4, Lucero 1-4, Thompson 1-4, Hannifan 1-1, Schmidt 1-2, Mahaffie 1-3). Rebounds—ChCC 27 (Stacona 6, Munson 6), LCC 52 (Mahaffie 12). Assists—ChCC 6 (Guest 3), LCC 19 (K. Wilcox 6). Turnovers—ChCC 10, LCC 10. Total fouls—ChCC 17, LCC 17.
Clackamas 73, Skagit Valley 56
SKAGIT VALLEY — Baetz 7-17 2-2 19, Kelleigh 1-4 0-0 3, McClelland 5-13 4-4 16, Johnson 1-3 0-0 2, Miki 4-11 1-2 9, Perrin 0-0 0-0 0, DeHaan 0-0 0-0 0, Duncan 0-0 0-0 0, Dolquist 1-1 0-0 2, Boyd 1-3 3-4 5, Miksovsky 0-3 0-0 0, Whitener 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 20-55 10-13 56.
CLACKAMAS — Effenberger 1-7 1-2 4, M. Feldman 2-5 0-0 4, Anderson 1-4 0-0 2, Wilkinson 1-3 0-0 2, Johnson 8-11 13-13 32, Elliot 1-4 4-4 7, Howe 2-4 1-2 6, Jamerson 0-0 0-0 0, J. Feldman 8-10 0-1 16. Totals 24-49 19-22 73.
Halftime—ClCC 26, SVC 25. 3-point goals—SVC 6-17 (Baetz 3-9, McClelland 2-4, Kelleigh 1-4), ClCC 6-22 (Johnson 3-4, Elliot 1-4, Effenberger 1-6, Howe 1-3, M. Feldman 0-1, Anderson 0-3). Rebounds—SVC 37 (Miki 8), ClCC 28 (Anderson 6). Assists—SVC 6 (Miki 3), ClCC 14 (Effenberger 5). Turnovers—SVC 21, ClCC 16. Total fouls—SVC 20, ClCC 14.
