#1 Clatskanie vs #16 De La Salle North Catholic
Clatskanie is the top team again in 2020 led by player or the year Shelby Blodgett and 1st team all League Olivia Sprague. This team is a lot more than those two as they have 2-3 other key players in Cloee McLeod, Alexis Smith and Kaity Sizemore who contribute on a daily basis. Earlier on in the year Kaity Sizemore had a career night leading clatskanie to a victory, this shows Clatkanie can still at the highest level when their two stars are not playing at their highest potential. De La Salle is a team that is 11-11 and barely made the state tournament. They stumbled early in the season but made a late run to grab the second season in the Lewis and Clark League. This game might be close for the first quarter as De La Salle is scrappy but Clatskanie is just to good and most likely will blow this thing open in the second half
Score Prediction: Clatskanie 70 De La Salle 38
#2 Sutherlin vs #15 Portland Adventist
Sutherlin is another elite team with only two losses one from #1 ranked Clatskanie and 4A #1 Philomath. This team is unstoppable when they are shooting the three well as they have two sharpshooters in Kiersten Haines and Micah Wicks. The biggest pickup for Sutherlin this year was the transfer from Douglas High School Amy Dickover, a 6’1 post who has helped this team take the next step this season. This Portland Adventist team is led by Mckenna Maclachlan and Ellie Mclain, the only seniors. This is an average team that plays together but lacks a true scorer that could take over games. With this all being said this shouldn’t be a close game, PAA will travel about 3 hours to Sutherlin and will be looking up to a bigger faster Bulldog squad.
Score Prediction: Sutherlin 78 Portland Adventist 43
#3 Pleasant Hill vs #14 Horizon Christian
Pleasant Hill has a great group of players who play well together, they gave us a scare early on in the season barely beating Dayton at the Dayton Tournament but responded really well the rest of the season by beating two other playoff teams in their league (Harrisburg three times and Santiam Christian two times). This team has been so close to the playoffs for the last three seasons and this should be the year they’ll be making a trip to Coos Bay. This team has a solid group of shooters and just pure athletes. This team should win in the first round, but Horizon Christian might give them a good game as they have shown they can beat top teams as they beat Salem Academy and Oregon Episcopal earlier on in the season. This should be a lower scoring ball game with Pleasant Hill winning by 12-13.
Score Prediction: Pleasant Hill 55 Horizon Christian 42
#4 Willamina vs #13 Cascade Christian
This Willamina team beat Clatskanie in league with a late bucket, this shows that under the right circumstances they also could be competing for at least a second day in Coos Bay if they get a favorable matchup. Willamina is tall and has some shooters that really make this team consistent and keep on winning as they have won 16 of their last 19 games with three of those losses being top ranked teams (Clatskanie twice and Sutherlin). Cascade Christian got stuck in a loaded conference, they looked pretty good early on in league play with a win over Brookings-Harbor but ever since that game they haven’t been able to compete vs the top teams in the league. Willamina should win this one as CC is on a long drive and Willamina will be motivated to make a trip to Coos Bay as this has been a big goal of the team and in this matchup are the better team.
Score Prediction: Willamina 50 Cascade Christian 42
#5 Brookings-Harbor vs #12 Salem Academy
This will be an interesting game as on paper Brookings-Harbor is at home where they play well in front of a packed crowd and rambunctious student section. This game will be all up to how well the supporting cast of brooking-Harbor plays as Lexi Schofield is the clear best player on this team, but players like Sierra Fitzhugh, Sidney Alexander and Shelby Jirsa need to play well if they want to potentially make this 15+ game at the end of regulation. This Salem Academy team is led by Kayla Bauldree,Chloe Baker and Aubrey Smith. Salem Academy has a solid starting 5 but without a strong bench will make it hard for them to compete in this game late. However, they do have a height advantage on Brooking-H which might lead to bad mismatches and some early buckets early on.
Score Predictions: Brookings H 63 Pleasant Hill 49
#6 Burns vs #11 Santiam Christian
This will actually be a good matchup as both of these teams can shoot the three ball well and have scrappy players that are always on the ground and diving for the loose ball. Burns is lead by Co player of the year from the Eastern Oregon League in Allie Hueckman, but this team is much more than just her as they have 4-5 other very skilled players that compliment her playing style perfectly. This season was rough on Burns as they lost two players to season ending injuries and still managed to host a playoff game. This Santiam Christian team is really hit or miss, they are lead by Player of the Year in the Mountain valley Conference Audrey Miller and the supporting cast is not too shabby either with 2nd team all league Tayla Host and Honorable mention Aliyah Atkins. This team has been up and down the second half of league play but watch for them to at least be competitive in this one
Score Prediction: Burns 42 SC 33
#7 Oregon Episcopal vs #10 Vale
This should be a very competitive game as both of these won their leagues outright, but since Vale lost to Burns in the District Playoff Championship game they lost the right to host. Both of these teams are really good with Oregon Episcopal ending the regular season 19-3 and Vale 16-8 which has only last to one 3a team all year. We picked this one to be upset because of how good Vale has been all year and the lack of competition in the Lewis and Clark league. Oregon Episcopal did beat Willamina early on which is a great win but the rest of the teams that they played are weaker opponents with HC being the next highest ranked in this league at #14. We could easily be wrong as this should be a close game and a long road trip for Vale. However, Vale made the long trip over to Portland last season and pulled out an upset in that one also so it can happen again.
Score Prediction: Vale 45 OES 38
#8 Yamhill-Carlton vs #9 Harrisburg
This game might be one of the closer games in the first round as Yamhill-Carlton has really turned the corner and has improved a lot other the season. This YC team is led by Aliya Seibel,Olivia Southard and point guard Kate Gomes. They are a good team overall that will be challenged by a good Harrisburg team that is looking to beat this YC team for the second time this season. This Harrisburg team is led by Sammy Christensen, Mya Langley and Hope Bucher who have all played well this season finishing second in league after they stumbled early on to Santiam Christian and League Champion Pleasant Hill. This team is fun to watch and has good ball movement that allows Sammy Christensen to take over when she needs to. We have this game pegged as a toss up as Yamhill-C has improved drastically from the beginning of the season and are looking for revenge.
Score Prediction: Harrisburg 47 YC 44
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