By Cambria Roth
With a first-year coach, Garron Lamoreau, this was supposed to be a rebuilding year for the Silverton High School girls’ basketball team.
Instead, the team proved it could succeed with determination, heart and unity.
“These girls didn’t even worry about stats, they had such great chemistry that it never came up,” Lamoreau said. “They liked each other and enjoyed being around each other which made them so much fun to be around and it made us a better team. With them the whole was greater than the sum of parts. They just wanted to win. They played for each other.”
The Lady Foxes finished above most people’s early season expectations when it entered the state playoffs as the No. 2 seed in the Mid-Willamette Conference after finishing 11-3 in conference and 19-4 overall. The team’s hopes of advancing to the girls’ state tournament in Portland were overcome Feb. 28 with a loss to the Sherwood Bowmen, 56-53, in the second round of 5A State playoffs.
“It hurt to get so close to the state tournament, something we wanted so bad, but to miss it by 3 points,” Lamoreau said.
One thing that made the Lady Foxes different from any other team and that no fan could help but notice was the support and compassion each girl had for one another.
“If one of us succeeded, we all succeeded. If one of us failed, we all failed. One of the words we put on the back of our shirts that we gave the players was family. And they really became one,” Lamoreau said. “No one wanted to be a star and that’s why we had a different high scorer almost every night.”
“In that sense I really think they created a legacy that will be carried on by future teams,” he said.
