Benson girls basketball limited by West Linn in 6A state semifinals
ST. JOHNS – After overwhelming Oregon City the day before, Benson could not find a path to victory against West Linn in the state semifinals. The Astros fell to the Lions 55-44 on March 13 at Chiles Center, marking the end of the team’s 2026 state title aspirations.
One of the main reasons Benson was unable to get its scoring going was the interior defense West Linn played. In Benson’s quarterfinal matchup with Oregon City, sophomore Jayla Lackey recorded a 25 point-20-rebound game by dominating in the paint. West Linn took note, and limited the proficient sophomore to just six points and one rebound.
“They just really did a good job on doubling and tripling Jayla, so it was really hard for us to get her the ball,” Benson coach Precious Alex said after the game. “Jayla’s our go to, so it was hard for us to have entry passes for her. They did a good job of doubling down. I would say what was different…we played great defense, just us not having access to Jayla kind of trumped us a little bit.”
With Lackey limited, the scoring load shifted to Kemara Phillips, Kelyn Johnson and Samarah Massey who had 10 points, nine points, and eight points, respectively. But as a team, Benson shot just 29 percent from the floor and 15.8 percent from deep.
The first quarter was fairly even, with West Linn taking a 13-11 by the end of the stanza. Benson took 10 more shots than the Lions, but went 3-18 from the floor in the quarter. That was a trend that would dog the Astros throughout the game with West Linn being persistent in denying the close shot.
At the half things were still close with Benson trailing 28-25, but West Linn created space in the third quarter. The Lions outscored Benson 19-7 and never let the Astros within five points after the first bucket of the quarter. Benson trailed 47-32 after three quarters.
While the Astros were able to make up some ground in the fourth quarter, it was too little too late. While the two teams were even on turnovers with 15 apiece, Benson’s turnovers resulted in more chances for the West Linn offense.
“They capitalized on our turnovers a bunch, so we [couldn’t] really slip,” Alex said. “We needed to get out there and get to it. It was tough.”
Benson (25-3) will face Tualatin (26-2) in the third place game on March 14 at 1:15 p.m. at the Chiles Center. Tualatin fell to South Medford buzzer beater in the semifinals.
