Behind monster performance from Jayla Lackey, Benson girls basketball advances to state semifinals

ST JOHNS – It wasn’t easy, but No. 3 Benson Polytechnic High School girls basketball got the 70-52 win over 11-seed Oregon City to advance to the 6A state semifinals on March 12 at the Chiles Center.

A big part of the Benson path to victory was the rebounding; the Astros outrebounded the Pioneers 45-16, including 24-4 on the offensive glass. A big part of that was the play of sophomore post Jayla Lackey, who scored 25 points and recorded 20 rebounds, including 15 offensive rebounds.

“What makes Jayla go is that she has the ability to have her back to the basket and face up,” Benson coach Precious Alex said. “That is something every big person, per se, they don’t have the ability to do that until later on in their career, until college. But Jayla feeds off her guards and she can move around and they see her at all the angles. That really helps her. And her footwork is excellent; she gets double teamed, triple-teamed, quadruple-teamed, and she still seems to get out of it with her footwork.”

While Lackey stacked the scoresheet by the end of the game, she had a quiet start. The sophomore tallied just five points and two boards in the first quarter; Benson found its highest scorer of the stanza in Kelyn Johnson with six points. The senior hit a pair of early threes from the right wing to give Benson the early edge.

But Oregon City would not be put away easily by the higher seed. The Pioneers battled until the end of the quarter, finishing ahead of the three-seed 16-15 after eight minutes.

In the second quarter, Benson again found itself even with Oregon City, finishing the half knotted up 30-30. The finish to the second quarter was one that indicated momentum shifting into Benson’s favor. In a full court press, Benson forced a steal with 10 seconds to go leading to a field goal, and then causing an Oregon City turnover on the ensuing possession.

Benson coach Alex was frank with her team’s performance in the first 16 minutes.

“I told them, you guys got a little bit comfortable, we got to step up our defense,” Alex said. “We came in a little relaxed because they were a lower seed. And you can’t think that, numbers don’t matter. So you have to step your defense up and play Benson basketball, which is defensive basketball, so we had to turn it around in the second half.”

Her squad responded.

The Astros outscored Oregon City 21-11 in the frame, getting into the paint and finding a way to score. Lackey had nine points in the quarter to go with seven rebounds, and Koko Solis-Beasley had eight points to go with two assists and four boards.

In the fourth quarter, Benson once again held Oregon City to 11 points. Benson’s defense forced 12 steals and recorded six blocks, including an emphatic block by Lackey in the third quarter to send a driving Oregon City layup out of play. Guards Londyn Dyton and Samarah Massey had team high four steals apiece.

Alex shouted out her guards after the game for their play.

“My guards: Londyn Dyton, Kemara Philips and Koko (Solis-)Beasley, that is my team,” Alex said. “That is my jump team. They worked so well off each other and feed off each other. Our guard play is excellent and Samarah Massey takes over sometimes and runs the show, which I expect her to. But they all did well. Even Jaiden Young coming off the bench, getting important rebounds, that was really good.”

Lackey finished with the aforementioned 25-20, while Massey finished the game with 16 points, 9 rebounds, 4 assists and 4 steals; Solis-Beasley finished the game with 11 points, 5 rebounds and 3 assists; and Kelyn Johnson finished the game with 8 points, 3 rebounds and 2 blocks.

The Astros advance to the sixth semifinal in program history and continue to chase their second-ever title. The lone crown came in 2019 and they recently made the title game, falling to South Medford in the 2024 final.

Benson (25-2) faces West Linn at 8:15 p.m. March 13 at Chiles. West Linn advanced to the semifinals after defeating Nelson 56-36 in its quarterfinal matchup.