South wing Emma Burlison, ’26, prepares to release a jump shot from the left side of the key. Photo taken by Ariana Guzman, ’27.
Champions At Last
Entering this past weekend, South Salem’s Lady Saxons took on the Capitol City Classic with their best start since the 2021-2022 season — 3-0. And, after three more victories, they hailed the tournament trophy — their first time after five years of participation.
Held at Chemeketa Community College, South played in the Camry division alongside Amity, Cascade, Central, Grants Pass, Newberg, North Eugene and Sprague High School(s). Capitol City engineers the tournament so that each team plays three times; South played North Eugene, Cascade and Amity on December 19, 20 and 22, respectively.
Road to the End: Triumph Over First Two Games
North Eugene’s Highlander squad was South’s first opponent this tournament. At tip off, the Highlanders stood at 3-2, strolling in off a 43-27 win against Putnam High. Although a 5A Division school — typically less competitive — North Eugene stuck with the Lady Saxons for the entirety of the game. It was a full four quarters of battle; the game came down to its’ final minutes. Although South Salem was inevitably victorious, it was by a slim margin of three points. It was their closest contest of the tournament and of their entire season thus far.
The following night, South tipped off at 8:30 p.m. against the Cascade High Cougars. Like North Eugene, Cascade is in a less-competitive classification (4A). While in a smaller division, the Cougars entire athletics program is notoriously excellent. With a freshly-crowned champion football team and a perennial contending volleyball team, their basketball team looked to follow suit. And, for the majority of Saturday’s game, they were fighting like a top-tier squad. They held a lead in the fourth quarter and were building up to hand South their first loss of the season. But, on the back of 5-foot-10 senior wing Emma Burlison, the Saxons crept back into the lead. The senior was available all over the floor for her team, whether it was beyond the arc or driving her way into the paint, muscling her way through. They were successful in preventing another Cascade push, in turn winning the game 59-53.
South Versus Amity: The First Half
With the tournament trophy and a 3-0 tournament record on the line, South came into their game against Amity with high pressure. Their 3A division opponents came into the match with their own undefeated season — 5-0 at the time.
While the previous on-court game ran past South’s 8:30 p.m. tip off, they warmed up in unison, adorned in their classic blue warm-ups. When they eventually took the court, they sent out Chica Casas, ’26, Leah Ioane, ’27 and Frankie Hamill, ’26 for the back court and Emma Burlison and Brook Tate, ’26 for the front court.
South sent out the 5-foot-11 Tate to jump against Amity’s 6-foot Kylie Wilson, ’26. While undersized, Tate won the jump, earning South the possession; which meant that they would start the fourth quarter with the possession again.
Despite controlling the game early on, South was scoring primarily off of free throws, not off of field goals.
During one of Amity’s free throw attempts, fans and media could hear South’s Head Coach Adrian Lewis speaking to his team about his frustrations on the matter,
“We’re just scoring off free throws, ladies, come on.”
After finishing the first quarter in the lead, both South and Amity had quick intermissions addressing the strengths and weaknesses of that first quarter. Although they both planned to adapt, the second quarter looked identical to the first. South never let Amity within six points, and it would stay that way. South stopped them from scoring on the last possession of the second, leaving the score at 27-21, in South’s favor.
Second-Half Success
Now in the third, both teams began to exhibit their range and three-point prowess. Ioane, Burlison and Tate were the only Lady Saxons to make a three-point shot this game. For Amity, their wings Haley Miersma, ’26, and Adelynne Slowik, ’29 sunk a few of their own long-range shots as well.
Almost simultaneously, as South’s shot distance expanded, so did their lead. In the midst of a South scoring run, when nerves on both sides were high, referee’s called a controversial call. South’s Ioane was looking to take the ball back up to the top of the key when she collided with Miersma. While Amity’s fan section was in uproar over Miersma falling to the floor, she had fouled Ioane, awarding her two free throws.
South seemed to build off of this moment and find another sense of connectivity. From this point in the third, they held a minimum of 10 points over Amity’s head. The last time Amity looked to have a chance at a come back was in the beginning of the fourth, when wing Eliza Nisly, ’26, had a chance at the game’s first four-point play. The senior got fouled on a made three point shot, and then sunk the free throw.
But following that, Amity did not muster another rally. After 32 minutes of regulation play, the Warriors lost to the Lady Saxons, slipping to 5-1 on their season and upping South to 6-0.
After the typical high five line and congratulatory celebrations, South Salem hoisted the Capitol City Classic trophy for the first time in program history.
