Mid-Willamette: West Albany Closes Out South Albany 60-53

<!-- wp:heading --> <h2 class="wp-block-heading">The Bulldogs are favored to win the MWC</h2> <!-- /wp:heading --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>The No. 4 West Albany Bulldogs broke the tie at the top of the Mid-Willamette Conference table after closing out a 60-53 late-game victory over the No. 2 South Albany RedHawks at home on Tuesday night.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Both teams' Division 1-level stars shone brightly.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>West Albany's junior [player_tooltip player_id='832050' first='Payton' last='Starwalt'] started strong, leading the Bulldogs to a game-high 16-point lead in the second quarter. The point guard scored a game-high 31 points with 5 three-pointers and 5 assists.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>South Albany's senior guard/forward [player_tooltip player_id='832587' first='Taylor' last='Donaldson'] led the comeback charge that put the Redhawks ahead by 2 points midway through the final frame. The Wyoming commit scored a team-high 25 points with 4 three-pointers and 4 assists.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:embed {"url":"https://twitter.com/RyStar7_/status/2021465118115234134?s=20","type":"rich","providerNameSlug":"twitter","responsive":true} --> <figure class="wp-block-embed is-type-rich is-provider-twitter wp-block-embed-twitter"><div class="wp-block-embed__wrapper"> https://twitter.com/RyStar7_/status/2021465118115234134?s=20 </div></figure> <!-- /wp:embed --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>West Albany (14-5, 10-1), now 2-0 against the RedHawks, returns to the top of the MWC table, one game clear, and is favored to secure the conference title with five winnable games remaining. Meanwhile, South Albany (15-4, 9-2) drops to second place, tied with Silverton (14-6, 9-2). The Redhawks and the Foxes could be battling it out for second place on Feb. 24.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:acf/box-score {"name":"acf/box-score","data":{"game":["1485476"],"_game":"field_6a1b2c3d4e5f7"},"mode":"preview","alignText":"left","anchor":"acf-block-698ced6c6bd8a"} /--> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>West Albany started the game strong on Tuesday night. Starwalt led things with 10 points in the opening frame, including two three-pointers. The Bulldogs ended the first frame ahead 21-9 and continued to build their lead to a game-high 16 points early in the second, behind 7 unanswered points from the point guard, including a trademark logo three.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>The RedHawks took a timeout to gather themselves and responded with a 10-0 run, sparked by a Donaldson three-pointer, to cut the deficit to 3 points (30-27) late in the quarter.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>But Starwalt answered immediately on the next possession with a pull-up three-pointer, her fourth of the night. She scored 12 points in the second frame, and the Bulldogs went into halftime with a 35-29 lead.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Donaldson contributed to two three-pointers at the start of the third quarter to level things (35-35), and the RedHawks led shortly for the first time by 2 points midway through the frame.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Starwalt responded immediately with a drive and layup to her strong side, the start of a 12-2 run she sparked for the Bulldogs.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>But Donaldson ended the frame with a 7-0 run of her own, including a buzzer-beater jump shot just inside the arc to put the RedHawks within 1 point (47-46) going into the fourth.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>South Albany's senior guard Kaylee Cordle got to the line and scored her third three-pointer of the game early in the last quarter. Cordle finished with 12 points.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>The RedHawks sent an extra defender to contain [player_tooltip player_id='832050' first='Payton' last='Starwalt'] on the perimeter and took a 2-point lead midway through the final frame. But the double team on Starwalt left other Bulldogs open, including sophomore [player_tooltip player_id='1263197' first='Payton' last='Warner'], who scored 5 crucial points off the bench in the fourth quarter.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Junior [player_tooltip player_id='926138' first='Lola' last='Chamberlain'] delivered the clutch play for West Albany. The forward scored on a tough take from the perimeter to the rim to put the Bulldogs ahead by 3 points with 90 seconds remaining in the final frame. Chamberlain finished the game with 12 points, 5 rebounds, and 2 blocks.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Out of a timeout, still down three points with about 1 minute left, [player_tooltip player_id='914433' first='Taylor' last='Bailey'], who netted three three-pointers earlier in the game, had a good look from beyond the arc, but left it short off the front rim. [player_tooltip player_id='1179226' first='Lily' last='Hamblin'], who finished the night with 11 rebounds, grabbed the defensive board for the Bulldogs and quickly passed to Starwalt.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>South Albany fouled to stop the clock, the team's third. Precious time ticked away as they continued to foul to get West Albany into the bonus.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>With 19.5 seconds left, Chamberlain knocked down both bonus free throws to put the Bulldogs ahead by two possessions (58-53).</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Donaldson airmailed a three-pointer on the next time down.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>With 5.8 seconds left, Starwalt went to the bonus line to net two more points.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>The Bulldogs and Redhawks don't meet again in regular-season play, but could cross paths at the 5A state tournament in March.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph -->