Springfield Millers upset No. 2 Silverton in 5A girls state quarterfinals

It was a day of upsets at the Class 5A girls basketball tournament, and before the lights turned out in Gill Coliseum Thursday night, Springfield made sure it got in on the action.

The seventh-seeded Millers advanced to the semifinals with a 29-20 victory against No. 2 Silverton in the last of four quarterfinal games.

Sophomore Danaeja Romero-Ah Sam led Springfield (20-7) with 14 points, five assists and four rebounds as the Millers became one of three lower-seeded teams to make the semifinals.

The biggest upset was No. 9 Crescent Valley beating No. 1 Willamette, 48-45. No. 11 Putnam also took down No. 3 Crook County, 74-42, setting up an 8:15 p.m. game Friday against the Millers.

“We expected to win just because we’ve been playing so well lately,” Springfield coach Joe Williamson said. “And our defense has been giving people problems.”

It certainly did against Silverton.

The Foxes (21-5), which had won 19 of their last 20 games and were averaging 50.7 points per game, gave themselves no chance to advance thanks to an offensive performance that started bad and never got better.

They opened the game missing their first 19 shots and finished 5-for-41 from the field and 2-for-24 from the 3-point line.

“I don’t think we gave them a comfortable shot all night,” Williamson said. “I don’t think any of their shots were easy. In the state tournament, if you’re open, you’re comfortable, and we did not want to make them comfortable.”

The Millers took advantage early, scoring 13 straight to lead 15-2 with 3:38 to play in the second quarter. Silverton made back-to-back 3-pointers — its only field goals of the first half — in the final minutes, though Springfield still led 17-8 at halftime.

Then Romero-Ah Sam took over with an eight-point performance in the third quarter which included a pair of 3-pointers, as the Millers extended their lead to 25-14 going into the fourth.

Romero-Ah Sam finished 6-for-14 from the field

“Man, she fills the stat sheet up,” Williamson said. “She’s not just a scorer. She rebounds, she assists, she steals. She does it all.”

Juju Henderson also had six points and four rebounds, and Kylie Rankins had five points and seven rebounds for the Millers, who shot 33.3% from the field (12-for-36) but made just two of their 16 3-point attempts.

“We could score a little more than we did,” said Williamson, when asked what Springfield needs to do better against Putnam in the semifinal. “We went through some dry spells.”

Follow Chris Hansen on Twitter @chansen_RG or email at chansen@registerguard.com. For more sports coverage, visit registerguard.com. Want more stories like this? Subscribe to get unlimited access and support local journalism.

This article originally appeared on Register-Guard: Springfield Millers upset No. 2 Silverton in 5A girls quarterfinals