3A/2A Prep Girls Basketball: Kelso showcases depth in opening-night win over R.A. Long

Filling it Up — Peyton Champagne the toast of K-Town in 58-32 victory over Lumberjills

Kelso’s Peyton Champagne shoots from the perimeter during a 58-32 win over R.A. Long to open the season, Tuesday, Dec. 3, at Kelso High School. Champagne knocked down five 3-pointers and scored a game-high 19 points in the win. — Skyler Smith for Blast Zone Media

Jordan Nailon / blastzonenews@gmail.com

The first rule of defense is to never allow one’s opponent to do what it is they want to do. If you push them off their center of gravity, the reasoning goes, the foes across the way should have a more difficult time putting the biscuit in the basket.

But high school basketball isn’t a philosophy class and Kelso doesn’t care about the hifalutin theories of people from the wrong side of the Cowlitz River. So when R.A. Long came to Kelso for a season-opening girls basketball contest on Tuesday the Lassies simply made adjustments on the fly until they found the right key to unlock the Lumberjills’ defense.

In this particular instance that “key” was the three-point shooting of Peyton Champagne. The junior wing knocked down five 3-pointers for Kelso on her way to a game-high 19 points in a 58-32 win over the Lumberjills.

“We had a conversation recently where I told her, ‘You need to be aggressive. Don’t be afraid to shoot.’ Because when she does everything right the ball goes in,” Johnson said. “She’s put the work in and she’s earned that. And tonight all of her work came together, you saw it, 19 points, a great game, she played great defense.”

Champagne hit 5 of 12 attempts from beyond the arc and shot 50 percent from the field overall. She also came away with four steals.

R.A. Long’s Jill Evelyn Ofstun (black) and Kelso’s Aubree Freeman (white) engage in battle for a rebound during a season-opening girls basketball game, Tuesday, Dec. 3, at Kelso High School. — Skyler Smith for Blast Zone Media

Meanwhile, the Jills came out in a zone defense that gave Kelso fits to start the contest. With the lane bogged down the Lassies were temporarily befuddled. As a consequence, the ball was sticking on the perimeter as R.A. Long hunkered down and watched the shot clock dwindle. That tactic resulted in several turnovers, including a shot clock violation against the hosts, and allowed R.A. Long to take a temporary lead when Jocelyn Magana got loose for a breakaway bucket on the other end.

But Kelso was busy cobbling together a backup plan. And it wound up working like a charm.

“Watching all of last year and then watching the jamboree all we saw was man-to-man, so our whole game plan was man-to-man. And then we went and saw a zone and thought, ‘Uh-oh… this isn’t what we want to do,’” first-year Kelso coach Andrew Johnson said.

Kelso’s Bregan Ruhland (12) weaves through a double team by R.A. Long’s Samantha Montgomery (11) and Evelyn Ofstun with a smooth Euro-step during a 58-32 win over the Lumberjills, Tuesday, Dec. 3, at Kelso High School. — Skyler Smith for Blast Zone Media

The “trick” up Johnson’s sleeve was more of a remedial reminder to his players to keep moving the ball. After all, one good skip deserves another, and the Lassies simply needed to get the visitors’ feet moving in order to open up some holes in the red and black force field. Once they remembered how to pass more effectively it was Champagne who made it pay for Kelso with nine points in the first quarter alone, including a pair of long range connections.

“Peyton Champagne had a monster game,” R.A. Long coach J.D. Ott said. “We figured (Bregan) Ruhland would be the one to pay attention to… but (Champagne) just shot lights out.”