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Rogue River girls lose to No. 5 Stayton By CLIFF PFENNING for the Mail Tribune CORVALLIS -- Rogue River didn't beat Stayton for fourth place at the Class 3A girls basketball state tournament Saturday, but the Chieftains won the battle of the second half. For a program that only four years ago wasn't even playing varsity games, that was something. Rogue River fell behind by 22 points in the third quarter but rallied to make the final score respectable, losing 47-36 to No. 5 Stayton at Gill Coliseum. Sophomore Allison Bailey scored 11 points and senior Mindi Yost had 10 points and nine rebounds to lead the Chieftains (18-6), who finished sixth last year and were awarded the seventh-place trophy this season. "It's pretty amazing for us to fin-ish our careers with two trophies," said senior Shae Wright, who blocked seven Stayton shots. "We didn't even have a varsity team my freshman year. This was a huge step for us." Stayton, which won the state title in 1995, got 13 points from freshman Casey Bunn and 10 points each from seniors Melissa Miller and Tanika Dumas and finished its season at 22-3. Stayton scored the last five points of the first quarter for an 11-6 advantage, then broke the game open in the second quarter led by Bunn, a mobile 5-foot-11 guard. Bunn converted a three-point play, stole a pass and scored and then stole another pass and scored, tallying seven points in just 18 seconds to give Stayton a 20-6 lead with 6:10 left in the first half. "Those baskets by Bunn really took the wind out of us," Rogue River coach Dan Mortinson said. "We got too far behind too fast.'' Down 30-13 at halftime, the Chieftains, who averaged just 38 points per game during the tournament, focused on outscoring Stayton in the second half. The deficit ballooned to 39-17 when Rogue River responded. Senior Leslie Donaghy made two free throws, senior Michelle Anderson made a free throw and junior Allison Marland tossed in a rebound basket to get the Chiefs started offensively. Rogue River eventually did outscore Stayton 23-17 in the second half. "We were so far behind at halftime, so we concentrated on winning the second half," said Wright, who plans to play collegiately. "We were playing for pride." The game was the finale for Mortinson, who will step down so he can watch his son play basketball during his final three seasons at Rogue River. Mortinson guided the Chiefs for seven years, winning a combined six games in the first two before playing a junior varsity schedule for two years. The last three seasons, Rogue River averaged 18 wins and won two Skyline Conference titles. Mortinson said this year's team was special because it came the season after the breakthrough year when the Chiefs won 23 games and reached the semifinals. "We lost some good players last year and I don't think many people thought we would be that good this season," Mortinson said. ``But this group showed a lot of heart all season, right through to the last minutes of the final game. "The seniors have really done a lot to rebuild the program." Yost, who had 21 points and 15 rebounds against Myrtle Point Friday, made 5 of 18 field-goal attempts against Stayton. "Sometimes you don't shoot well, that's how it goes," Yost said. "But we won another trophy and that's exciting. Our league title was really important, too, because no one thought we would be good this year. But we had a really good season." STAYTON (47) -Bunn 13, M. Miller 10, Dumas 10, Bates 3, Lamb 6, Nelson 4, Gallagher 1, Yakis, Hendricks, Moran, E. Miller. ROGUE RIVER (36) -Allison Bailey 11, Yost 10, Anderson 5, Marland 4, S. Wright 4, Donaghy 2, B. Wright. Stayton .............11 19 10 7 - 47 Rogue River .........6 7 11 2 - 36 Today's Sports Index Mail Tribune Copyright� The Mail Tribune 1999, Medford, OR U.S.A.