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For all Beavers, past and present: Beaverton finally gets to celebrate a 6A girls basketball title after cruising past Barlow in state final

“I’m happy to do it with all my best friends out there on the court, this family that we’ve created in this program.”

By Paul Valencia | Photos by Taylor Balkom | Video by Ken Waz 

This is their championship.

Right here. Right now.

The 2022 Beaverton Beavers.

But they don’t mind sharing it with the 2020 Beavers. And any previous Beaverton team that got the program closer and closer to glory.

Beaverton completed the longest journey Saturday night at the Chiles Center, topping Barlow 56-39 to win the OSAA/OnPoint Community Credit Union 6A Girls Basketball State Championship

It is the first state title in program history.

Two years after the Beavers appeared to have their best team ever, and the best team in the state — only to be shut down by the pandemic — today’s Beavers won it all, for today, for yesterday.

Zoe Borter scored 17 points, Madison Naro had 16 points and seven assists, Lainey Spear led the Beavers to another dominant defensive performance, and the lone senior starter on the squad, Emily Rice, scored the final point of this championship campaign.

“It honestly doesn’t even seem real,” said Borter, who was 7 for 11 from the field Saturday night. “It feels so awesome to win this … for everyone.” 

“I’m kind of in shock right now, but it feels great,” Naro said.

Spear was at a loss for words at first. Then she summed up everything in three words: “We’re the best.” 

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Beaverton finished 26-1, with the lone loss coming to Barlow in December. The Beavers also topped the Bruins once in the regular season. This third matchup was for everything in Oregon 6A girls basketball.

And it was all Beaverton from the start.

The Beavers jumped out to a 14-2 lead on a three-quarters-court pass from Naro to Borter, leading to a Barlow timeout. Beaverton led 19-2 after one quarter. 

Barlow did manage a strong push early in the third quarter, but the Bruins never got closer than nine points. 

The final four minutes of the game was a coronation of the new champions who would like to share this feeling with everyone on the 2020 team.

“A lot of older sisters were on those teams and really great friends,” Beaverton coach Kathy Adelman Naro said. “This is all part of their journey. They learned from those girls so many life lessons that prepared them for this.”

Mary Kay Naro was one of the 2020 Beavers who showed up to support this year’s team. Madison Naro loved seeing her older sister at the Chiles Center again. 

“They didn’t get to finish. It was just heartbreaking. I remember the day that it happened. Crazy. It’s sad to think about it,” Madison Naro said. “Now that we’ve finished it, it was for them, that entire team, and for our team now. It’s just a great feeling.”

“I wish that all of the people who were on that team who graduated could be with us,” Spear added. “They deserve this so much, as much as we do.”

The 2020 Beavers were the top-ranked team after back-to-back state semifinal appearances. They were loaded with talent. 

“To be able to do it for them and have some of them here in the stands supporting us is really special,” Rice said.

To truly honor that team, though, this squad had to win it all. They did it with their own special stamp.

The 2022 Beaverton team could go down as one of the greatest defensive teams in history. The Beavers gave up 86 points — total — in the quarterfinals, semifinals and final, an average of 7.1 points per quarter. 

“We take pride in our defense. We love our defense. We rely on our defense,” said Spear, who had four steals and put up 10 points for the Beavers. “When we get stops on defense, we can create offense. A lot of tonight’s game was we would get a stop, and then we would get a score, get another stop, go and score again.”

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Plus, Beaverton opened the game making its first five shots.

It was going so well for the Beavers that when they missed their first shot, they got an offensive rebound, and Naro drained a 3-pointer for a 17-2 lead.

That was just after the long pass from Naro, over the heads of the Barlow defense, to Borter for the highlight play of the game.

“Starting off that way gave us so much momentum and helped keep us fighting throughout the game when they went on their run,” Borter said.

Beaverton pushed the lead to 22 early in the second quarter and had a 17-point advantage at the break.

Barlow wasn’t going to just go away, though. 

Annie Koenig and Kennedie Shuler opened the second half with 3-pointers. Later in the quarter, Shuler hit another 3-pointer that was followed by an old-school three-point play from Koenig to get Barlow to within nine points.

“We wanted to go on a run and make them call a timeout,” Barlow coach Nick Hudson said. “We did it, but we kind of ran out of gas.” 

In defeat, the Bruins could take pride in their special season. Like the Beavers, the Bruins were looking for their first state championship in girls basketball.

“Super proud of them. I love coaching this team,” Hudson said. “I feel honored to be their coach. I can’t be more proud of the effort they gave all season long.”

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Koenig finished with a game-high 20 points. Shuler made four 3-pointers and scored 13 points. Barlow finished the season 25-4.

“I’m just so proud of all of us on this team, and the coaches,” Koenig said. “We worked so hard to get here, and we really just did our best. This proves to us and other people that we can make it this far, and we’re a really good team when we put our minds to it. I hope we’ll just keep working as hard as we have been.”

Barlow did not stop working Saturday night. Beaverton, though, was just too strong. 

Rice, the senior starter, got to put the finishing touches on the Beaverton victory. Her free throw gave her 10 points and capped the scoring. 

“It’s super special,” Rice said. “I’m happy to do it with all my best friends out there on the court, this family that we’ve created in this program.” 

For the coach, for this team, they understand that nothing is a sure thing anymore.

So, this team went out and made sure.

“I’m just so grateful,” Adelman Naro said. “I know how hard it is. You have to have a little bit of luck. You have to be healthy. You have to have a really special group. I’m just grateful.” 

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