After spending their first two weeks on the road, Seaside High School basketball returned home to host the Holiday Classic, which took place on Thursday, Friday and Saturday.
The tournament saw teams from 3A, 4A and 5A take part. This was another chance for Seaside to prove themselves against top competition on both the girls and boys sides.
Seaside girls strive for consistency
After winning their opening game on Thursday against Woodland, of Washington, the girls dropped their next two games to Cascade Christian and Baker to finish fourth.
Through eight games, Seaside is 3-5, but have had the chance to play Marshfield, Stayton, Cascade Christian and Baker. All these teams will most likely be competing in either the 3A or 4A state playoffs.
Head coach Marla Olstedt returns a lineup of six juniors who are entering their third season of varsity basketball. Despite finishing fourth place, she said the girls are trending in the right direction.
"I'm proud of our girls," she said. "I put them in some pretty tough preseason situations and they're growing every single day. It takes hard work and a lot of focus every day we walk in the gym. We don't have a lot of time to prepare, but it's good to see what the girls have done so far."
Olstedt said her team has the ability to be good and wants to see them take each possession seriously on both ends of the floor.
"I'm going to use the two weeks we have before league to really focus on being consistent and taking care of the ball," she said.
Seaside boys flash improved defense
Though the Seaside boys finished in fourth place, the one constant through the weekend was their defense.
After struggling on the defensive end last weekend in Junction City, the Seagulls showed improvement. The three-guard lineup of Luis Gonzales, Jordan Westerholm and Hayden Halsen created turnovers all weekend.
Despite losing on Friday night, the Seagulls battled hard against eventual champions Crescent Valley. The 5A school had a massive height advantage, but the Seagulls made them look very average throughout much of the game. After trailing by 13 points at the half, Seaside battled back in the third quarter and ended up trailing by just three going into the fourth. The Raiders would respond with a fourth-quarter surge to put the game away and win 47-35.
Head coach Bill Westerholm was pleased with his team's effort in that game and said the boys were a little fatigued in their 55-48 loss to Elma, of Washington, on Saturday.
"We have five games under our belt," Westerholm said. "We're 1-4, but there's nothing to be alarmed about. We've improved on the defensive end the last three games compared to where we were last weekend. We played a real tough game against Crescent Valley, who are probably going to win their league at the 5A level."
The Seagulls are playing this early season without senior guard Austin Palmer, who is still on his way back from a torn ACL last March. Also, the Seagulls are incorporating a number of new players into the rotation. According to Westerholm, the Seagulls have a solid group of four players they feel good about, but are trying to figure out the rest throughout the early season.