3A High School Girls Basketball: Milligan, Kelso eviscerate Heritage on senior night (2024)

Kenzie Milligan left the team locker room and promptly found her family following the Hilanders’ 47-22 win over Heritage Friday on senior night at Kelso High School.

The Kelso senior held the emotions back over the course of the 32-minute 3A Greater St. Helens contest in which she scored 11 points in three quarters of play. But as she returned to the court and embraced her family, Milligan became teary eyed.

The thought that Friday’s game may have been her last on the Kelso home floor was an emotional notion.

“I’ve been waiting my entire high school career for this moment. It’s sad, it’s bittersweet, you know?” Milligan said. “Hopefully, we get to play here again.”

Junior point guard Bregan Ruhland added 11 points for the Hilanders, who saw their full-court press work as designed against a Heritage squad still looking for its first win in league play. Heritage struggled to get the ball over half court throughout the first half. The Timberwolves committed 12 turnovers in the first eight minutes and Kelso went on a 13-0 run to take a 13-2 lead midway through the first quarter.

The Hilanders led 18-6 at the end of the first quarter and 25-10 at halftime.

Kelso coach Jen Frost has the Hilanders playing good team defense. The press is leading to transition offense which has helped the young Hilanders play with added confidence in the half court.

“I hope that our defense always leads to our offense and it did tonight,” said Frost. “A lot of sets that we had, I think we were just off-kilter to start. Once we got our legs under us… I think that kind of got us going. The pressure defense leading to those fast-break layups.”

Peyton Champagne scored six points with one made 3-pointer to her credit. The sophom*ore’s perimeter shooting has been a key component to Kelso’s surge the last two weeks as it has picked up wins over Tumwater, Mountain View and Battle Ground.

“Peyton got a lot of great looks, but (she was) kind of rushing (her shot) just a little bit,” added Frost. “I think that we were getting good looks and getting the ball into the middle of the zone and getting good kicks. The shots weren’t falling, but we found enough offense.”

Hayden Johnson contributed eight points and 10 rebounds for the Hilanders. who moved into a three-way tie atop the 3A GSHL standings with Evergreen and Mountain View with triplet records of 5-2.

Kelso will play at Evergreen on Monday with the No. 1 seed for the District playoffs and a share of the league title on the line. A loss would send the the Hilanders to the No. 3 seed.

“First place, co-league champs with Mountain View. I think either way, wherever we land… the biggest thing is we’re coming together better,” Frost said. “We’re playing well, we’re playing fast which is what I want.”

For her part, Milligan believes the Hilanders are playing their best basketball at the right time.

“I definitely think that we’ve gotten better every single time (we’ve played),” said Milligan. “We’ve improved so much just this season.”

Moore makes her return

An inspiring moment happened in the fourth quarter on the Hilanders home floor when senior Ellie Moore checked in for her first action of the season. Moore spent the past 10 months rehabbing her injured left knee after tearing her ACL and meniscus in March.

“I was just happy to play again,” Moore said. “It was awesome.”

Moore played four minutes in the fourth quarter and finished 0-for-1 from the field. She wore a brace on her left knee and said she felt comfortable back on the floor for the first time in eight months.

“It’s great to be back,” added Moore. “I made a full recovery. I’m back sooner than anyone anticipated. I get emotional because I came so far. Just being back on the court is awesome.”