Astoria's prize catch from Alaska

Feb. 13—When it comes to state tournaments, the Astoria girls basketball program and Maitlin Young have both seen their share of misfortune.

Different trips for different teams, different states and different tournaments, but the Lady Fishermen and Young know the feeling when something that looks so promising can end in disappointment.

For the Lady Fish, their trip down Heartbreak Alley took place three years ago. Astoria had qualified with a 73-34 playoff win over Junction City.

But just minutes away from playing their first state tournament game since 2002, the players — on a school bus on the outskirts of Forest Grove — learned the tournament had been canceled due to the coronavirus pandemic.

Young, a junior in her third year of high school basketball, has never missed playing in a state tournament. In fact, she's never missed playing in a state championship game. She just hasn't won one.

Just under a year ago, Young and her teammates at Sitka High School felt the sting of defeat for the second straight season, coming up short in the Alaska 3A title game.

Young and a rebuilt Astoria team have joined forces to create a "super team" that will likely be a top-four seed heading into this season's 4A Oregon state tournament.

A winning streak

With only two seniors on the roster, the Lady Fish might be looking to Young and her experience for some guidance.

"I think they'll be a little more prepared this year," Young said.

"As a freshman, being thrown into that state tournament atmosphere is kind of hard," she said. "We start three sophomores, and that's a pretty crazy experience for them, but hopefully I can contribute in us getting there — help show them that it's not anything too crazy."

Astoria has won 15 straight games. The team's only two losses were in December to 3A teams Banks and Corbett, and with the exception of two close calls at Scappoose, there isn't a team in the Cowapa League that can challenge the Lady Fish. The first time through league play, Astoria defeated all four opponents by an average of 33.5 points.

Young recently had her two biggest games of the season, scoring 27 points in the win at Scappoose, and she erupted for 30 points in a victory over Seaside last week.

The Lady Fish — 20-2 overall — clinched the league title on Friday against Tillamook.

Their only serious opponent — according to Young and head coach Mike Jacobson — is complacency.

"Complacency is going to be our biggest problem this year," said Jacobson, who has taken teams from Knappa and Seaside to state tournaments. "I ran into that when I was in Knappa, my third and fourth years. We were so much better than everybody, we went through league beating everybody pretty bad, and the players just have a tough time staying up."

It's the same this season for the Astoria girls, currently 10-0 in league play. Only three league wins have come by less than 30 points. Scappoose rallied from a 20-point deficit and pulled to within two points Jan. 25, before Young hit a late 3-pointer to secure the win.

"We need games like that, just to wake us up a little," Jacobson said.

Young did her homework before coming to Astoria.

"I checked out the (Astoria) girls team last year, and was pretty impressed with what I saw. It's a young team, but we have a lot to work with. I was really excited to come and join this program. It's a great staff, coach Jacobson's a great guy, and adding coach (Teke) Silva for this year has been good for the team.

"I was just kind of, 'let's roll with it, and see what happens.' And it's happened. I'm glad we're at the spot where we are, but we need to continue to fight against complacency, and we'll see what happens come March."

The Fishermen should have a good first-round draw at home in the state playoffs, with a win sending them to Forest Grove and the long-awaited state tournament appearance.

Between Young and sophomore Shelby Bruney, Astoria's one-two offensive punch can't be matched.

She and Bruney complement each other well, Young said. "Shelby's a great passer. She has awesome hands-on defense, and I'm more of a catch-and-shoot player. She gets me the assists, and we play well together."

Young is likely the best player in the state at the 4A level, certainly on offense. Astoria's approach to defense really opened her eyes — as it does every team the Lady Fish play.

"I knew this was going to be a defensive team, and I really appreciated that because my defense needs some work," she said. "In Alaska, we played a lackadaisical 2-3 zone for the most part, but when I got to Astoria, coach Mike really started drilling me on my defense. If I don't play defense, I get put on the bench."

The work on defense is something Young appreciates.

"I need to play a high level of defense to play at the collegiate level," she said. "And defense is a very important part of this team. We score a lot of points off turnovers, and defense gives our offense energy."

Offensively, Young is likely the best pure shooter to ever play for Jacobson.

"I think so," he said. "She has such a quick release and gets her feet under her every time she catches the ball. She's always ready to shoot, and that makes a world of difference. She can handle the ball well — we're just working on her defense."

Life of a Coast Guard kid

Young is living in her seventh different state. It's like that when you're a child of a parent in the U.S. Coast Guard. Her father is a helicopter pilot.

"I was born in Florida, moved to Massachusetts, then California, Alabama, Maryland, all the way to Alaska and now Oregon," she said.

"I got out of school early in Sitka, but traveled with the track team to state and competed there (Young was the Region V district champion in the 400 meters), and we left the day after, and got to Astoria the beginning of June. I had a few months to get a summer job and meet some people and figure out the lay of the land."

Fortunately, the move wasn't too tough for the family, since Astoria is much like Sitka.

"Sitka gets pretty big in tourist season, just like Astoria," she said. "There's about 10,000 permanent residents, and it's a fishing town."

Road trips for games in Alaska can be a little different than road trips in Oregon. Alaskan road trips are measured in days, not hours.

"A typical week if we have an away game, we'd start on Wednesday, hop on a plane that morning, play a game that night, spend the night at a school or a church, then play another game Friday night," she said. "Then we might switch to a different school and play a game Saturday night, then fly back."

Young and the Lady Fish are hoping for good postseason fortunes, and Young has made at least one change to ward off any bad luck.

She traded the No. 13 jersey she wore last year with Sitka and now wears No. 12.

"Astoria doesn't have a No. 13 jersey, so I had to switch," Young said. "Plus I've lost two state championship games with 13, so it might be a little bad juju."