It’s safe to say Braeden Salme is feeling like himself again.
Salme, who is still working back from a foot injury that sidelined him for a large part of the season, put together one of his finest performances on Wednesday, scoring 37 points and adding nine assists to propel Adna into the District 4 semifinals with a 70-48 win over Ilwaco.
“It’s nice to have Braeden Salme back,” Adna coach Luke Salme said. “He was phenomenal offensively. To do it in that game and on that stage, it’s special.”
Salme said that Braeden and the rest of the Pirates (17-6, 9-4 C2BL) came out with a sense of urgency, which helped them put together one of their best defensive performances of the season.
“Our team defense was spot on,” Salme said. “I thought that we might defend the way we did, and that’s gonna give us chances in games … It was really impressive.”
Braeden Salme drilled seven threes, and Trevin Salme hit five to finish with 15 threes.
While it was mostly those two on offense, Salme also commended Gavan Muller, Lane Johnson, and Jens Neilson, adding that Muller and Johnson “rebounded like crazy” and Neilson “is an Energizer bunny who gets us extra possessions.”
Johnson grabbed nine rebounds and scored five points, while Muller hauled in eight rebounds and scored four. Neilson added nine points and came away with a steal.
“It was an awesome team win,” Salme said.
The Pirates are now into the district semifinals, and they have three chances to win and claim a state bid. They’ll face Toledo for a spot in the district title game on Wednesday, Feb. 14 at Kelso High School.
