6A
Wednesday, January 1, 2020
The Observer
Staff photo by Ronald Bond
Union sophomore Callie Glenn and junior Keegan Glenn have led the girls and boys
basketball teams to a combined 15-5 record to start the 2019-20 season.
Staff photos by Ronald Bond
Keegan and Callie Glenn play a game of one-on-one Tuesday in Union.
STANDOUT SIBLINGS
By Ronald Bond
The Observer
UNION — The spark plugs
for both the Union boys and girls
basketball teams live under the
same roof.
Siblings Keegan and Callie
Glenn have powered their respec-
tive teams to strong starts to
the 2019-20 basketball season.
Keegan, a junior, is averaging 20.8
points per game as the UHS boys
have opened at 7-3, while Callie, a
sophomore, has scored 17.6 points
per game to help the Bobcat girls to
an 8-2 start.
“I’m pretty proud of how our
season’s going so far,” Callie said of
the UHS girls start, its best open-
ing to a season since 2014-15. “I
think it’s a really good start going
into league. We’re looking really
good this year. We all flow really
well. I think we’re figuring (it) out
a little earlier than we have in past
seasons, so hopefully we can start
really strong (in) league.”
Keegan, 17, and Callie, 15, are
about a year-and-a-half apart, and
both got into organized basketball
around the same age, joining a
newly started AAU program in
Union when each was in the third
grade, though they started playing
at home even earlier.
They also possess a competitive-
ness — often between each other
— that fuels them on the court and
in day-to-day life.
“It was very competitive (grow-
ing up) honestly, a lot of ‘I can do
this better than you,’ and that type
of thing,” Keegan said. “I feel like
that really played a big role in (us)
pursuing (basketball), having that
competitive aspect and wanting to
be better than one another. That
sort of thing played a role in our
competitive personalities.”
With that gamesmanship,
though, comes a desire to see the
other succeed.
“Even though we argue a lot
about (who is doing better) — not
really argue, but be competitive
about it — we help each other a lot,”
Callie said. “I know he helps me.
We give each other advice after the
games on what we can do better.
That’s definitely always helped.”
Both pieces — the competitive-
ness and willingness to help — are
facets of their relationship that
have gone beyond the basketball
court into other areas of their lives.
“(We) were pretty competitive
when we both played all-stars
when we were younger in baseball
and softball — who has more base
hits, which she always blew me out
of the water in that sport,” Keegan
said. “We’re always competitive
with that, too.”
“And Nerf guns,” Callie added
with a laugh. “We used to play
Nerf guns all the time, and that got
pretty intense.”
But the debate, Keegan said, is hot-
test at home following games, which
the two often play back-to-back.
“When it comes to me and her,
it’s more intense after the games
because we’ve already played and
we can make those arguments (of
who did better) off of our perfor-
mances,” he said.
“I’m always trying to outscore
Keegan or do things better than
him to where I can go home and
brag about it,” Callie added.
They have both had stellar
performances, too. Each has scored
at least 25 points in a game three
times, with Keegan maxing out
with a 33-point effort. And while
both are able to fill the stat sheet
in scoring, many of the other parts
of their game are solid. Keegan has
developed a knack for crashing the
boards, while Callie has racked up
numerous steals and assists.
But each says scoring is the other’s
strongest attribute on the court.
“A really good part of Callie’s
game, especially over the last
couple years, is her shooting, just
seeing that be more consistent,”
Keegan said.
“He can play inside and outside,”
Callie said, breaking down Keegan’s
play. “Not everyone can do that.
Some people can only play outside,
some people can only play inside. It’s
nice to have that in your game.”
The brother-sister tandem has
put in ample work to elevate their
play, even working in the offsea-
son with former Eastern Oregon
University players, as they pursue
dream of playing at the collegiate
level. They have worked out togeth-
er with former EOU men’s player
Blake O’Donnell, while Callie also
works with former EOU women’s
standout Maya Ah-You Dias.
“Keegan (and I) train a lot to-
gether, and that’s the biggest thing,”
Callie said. “You have to put in the
work outside of practice and outside
of season. During volleyball season I
would go to basketball after practice.
You just gotta prepare for it.”
Keegan was a three-sport athlete
prior to this season — he also
played football and baseball but
dropped football to get extra time
on the court in the fall. Callie is
also a three-sport athlete, and in-
tends to stay in her other sports —
volleyball and softball — even with
the added focus on basketball.
“I started playing on a travel
team, and we went to Vegas and
Seattle and places like that, and
See Siblings / Page 7A
Prep hoops roundup
Cougars give 3A power Burns a scare
Observer staff
Photo by Ellen Morris Bishop/EO Media Group
Wallowa’s Haley Brockamp, right, is shown during a
game against Cove in December. The Cougars pushed
3A power Burns Monday before falling, 40-32.
The Wallowa Cougars girls basket-
ball team posted an impressive showing
Monday to hang with the 3A Burns
Hilanders, though they ultimately came
up short in their upset bid, 40-32, in a
neutral site game in North Powder.
The Cougars dug themselves a 23-9
hole at halftime, but used a 15-4 third
quarter to claw their way back into the
game and get within 27-24.
“Burns is ranked No. 3 in the 3A clas-
sification and if not for the second quar-
ter we may (have) been able to come out
with a win,” head coach David Howe
said. This was a good game for us to
play, and I believe the girls gained a lot
of confidence in being able to hang with
one of the top 3A teams in the state.”
Wallowa was outscored 12-2 in
the second quarter, which led to the
14-point halftime deficit.
Jamie Johnston led all scorers with
20 points for the Cougars (5-6 overall),
who travel to Pine Eagle Saturday to
begin Old Oregon League play.
HUSKIES HAMMER WESTON-
MCEWEN
Jocelyn Palmer scored a game-high
18 points Monday — matching the
entire Weston-McEwen squad on her
own — to lead the Elgin Huskies to a
blowout win on the road over the Tiger-
Scots, 59-18.
Kaelin Evans and Jayden Palmer
added 10 points apiece, with Evans
scoring all 10 of her points in the second
quarter, to help Elgin quickly turn the
game into a rout. The Huskies were
already ahead 13-5 after one quarter,
then outscored Weston-McEwen in the
middle two periods by a combined score
of 36-6 to break the game open.
Elgin (7-2 overall) hosts Four Rivers
Saturday in its final nonleague contest.
Boys
TIGERSCOTS GET PAST ELGIN
A 29-point second quarter by the
Weston-McEwen TigerScots was too
much for the Elgin Huskies to overcome
Monday as they fell short in a road
contest, 70-54.
Elgin held an early 14-11 lead, but
the big second by the TigerScots put the
Huskies in a 40-25 hole at halftime, one
they were unable to dig out of.
Corbin Remington led Elgin with
16 points, 12 of which came in the first
half. Tristan Simpson added 10 points
and Kaden McClure and Gage McKay
had eight points apiece.
Elgin (4-5 overall) hosts Four Rivers
Saturday.
BADGERS UPEND BURNS
After a couple of rough games offen-
sively, the Powder Valley Badgers got
back in the win column Monday with a
67-61 home victory over the 3A Burns
Hilanders.
Stats were not available.
The Badgers (7-3 overall) pay a visit
to Council, Idaho, Saturday.