14
Wednesday, June 23, 2021
Columbia Gorge News
www.columbiagorgenews.com
SPORTS
Dufur boys finish first in Big Sky,
advance to state playoffs
Weber
■ By For Mike
Columbia Gorge News
balanced scoring, which is
what I prefer to see, because
Utilizing their No. 2 ranked that makes us more difficult
to defend. That’s kind of the
offense, the Big Sky League
way we’ve played all season,
Champion Dufur Rangers
are hoping that this will help which makes it kind of nice.
Nixyaawii is considered as
them achieve their goal of
one of the favorites to win it
winning the Oregon Class
too. Their kids play basketball
1A boys basketball state
all the time on the reserva-
championship.
The Rangers (7-1 Big Sky,
tion, so they’re pretty strong.”
8-2 overall) average 63 points
Dufur played a first-round
per game, second only to
game June 21 against North
the Nixyaawii Golden Eagles Clackamas Christian, quar-
(11-1) at 71 points per game. terfinals followed June 22
Dufur is one of 16 teams
(results came after the print-
competing in the state play-
ed edition deadline), with
semifinals on Wednesday.
offs this week at Baker High
Dufur came into the play-
School and at Powder Valley
High School.
offs with momentum from
The Rangers, guided by
winning its final two games
Coach Hollie Darden, have
of the short 10-game spring
won three straight and are in season. The Rangers won
the playoffs for a fifth straight 69-56 over the Ione/Arlington
year. The No. 4-seeded
Cardinals (6-2) in their final
Rangers are hoping their win league matchup June 14 at
streak will continue as they
Ione High School.
seek to advance to Thursday’s
“Cooper Bales, Josh Taylor,
championship game. Last
Jacob Peters and Caleb Olson
year, Dufur advanced to the
have all stepped up and
second round of state before played really well, along with
losing 78-64 to the Crosshill
everyone else on our team,
Christian Eagles on Feb. 29,
because they’re all doing a
2020.
nice job for us,” said Darden.
“We’re excited about this
The Rangers jumped in
tournament, and we feel like front 20-4 after one quarter,
we have a chance to win the
before the Cardinals came
championship and that’s
back trimming the margin
our goal,” said Darden. “The
to 32-26 at halftime. The
kids are doing some good
Rangers then regained the
things and we’ve had pretty
momentum in the third,
Bales. Sophomore Josh Taylor
and senior Caleb Olson both
had 13 points. Senior Jacob
Peters and freshman Henry
Begay each scored 10 and
senior Alex Barrett added
eight points.
A day later, Dufur added
a 63-47 nonleague win over
the visiting Trinity Lutheran
Saints (8-4) of Bend. After
falling behind 17-15 after the
first quarter, the Rangers dis-
played their highly prolific of-
fense in the second, utilizing
rock solid defense, as well.
Dufur outscored Trinity
Lutheran 16-5 in the second
to grab a 31-22 halftime
advantage. The Rangers’
momentum continued
in the second half as they
outscored the Saints 16-11
in the third and 16-14 in the
fourth. Peters led Dufur with
18 points, Olson had 16 and
Bales scored 13. A total of
eight Rangers scored in the
contest.
The South Wasco County
High Redsides boys basket-
ball team finished in second
place to Dufur in the league
Dufur senior Cooper Bales (23) takes a shot as senior Jacob Peters standings and also qualified
follows him into the key during action earlier this season in Dufur. for the state playoffs for a sec-
Mark B. Gibson photo
ond straight year. Last year
the Redsides reached the
outscoring the Cardinals 24- balanced offense with five
second round of the playoffs
11 to take a 56-37 advantage players scoring in double fig- before losing 43-40 to the
after three.
Joseph High Eagles on Feb.
ures, including a team-high
The Rangers had a
29, 2020.
14 points by senior Cooper
Gorge
Sports
Schedule
South Wasco girls qualify
for state playoffs
Weber
■ By For Mike
Columbia Gorge News
The South Wasco County
High girls basketball team ad-
vanced to the 16-team, 1A state
playoffs this week at Baker High
School. The Redsides played the
North Douglas High Warriors
(7-0) in a first-round playoff
game Monday at Powder Valley
High School (results came after
the printed edition deadline).
•••
Monday’s winner advances
to Tuesday’s quarterfinals; the
semifinals are Wednesday,
and the championship game is
scheduled for Thursday.
It marks the fifth straight
season that South Wasco has
qualified for the state playoffs.
The Lady Redsides conclud-
ed the short 10-game spring
season with a 61-40 loss to the
Valley 10 League Champion
Country Christian Cougars (12-
1) June 14 at Country Christian
High in Molalla. That contest
was a rematch of a first-round
playoff game from last year,
which the Cougars won 69-52
on Feb. 25, 2020 in Molalla.
Sophomore Kylie Iverson led
the Redsides in scoring with
18 points, senior Jade McCoy
had 17 and senior post Destiny
Mora-Lopez added eight.
The Lady Redsides, guided by
the husband/wife coaching duo
of Carly and Codey Johnson,
took fourth place in the 10-team
Big Sky League with 4-2 league
mark and 5-3 overall record.
Trout Lake (6-0 Big Sky, 9-0
overall) won the league title,
followed by Dufur (5-3 Big Sky,
6-4) and Ione (4-0 Big Sky, 4-2).
Ione also is competing in the
state tournament.
“It’s an honor always to be
able to go to the state tourna-
ment and play against the best
teams in Oregon,” said Codey
Johnson. “I believe our girls
are going to try their best and I
think they’re going to continue
to get better, and they realize
that this is an opportunity to
enjoy a successful conclusion
to the season. We have a young
team with only two seniors, so
this will be a great experience
for our team.”
Led by the trio of Mora-
Lopez, McCoy and Iverson, the
Redsides have a highly profi-
cient and No. 3 ranked Class
1A offense, averaging 47 points
per game. McCoy’s sister, Sadie,
freshman Julie Hull and junior
Holly Miles are also capable of
making key contributions to the
Redside offensive attack.
“Destiny can really lock down
the middle for us and she is re-
ally a big force for us offensively
and defensively,” said Codey
Johnson. “Carly and I started
coaching this team four years
ago when Destiny and Jade
were freshmen. So, to be able to
help these girls reach the state
tournament is really a blessing
and it’s always a goal as a coach
to get a team to this tourna-
ment. The fact that we were able
to reach the tournament and
have our team playing here is
really all that I can ask for as a
coach and we’re very proud of
them.”
Dufur concluded its sea-
son with a split of its final two
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Columbia Gorge News
South Wasco senior Destiny Mora-Lopez (32) steels the ball from
Sherman senior Haiden Perez during a game in Maupin earlier this sea-
son.
Mark B. Gibson photo
games. The Lady Rangers lost
on the road 42-40 at Ione June
14. Dufur won its last game
of the season 49-38 over the
Trinity Lutheran Saints June
15 at Dufur High School. The
Rangers decided that they
wouldn’t compete in the state
South Wasco, guided by
Coach Jim Hull, won its final
home game 62-54 over the
Country Christian Cougars
(6-8) in a nonleague matchup
June 14 and then lost 57-55
to Ione in its final Big Sky
contest Friday at Dufur High
School.
“We led for a majority of
the game (versus Ione) and
we had a nine-point lead at
the end of the first quarter, so
it really was a very disap-
pointing and tough loss,” said
Hull. “We had too many turn-
overs (14) and in order for us
to win, we have to have fewer
than 10, especially in a big
game like this against a good
team. You can survive having
15-20 turnovers against bad
teams, but you can’t do that
against good teams. We also
shot poorly from the free
throw line (11-for-23), which
really hurt us too down the
stretch, when we missed
some key free throws late in
the game.”
South Wasco played a first-
round state playoff game June
21 versus Trinity Lutheran.
Quarterfinals, semifinals, and
the final were scheduled June
22-24.
tournament. Trout Lake also
elected to forego the tourna-
ment even though they won
the Big Sky League with an
undefeated record.
June 22 – June 30
American Legion baseball
Friday, June 25: Columbia Gorge Hustlers at
Pendleton Tournament
Saturday, June 26: Columbia Gorge Hustlers at
Pendleton Tournament
Sunday, June 27: Columbia Gorge Hustlers at
Pendleton Tournament
Tuesday, June 28: Columbia Gorge Hustlers at
Yakima
Wednesday, June 28: Columbia Gorge
Hustlers at Yakima
Little League baseball
Friday-Friday, June 18-25: District 5 Little
League baseball tournaments, Umatilla Sports
Complex, Redmond
Boys basketball
Tuesday-Thursday, June 21-24: Class 1A
state basketball tournament, Baker City, North
Powder
Wednesday, June 23: IMC district playoff
semifinals: Monday’s No. 3 Hood River vs. No. 6
Pendleton winner at No. 2 Redmond; Monday’s
No. 4 The Dalles vs. No. 5 Ridgeview winner at
No. 1 Crook County
Friday, June 25: IMC district championship,
Wednesday winners play at site of higher seeded
team
Girls basketball
Tuesday-Thursday, June 21-24: Class 1A
state basketball tournament, Baker City, North
Powder
Wednesday, June 23: IMC district playoff
semifinals: Monday’s No. 5 Hood River at No. 4
Redmond winner at IMC No. 1 seed
Friday, June 25: IMC district championship,
Wednesday winners play at site of higher seeded
team
Boys Wrestling
Friday, June 25, Saturday, June 26: Class 5A
boys state tournament, Cottage Grove High
School
Girls wrestling
Thursday, June 24: State tournament, Cottage
Grove High School
TRASH TALK
Q. We need help with event recycling.
QA
Any ideas? Heather, Hood River
A. Heather, our program does offer free basic
assistance to event managers to help them plan for event
waste reduction and recycling. We also lend Clearstream
event recycling receptacles for diverting redeemable
bottles and cans. And for very small functions (15-30
people), we lend out “party buckets” with durable cups,
plateware and cutlery.
questions to:
HOOD RIVER | THE DALLES | WHITE SALMON
Subscribe@gorgenews.com
Or call Shania at 541-296-2141 ext. 112
(541)-506-2636 www.tricountyrecycle.com