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About The daily Astorian. (Astoria, Or.) 1961-current | View Entire Issue (March 9, 2015)
SPORTS 4A THE DAILY ASTORIAN • MONDAY, MARCH 9, 2015 JOSHUA BESSEX — The Daily Astorian Seaside’s Maddi Utti, No. 25, makes a shot after a steal early in the first quarter during Seaside’s game against Klamath Union. 6HDJXOOVÀ\KLJKHUWKDQ3HOLFDQV By GARY HENLEY The Daily Astorian SEASIDE — It’s the downside of greatness. While certain teams spend the latter part of February competing in league play- offs, district tournaments and Regional Play-in games, the great teams have to sit around for two weeks and patiently wait their turn. So — after 15 days with- out a game — the Seaside /DG\*XOOV¿QDOO\UHWXUQHGWR the court Saturday night, and scored a not-as-close-as-it- looked 54-43 win over Klam- ath Union at the Gulls’ Nest. Despite playing for the ¿UVW WLPH VLQFH )HE WKH Gulls picked up where they left off following the league season, as they dismantled WKH3HOLFDQVLQWKH¿UVWKDOIRI Saturday’s Class 4A girls bas- ketball Sweet 16 game. Seaside jumped out to its usual 17-point lead, and Mad- di Utti had 19 of her game- KLJKSRLQWVE\KDOIWLPH More impressively, the No. 7-ranked Gulls swarmed the Pelicans with a relentless defense, forcing 33 Klamath WXUQRYHUVLQWKH¿UVWKDOI And now the Gulls are hot on the trail of a state champi- onship — again — and this time, Seaside may have an inside track. Seaside will open the quar- WHU¿QDOURXQGRIWKHVWDWHWRXU- nament against Valley Catho- lic, a team Seaside has already beaten once this season. The two Cowapa League teams will battle again Thurs- GD\ ZLWK D SP WLSRII at Liberty High School in Hillsboro. The winner will play Friday against Banks or Henley. The Gulls swept the Braves in the regular season, and beat Henley in last year’s state tournament. %XW¿UVWWKLQJV¿UVW The Gulls had to overcome a poor third quarter before they were able to hold off Klamath Union in Saturday’s playoff. 8WWL VFRUHG WKH ¿UVW points of the game, and the Pelicans had eight turnovers RQWKHLU¿UVWHLJKWSRVVHVVLRQV Whitney Westerholm hit a 3-pointer, and the Gulls used DQ UXQ PLGZD\ WKURXJK WKH ¿UVW KDOI WR EXLOG D advantage. Utti and Sydney Villegas scored back-to-back hoops late in the second quar- ter for a 36-17 halftime lead. 7KH 3HOLFDQV ZHUH ¿QDO- ly able to score some points (11 straight), the Gulls went cold, and Klamath Union was DFWXDOO\ ZLWKLQ LQ WKH opening seconds of the fourth quarter. JOSHUA BESSEX — The Daily Astorian Seaside’s Maddi Utti, No. 25, tries to make a shot under defensive pressure by Klamath Union’s Jordan Newman, No. 23, during their basketball game at Seaside High School Saturday. JOSHUA BESSEX — The Daily Astorian Seaside’s Whitney Westerholm, No. 24, hugs Tristyn Mc- Fadden, 12, of Seaside, after Seaside’s 53-43 win over Klamath Union. Seaside will travel to Hillsboro to play for the state championship. MORE SPORTS Back-to-back losses end Knappa boys basketball team’s season. Page 7A JOSHUA BESSEX — The Daily Astorian Seaside’s Allison Bussert, No. 32, fights for a rebound against several Klamath Union players. But the Gulls settled down, as Brittany West banked in a jump shot just inside the 3-point line, Haylee Dundas KDG¿YHRIKHUSRLQWVLQWKH ¿QDOTXDUWHUDQGWKHRQHWXUQ- over-per-minute Pelicans com- mitted several unforced turn- RYHUVLQWKH¿QDOIRXUPLQXWHV Having not played a game in two weeks, the Gulls weren’t as sharp as they nor- mally are. “It affected us like it did last year,” said Seaside coach Wally Hamer. “And this was a well-coached, good team. We kind of let them back into it, but it’s a win, and now we get to move on. “It is what it is,” he said. “We didn’t play well offen- sively in the third quarter, but we’ve been doing that in our games recently. We get a big lead, and we have a tendency to not play as hard.” 'XQGDV DGGHG SRLQWV and eight rebounds for the Gulls, who were 8-for-19 from the free throw line. “We need to make our free throws,” Hamer said. “It’s huge. That’s what kept (the Pelicans) in the game — our free throws.” Utti had eight steals and seven assists in addition to her SRLQWV “I think (the layoff) did hurt a little bit,” Utti said. “We weren’t in perfect game shape. We were tired (in the second half). In the third quarter, we couldn’t get our offense mov- ing, and we couldn’t score very much.” Meanwhile, the nonleague games the Gulls played earlier in the season will have them well-prepared to make deep run in the state tournament. “The experience of playing the top four teams in the state this year is big,” Hamer said. “We’ve played Cascade, Suther- lin, Valley Catholic, Henley … we’ve played all those teams.” BOYS BASKETBALL North Valley 47, Seaside 40 GRANTS PASS — The Seaside boys basketball team was not intimidated by North Valley’s No. 3 ranking or their RYHUDOOUHFRUG But a win’s a win for the Knights, who won their 14th game in a row Friday night, a ZLQRYHUWKH*XOOV North Valley’s win in the Sweet 16 game of the Class 4A state playoffs sends the .QLJKWVRQWRWKHVWDWH tournament, while Seaside’s season comes to a close at 16- 11 overall. The Gulls were able to hold the Knights to their season low in points, and Seaside even held DWKLUGTXDUWHUOHDG But back-to-back hoops by Cody Thompson late in the WKLUG SHULRG VSDUNHG DQ run for the Knights, who nev- er trailed again. Seaside had to overcome DQHDUO\GH¿FLWDQGGLGLW JOSHUA BESSEX — The Daily Astorian Seaside’s Whitney Westerholm, No. 24, breaks away and puts up a shot in the first quarter. with a trio of 3-pointers from Trent Meyer. A layup by Zach 0DUVWRQJDYHWKH*XOOVD OHDGDWKDOIWLPH Scores by Jaxson Smith, Austin Eagon and Marston had Seaside holding a two- point lead late in the third quarter, before the Knights answered with their big run. Thompson led North Val- OH\ ZLWK SRLQWV IROORZHG E\&KULV0RUVDZLWK 0DUVWRQ KDG SRLQWV with nine points from Meyer, the Gulls only senior. North Valley was 14-for- IURPWKHIUHHWKURZOLQHWR 6HDVLGH¶V IRU $IWHU WKDW the statistics were fairly even, with the Gulls outrebounding WKH.QLJKWVZKLOHERWK teams had seven steals. North Valley was 15-of-38 from the ¿HOGWR6HDVLGH¶VRI “This was still a good experience” for the Sea- side players, said coach Bill Westerholm. “We have all but one coming back, and next year we’ll be a year older and a year stronger. This group will do whatever it takes to get better.”