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.
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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
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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
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Gulls picked up where they
left off following the league
season, as they dismantled
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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-
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More impressively, the
No. 7-ranked Gulls swarmed
the Pelicans with a relentless
defense, forcing 33 Klamath
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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-
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nament against Valley Catho-
lic, a team Seaside has already
beaten once this season.
The two Cowapa League
teams will battle again Thurs-
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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.
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The Gulls had to overcome
a poor third quarter before
they were able to hold off
Klamath Union in Saturday’s
playoff.
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points of the game, and the
Pelicans had eight turnovers
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Whitney Westerholm hit a
3-pointer, and the Gulls used
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advantage. Utti and Sydney
Villegas scored back-to-back
hoops late in the second quar-
ter for a 36-17 halftime lead.
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ly able to score some points
(11 straight), the Gulls went
cold, and Klamath Union was
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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
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over-per-minute Pelicans com-
mitted several unforced turn-
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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.”
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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
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“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
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But a win’s a win for the
Knights, who won their 14th
game in a row Friday night, a
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North Valley’s win in the
Sweet 16 game of the Class
4A state playoffs sends the
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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
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But back-to-back hoops by
Cody Thompson late in the
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run for the Knights, who nev-
er trailed again.
Seaside had to overcome
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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
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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-
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with nine points from Meyer,
the Gulls only senior.
North Valley was 14-for-
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the statistics were fairly even,
with the Gulls outrebounding
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teams had seven steals. North
Valley was 15-of-38 from the
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“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.”