10A
THE DAILY ASTORIAN • WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 25, 2017
CONTACT US
FOLLOW US
facebook.com/
DailyAstorianSports
Gary Henley | Sports Reporter
ghenley@dailyastorian.com
SPORTS
IN BRIEF
Gulls dominate Valiants
Lady Loggers
hold off
Pirates, 49-42
The Daily Astorian
ROCKAWAY BEACH —
Knappa coach Marie Green called
it “a fantastic win that we mas-
sively needed” Tuesday night, as
her team scored one of its biggest
victories of the season, 49-42 at
Neah-Kah-Nie.
The Lady Loggers improve to
6-4 in league play, keeping them-
selves in the title hunt, behind
Faith Bible (9-0) and Vernonia
(7-2). Knappa can pull to within a
half-game with a win over Verno-
nia Thursday at Knappa.
In Tuesday’s win, Kaitlyn
Landwehr scored 15 of her game-
high 18 points in the second quar-
ter, as Knappa held a 29-19 half-
time lead.
The Pirates closed to within
43-41, but Knappa won it at the
free throw line late, as Madelynn
Weaver made two free throws
with 1:00 left, and Aiko Miller
was 4-for-6 in the final minute.
Weaver had nine points and
three steals, while Landwehr also
had 13 rebounds.
Cougars sweep
Warriors in
double header
The Daily Astorian
PORTLAND — Portland
Adventist won its seventh straight
game Tuesday night, 51-31 over
Warrenton in a Lewis & Clark
League girls basketball game in
Portland.
The first-place Cougars are
11-0 in league play (15-3 over-
all), and ranked fourth in the latest
OSAA rankings.
Warrenton slips to 4-5, 9-7, and
hosts Catlin Gabel (1-9) Friday.
In the boys’ game, Portland
Adventist defeated the War-
riors 84-33, helping the Cougars
improve to 8-11 overall.
No details were reported from
either game.
SCOREBOARD
PREP SCHEDULE
WEDNESDAY
Girls Basketball — Jewell at Falls
City, 5:30 p.m.
Boys Basketball — Jewell at Falls
City, 7 p.m.
THURSDAY
Girls Basketball — Vernonia at Knap-
pa, 6 p.m.
Boys Basketball — Vernonia at
Knappa, 8 p.m.
Swimming — Valley Catholic at Sea-
side, 4 p.m.
Wrestling — Warrenton at League
4-Way, Sheridan, 5 p.m.
BOYS BASKETBALL
Seaside 65, Valley Catholic 42
VC (42): Jack Grasberger 11, Katin 9,
Haggerty 7, Hardy 4, Braun 4, Robbins
4, Plambeck 2, Eberhart 1.
SEA (65): Jackson Januik 19, Wester-
holm 14, H.Thompson 10, C.Januik 8,
Babb 6, Hague 3, D.Thompson 2, Hoek-
stre 2, Landwehr 1.
Valley C.
16 6 9 11—42
Seaside
15 18 16 16—65
JV: Valley Catholic 61, Seaside 59
Knappa 74, Neah-Kah-Nie 44
KNA (74): Dale Takalo 25, Engblom
14, E.Takalo 13, Rubus 11, Vanderburg
4, Weirup 3, K.Miller 2, Ramvick 2,
Goodman 1, J.Miller.
Knappa
15 16 25 18—74
Neah-Kah-Nie 7 12 9 16—44
GIRLS BASKETBALL
Seaside 56, Valley Catholic 47
SEA (56): Maddi Utti 27, Villegas 12,
Babbitt 8, Garhofer 6, Ideue 3, Smart,
Bodner.
Valley C.
12 14 8 13—47
Seaside
20 10 13 13—56
Astoria 61, Tillamook 35
TIL (35): Madi Reeves 14, Zuercher
10, Sherer 5, Zweifel 4, Tuatagaloa 2.
AST (61): Julia Norris 15, Hankwitz
12, O’Brien 10, Hemsley 8, Wallace 8,
Gimre 4, Cummings 2, DeMander 2,
Burnett, Jackson.
Tillamook
6 15 10 4—35
Astoria
11 17 17 16—61
Knappa 49, Neah-Kah-Nie 42
KNA (49): Kaitlyn Landwehr 18,
Weaver 9, Inman 7, Miller 6, Vandergriff
5, Vanderburg 2, Strain 2.
NKN (42): Maddie Lambert 17, Clifford
8, Booth 6, Dunn 4, Ramirez 3, Soans
2, Cruz Lilly 1.
Knappa
9 20 11 9—49
Neah-Kah-Nie 8 11 8 15—42
Photos by Danny Miller/The Daily Astorian
Seaside’s Chase Januik, center, battles for ball control during a game against Valley Catholic.
Seaside wins 13th
straight game
By GARY HENLEY
The Daily Astorian
S
EASIDE — To borrow an old phrase
from Oregon State football (circa
1967), the Seaside boys basketball
team can now call themselves “Giant Killers.”
Not that Valley Catholic was any better
coming into Tuesday night’s game than the
No. 1-ranked Gulls, but the Valiants were cer-
tainly bigger.
With more size at pretty much every posi-
tion, the Valiants were still no match for the
state’s best team at the Class 4A level, as Sea-
side made it look routine, winning 65-42 in a
Cowapa League game at the Gulls’ Nest.
We all know the Gulls can bomb away
from the 3-point line (which they did, 7-for-
17), but Seaside showed a defense Tuesday
night that could potentially win the Gulls a
state championship.
Quick hands and a harassing defense
forced steal after steal for the Seaside defense,
which set the tone and had the Valiants flus-
tered and frustrated by game’s end.
Valley Catholic had 12 turnovers in the
first half, and even the easy shots weren’t fall-
ing for the Valiants, who were 6-for-23 in the
first half, and finished 15-for-45 from the field.
“Our motto tonight was to play fast, play
smart defense, and defensive transition,” said
Seaside coach Bill Westerholm. “Early on
in the second half, we didn’t play too smart
defensively, because we put them on the free
throw line. We want to keep our guys on the
court. We can’t give up stupid fouls.”
Instead, it was Valley Catholic that ended
up with 20 fouls for the game, losing starter
Aidan Welsh midway through the second half.
Seaside’s Jackson Januik goes up for a
shot during a game against Valley Cath-
olic on Tuesday.
Jackson Januik was 6-for-6 at the free
throw line in the fourth quarter, and finished
11-for-16. Seaside was 20-for-28 overall, to
Valley Catholic’s 11-for-16.
Offensively, the Gulls were on target for
most of the night (19-for-39 from the field),
and Seaside had locked up win No. 13 in a
row by the end of the third period, leading
49-31.
Payton Westerholm had two scores off
steals in the second quarter, as Seaside turned
a 16-15 deficit into a 33-22 lead by halftime.
Januik and Hunter Thompson both hit
3-pointers in the third quarter, and late in the
period freshman Ryan Hague connected on a
trey, and freshman Duncan Thompson scored
off a steal and feed from Chase Januik for an
insurmountable 18-point lead.
The Valiants’ size, for the most part, was
a nonfactor.
“All week, everybody was saying, ‘Oh
boy, what are you going to do against their tall
guys? They’re 6-6, 6-6, 6-7, 6-5 …’ But they
have to deal with our quickness, our ball han-
dlers and our shooters,” coach Westerholm
said.
“And our kids are the hardest-working kids
that I know,” he said. “They’re in the weight
room, we train them twice a week on speed
and quickness stuff. They get three days of
pretty hard work. They hate it, but they know
it’s the best thing for them.”
And that seemed to make the difference,
as the Gulls got into their running game in the
third quarter.
“We made our little patented run there
in that stretch,” Westerholm said. “We were
able to stretch the lead, and we did a nice job
towards the end of the third quarter, holding
the ball for about a minute-and-a-half to get
the last shot.”
Jackson Januik finished with a game-high
19 points, followed by Westerholm (14) and
Hunter Thompson (10).
“We came out aggressive defensively, and
stayed that way throughout the whole game,”
Januik said. “All seven or eight guys who
played bought into that defense.
“We knew that (the Valiants) were bigger
than us, and that we were going to have to be
aggressive and all over the place on defense.
And that led to some offense, and we were
able to get into some fast breaks and run the
floor.
“I don’t know what their game plan was,”
he said, “but I assume it was to slow it down
and beat us in the half-court. We were able to
speed the game up, and they couldn’t handle
it. At the end of the third quarter, Ryan Hague
hit a big three, Chase got a steal and got it to
Duncan, and that kind of lifted everybody up.”
Chase Januik said the Valiants “were frus-
trated the rest of the game after that. And they
couldn’t make a push.”
The Gulls will hit the road for a game Fri-
day at Tillamook, then Seaside returns home
to face Banks.
Lady Gulls fly past Valiants
The Daily Astorian
SEASIDE — The Seaside girls
basketball team cleared one more
obstacle Tuesday night between them-
selves and a Cowapa League title.
Seaside — ranked seventh in the
latest 4A coaches poll — led from
beginning to end in a 56-47 win over
No. 8-ranked Valley Catholic.
After a game at Tillamook (0-3 in
league) Friday, the Gulls (3-0) host
Banks (3-0) next Tuesday, in Part I of
a league championship showdown.
Maddi Utti scored 27 points to
go with seven rebounds and five
assists, while Sydney Villegas added
12 points and 10 boards in Tuesday’s
win.
Seaside coach Mike Hawes said he
was “just really pleased and hoping to
keep getting better.” “I’m not really
sure how good we are or can be, but
we want to find out,” he said.
The Gulls led 20-14 after one quar-
ter, before the Valiants rallied and tied
the game at 26-26, on a 3-pointer by
Matti Thurman.
Seaside answered with an offen-
sive rebound basket from Bryre Bab-
bitt and a layup by Sydney Villegas
off a pass from Lucy Bodner, and the
Gulls led 30-26 at halftime.
Valley Catholic managed to keep it
close until midway through the third
Lady Fish
cruise past
Tillamook,
61-35
The Daily Astorian
Danny Miller/The Daily Astorian
Seaside’s Maddi Utti drives to the basket during a game against Valley
Catholic on Tuesday in Seaside.
period, when a short jump shot by Utti
sparked a 9-0 run, turning a 36-34 lead
into a 45-34 lead.
Utti was 11-of-25 from the field,
and Villegas 5-of-10.
“The seniors were tremendous,”
Hawes said. “We just need Maddi
and Sydney to be studs, and they were
tonight, though they had to fight and
struggle.”
The Gulls also had “great contri-
butions from Jetta (Ideue) and Bryre,
and Lucy just plays her heart out,”
Hawes said. “Annaka Garhofer came
off the bench to hit a couple 3’s to get
us a nice margin in the first half.
“We got some separation in the
third quarter and kind of shakily hung
on the final four minutes,” he said.
“We rebounded pretty well and only
had 11 turnovers, though my brain
thought we had a lot more.”
“Freshmen Power” was all it
took for the Astoria girls basket-
ball team Tuesday night at the
Brick House.
Astoria freshmen Julia Nor-
ris, Brooklynn Hankwitz and Hai-
ley Obrien all scored in double fig-
ures, as the trio combined for 37
points in a 61-35 win over Tilla-
mook in Cowapa League action.
Norris led the way with 15,
followed by Hankwitz (12) and
Obrien (10), with sophomore Sam
Hemsley and senior Alexis Wal-
lace adding eight apiece.
Astoria led 28-21 at halftime,
then dominated the second half
(33-14), helping the Fishermen
improve to 1-2 in league. Tilla-
mook falls to 0-3.
Astoria plays at Banks Friday.
In the boys’ game at the
Brick House, Tillamook defeated
Astoria, 47-37. No details were
available.