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10A THE DAILY ASTORIAN • WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 22, 2017 CONTACT US FOLLOW US facebook.com/ DailyAstorianSports Gary Henley | Sports Reporter ghenley@dailyastorian.com Valiants rally for win over Astoria State championship preview? Gulls boys beat Valley Catholic Seaside takes Cowapa League bragging rights The Daily Astorian The Daily Astorian BEAVERTON — The Astoria Lady Fishermen held a halftime lead and went down swinging, but a nine-point loss to the No. 10-ranked team wasn’t enough to extend their season. Valley Catholic had to rally to beat Astoria 51-42 in a Cowapa League playoff Tuesday night, bringing an end to the season for the Lady Fishermen. The Valiants (15-8 overall) advance to the Regional Play-in round, while Astoria finishes 9-16, just out of playoff contention. It was a “really good first half,” said Astoria coach Mike Jacob- son, whose team held a 22-16 lead at the break over the Valiants. “The foul disparity turned against us to begin the third,” as Astoria had seven team fouls in the first three minutes of the second half. The Valiants ended up out- scoring the Fishermen 24-7 in the decisive third quarter to take a 40-29 heading into the final period. Still, “We got it back to a three- point game (43-40) with two min- utes left, and then had to start fouling,” Jacobson said, as his team went on an 11-3 run. “The girls played a great all-around game. I couldn’t be more proud of them.” The Valiants finished 19-of-32 at the free throw line, to Astoria’s 6-for-7. Valley Catholic’s Noelle Man- nen led all scorers with 25 points, while Brooklynn Hankwitz had 14 and Sam Hemsley added 10 for Astoria. Rylee DeMander and Alexis Wallace chipped in nine points apiece. TILLAMOOK — Goal No. 1 is officially out of the way for the Seaside boys basket- ball team. In a possible state championship preview, the Gulls defeated Valley Catholic, 71-59, Tuesday night in Tillamook to officially lock up bragging rights atop the Cowapa League. The teams actually shared the official league title, with the Gulls winning Tuesday’s tune-up for the state playoffs. Not much else was on the line in the game, the third meeting of the season between the Gulls and Valiants. Both teams had locked up their free passes to the Sweet 16, win or lose. Seaside is No. 1 and the Valiants No. 2 in the latest OSAA rankings, and the rankings were going to remain the same, no matter the outcome of Tuesday’s game. The Gulls will host an opponent (to be determined) March 3, followed by a trip to the state tournament, March 9-11. After losing to Valley Catholic in their pre- vious meeting Feb. 10, the Gulls overcame an early six-point deficit and sprinted past the bigger Valiants with ease in the second half, in a game that featured 11 lead changes. Valley Catholic held a 35-34 halftime lead, before the Gulls went on a 3-pointer rampage in the third and fourth quarters. The Valiants held a 43-42 advantage mid- way through the third, when Payton Wester- holm scored on a layup, giving Seaside the lead for good. Chase Januik followed with a 3-pointer, as he and Hunter Thompson combined for six 3-pointers over the final 16 minutes. The Gulls played their run-and-gun, steal-and- score game after that, running circles around the Valiants. Januik capped his night with a four-point play in the closing minutes, as the Gulls ran away with the win. Seaside had four players in double figures, led by Jackson Januik with 22, and followed by Attikin Babb (13), Chase Januik (12) and Thompson (11). SCOREBOARD BOYS BASKETBALL Seaside 71, Valley Catholic 59 VC (59): Daniel Hardy 20, Plambeck 12, Haggerty 7, Robbins 6, Grassberger 5, Welsh 5, Braun 2, Katin 2. SEA (71): Jackson Januik 22, Babb 13, C.Januik 12, H.Thompson 11, Westerholm 4, D.Thompson 4, Hoek- stre 2. Valley Catholic 17 18 11 13—59 Seaside 16 18 19 18—71 GIRLS BASKETBALL Valley Catholic 51, Astoria 42 AST (42): Brooklynn Hankwitz 14, Hemsley 10, Wallace 9, DeMander 9, Cummings, Gimre, O’Brien, Norris. VC (51): Mannen 25, Flemmer 12, Nguyen 11, Kawaguchi 3. Astoria 11 11 7 13—42 Valley Catholic 8 8 24 11—51 Banks 60, Seaside 46 BAN (60): Sydney Gregg 21, Slifka 15, Nelson 7, Gerlinger 6, Ragsdale 5, Klein 4, Wren 2. SEA (46): Maddi Utti 24, Villegas 8, Babbitt 7, Kiser 3, Ideue 2, Garhofer 2, Smart, Bodner, Hoekstre. Banks 11 14 11 24—60 Seaside 13 2 19 12—46 Jeff Ter Har/For The Daily Astorian Jackson Januik scored a game-high 22 points for the Gulls, who will have more than a week off before their next game. Lady Braves defeat Seaside, earn top seed The Daily Astorian TILLAMOOK — Two games in six days versus Seaside, two wins for the Banks girls basketball team, which locked up the Cowapa League’s top seed to the state playoffs Tuesday with a 60-46 victory over the Lady Gulls. The Braves earn a free pass to the Sweet 16, while the Lady Gulls could also receive a bye later this week, but if not, the Gulls would host a Regional Play-in game before open- ing the state playoffs March 4. After suffering a 62-58 loss to Seaside in the first meeting, Banks has rebounded with two straight wins over the Gulls. With both teams ranked in the top three in the latest coaches poll, the No. 2-ranked Braves and No. 3-ranked Gulls could easily end up facing each other at the state tourna- ment in Forest Grove, March 9-11. Banks jumped out to a quick 9-2 lead on the strength of 3-point- ers from Sydney Gregg and Katie Ragsdale, before the Gulls answered with an 11-2 run, capped by baskets from Sydney Villegas and Annaka Garhofer. The momentum swung back to the Braves in the second quarter, as Gregg knocked down another trey in a 14-2 quarter for Banks, resulting in a 25-15 halftime lead. Seaside’s Maddi Utti had just two points in the first half, but the senior scored 14 in the third period and had the Gulls within 36-34 going into the final quarter. But the Braves had plenty left, out- scoring Seaside 24-12 in the fourth quarter. Utti had 24 points to lead all scor- ers, while Gregg had 21 and Aspen Slifka added 15 for the Braves. Maddi Utti scored 24 points for Seaside in a loss Tuesday night against Banks. Jeff Ter Har For The Daily Astorian MLB to push forward with process for rule changes Union agrees to intentional walk change By JANIE McCAULEY Associated Press AP Photo/Morry Gash Major League Baseball Commissioner Rob Manfred an- swers questions at a news conference Tuesday in Phoenix. PHOENIX — Major League Baseball intends to push forward with the process that could lead to possible rule changes involv- ing the strike zone, installa- tion of pitch clocks and limits on trips to the pitcher’s mound. While baseball Commis- sioner Rob Manfred expressed hope the ongoing process would lead to an agreement, he said clubs would reserve the right to act unilater- ally, consistent with the rule- change provision of the sport’s labor contract. Union head Tony Clark said last weekend he did not foresee players agreeing to many of the proposed changes for 2017. Under baseball’s collective bargaining agree- ment, management can alter playing rules only with agree- ment from the union — unless it gives one year notice. With the one year of notice, man- agement can make changes on its own. While the union has resisted many of MLB’s pro- posed innovations, players are willing to accept an intentional walk change, which would allow intentional walks with- out pitches. “As part of a broader discus- sion with other moving pieces, the answer is yes,” Clark wrote today in an email to The Asso- ciated Press. “There are details, as part of that discussion, that are still being worked through, however.” Commissioner Man- fred had complained Tues- day during a news conference about a lack of meaningful change and blamed the union. “I’ve tried to be clear that our game is fundamentally sound, that it does not need to be fixed as some people have sug- gested, and I think last season was the kind of demonstration of the potential of our league to captivate the nation and of the game’s unique place in Ameri- can culture,” he said. Yet, he also added: “I believe it’s a mistake to stick our head in the sand and ignore the fact that our game has changed and continues to change.” Manfred said while he pre- fers an agreement, “I’m also not willing to walk away.” He said he will send a letter to the union in the coming days and plans to continue dialogue with Clark and others in hopes of reaching agreement. Clark met with Cactus League teams last week, five at a time over Thursday, Friday and Saturday, before depart- ing Monday for Florida to visit each Grapefruit League club — and proposed rules changes were a topic. “I have great respect for the labor relations process, and I have a pretty good track record for getting things done with the MLBPA,” Manfred said. “I have to admit, however, that I am disappointed that we could not even get the MLBPA to agree to modest rule changes like limits on trips to the mound that have little effect on the competitive character of the game.”
