10A THE DAILY ASTORIAN • THURSDAY, MARCH 2, 2017 CONTACT US FOLLOW US facebook.com/ DailyAstorianSports Gary Henley | Sports Reporter ghenley@dailyastorian.com Athletes of the Week (FOR THE WEEK OF FEB. 20-25) JASON MILLER Knappa SYDNEY VILLEGAS Seaside “Unsung Hero” award of the season for Seaside girls basketball goes to T The he Sydney Villegas. senior wing is almost always the second-leading scorer behind team- nappa’s “Unsung Hero” doesn’t always score a lot of points, but the senior K guard was always among the team leaders in rebounds, assists and steals. mate Maddi Utti, as she was last week in a 57-33 win over Junction City in a 4A Regional Play-in game. Seaside’s victory clinched a spot in the Sweet 16 for the Gulls, for the fourth year in a row. Villegas scored 17 points, including the fi rst two points that started a 32-0 run for the Gulls. She was recently named fi rst-team Cowapa All-League. Miller pulled down 10 rebounds and also had two free throws in the closing seconds in Knappa’s 46-44 league playoff win over Life Christian. In a must-win regular season game against Nestucca, he had fi ve assists, six points and seven rebounds. Miller capped his senior season by being selected honorable mention on the Northwest All-League team. Four Loggers on NWL all-league team Spaghetti feed for Seaside baseball on tap The Daily Astorian The Seaside High Baseball Spa- ghetti Feed is 6 to 8 p.m. Monday at the Seaside American Legion. Tickets are being sold in advance for the fundraiser for the Seaside baseball. Prices are $10 for adults, $5 for children, or $20 per family. For more information, contact Seaside coach Joel Dierickx at jwdierickx@seaside.k12.or.us. The Daily Astorian No team in the Northwest League will have more return- ing all-league players next season than the Knappa Loggers, who will be set to challenge at the 2A level in 2017-18. The Knappa boys had four players selected to the all-league squad, announced at the recent league tournament. Three of the four will return next season. League champion Columbia Christian had just three players on the all-league squad, all seniors. Life Christian senior Zeke Quin- lan was selected as the league’s Player of the Year; and Vernonia had four players named all-league (three seniors, one junior). Knappa junior Dale Takalo was named fi rst team all-league; Logger junior Colton Weirup was selected to the second team; and senior Jason Miller and soph- omore Timber Engblom were named honorable mention. Coach of the Year honors went to Vernonia’s David Weller. Meanwhile, the Knappa girls had two players earn all- league honors — seniors Kaitlyn Landwehr and Devin Vandergriff, the Loggers’ top two scorers this season. Faith Bible junior Sarah Fajer was named NWL Player of the Year, and City Christian’s Nicole Damazio earned Coach of the Year honors. Falcons coach fi nds some good AP Photo/Elaine Thompson Washington’s Kelsey Plum reacts after scoring against Utah in the second half of an NCAA college basket- ball game in Seattle in February. Plum became the NCAA’s all-time leading scorer on the final weekend of the regular season, leaving the quality and depth of the Pac-12 to be the showcase when the conference tournament kicks off today. With records out of the way, focus on NCAAs for Pac-12 By TIM BOOTH Associated Press SEATTLE — Kelsey Plum’s chase of the NCAA scoring record was sup- posed to put an added spotlight on the Pac-12 women’s tournament. Washington’s senior star had other plans and became the NCAA’s all- time leading scorer on the fi nal week- end of the regular season, leaving the quality and depth of the Pac-12 to be the showcase when the conference tournament begins today. “It’s a war every night and it always has been. I think the depth is amazing,” Oregon State coach Scott Rueck said. “I think everybody who makes (a) postseason tournament, no matter what it is, is going to be well-prepared.” The conference tournament gets underway with four opening-round games: California vs. USC; Arizona State vs. Utah; Washington State vs. Colorado; and Oregon vs. Arizona. No. 6 Oregon State, No. 10 Stan- ford, No. 11 Washington and No. 15 UCLA received byes to Friday’s quarterfi nals. The depth of the conference is such that California fi nished eighth in the regular season and is still under consideration for an NCAA at-large bid. Utah ended up with the No. 12 seed in the conference tournament but threatened Washington on the fi nal weekend of the regular season after winning at Washington State. There is a clear delineation between the top four, which are among the national elite, and the rest of the conference. But the conference as a whole is col- lectively better. “I think the bottom is up a little bit. I think the top is good. I think the top has been good,” Rueck said. “I mean, I remember a year ago, we didn’t feel like our conference was bad. . I thought last year was ridiculous, too.” Oregon State, Washington, Stanford and UCLA are locks for the NCAAs and three of the four could end up hosting fi rst- and sec- ond-round games. Stanford can’t do so this season because of a confl ict at Maples Pavilion. Arizona State and Oregon seem likely to be in the NCAA fi eld, leav- ing only a couple of possibilities for teams to play their way into the tour- nament with a strong showing in Seattle. MLS celebrates 22 teams in 22 years this season By ANNE M. PETERSON Associated Press Krissy Barendse-Goodman/ For the Daily Astorian Knappa junior Dale Takalo was one of four Loggers selected to the 2016-17 Northwest All- League team. The theme for Major League Soc- cer this season is 22 in 22, as the league embarks on its 22nd year with 22 teams — including two new teams in the Atlanta United and Minnesota United. The theme could just as easily be expansion, expansion, expansion. Launched with 10 teams in 1996, MLS has plans to expand to 28 teams in the coming years. The replacement for the defunct Chivas USA, Los Ange- les FC, joins the league next season. It is hoped that a long-anticipated Miami fran- chise, an effort led by David Beckham, will materialize as the league’s 24th team. There were 12 bids submitted ear- lier this year for the fi nal four teams. In a preseason interview with The Associated Press, Commissioner Don Garber said a decision about two of the teams could come by the end of this year and they could begin play in 2020, while the fi nal two will be announced sometime thereafter. “I think it’s fair to say that this year and the last number of years we’ve been very focused on strategically growing the league and celebrating new markets coming in and building a fan base, helping to create this soc- cer nation that we’ve been so focused on,” Garber said. “And this year is probably no different. We’ve got a team coming in that is setting records for attendance in Atlanta, and a team in Minnesota that’s similar to Port- land in that it is coming into Major League Soccer after many decades of support for the professional game. “I think you’ll continue to see more and more stories coming out of our league that are about growth, but I try to focus as much on celebrating all the great things that have gone on in so many mar- kets for the last number of years.” INDIANAPOLIS — Fal- cons coach Dan Quinn has sifted through the wreckage of his team’s Super Bowl collapse, and found some good in it. He thinks the monumental loss to New England, in which Atlanta blew a 25-point lead, can serve as an inspiration for the Falcons to come back even stronger next season. SCOREBOARD PREP SCHEDULE TODAY Girls Basketball — Washington 2B State Tournament: TBA vs. Ilwaco (at Spokane), 3:45 p.m. FRIDAY Boys Basketball — 4A State Playoff: Cascade at Seaside, 7 p.m. SATURDAY Girls Basketball — 4A State Playoff: Seaside at Molalla, 7 p.m. BASKETBALL Northwest All-League Girls Player of the Year: Sarah Fajer, Faith Bible Coach of the Year: Nicole Damazio, City Christian First Team Sarah Fajer, Jr., Faith Bible Vivianna Bustamante, Sr., Vernonia Kristina Dickinson, Sr., City C. Megan Ely, Sr., Vernonia Katie Fajer, Jr., Faith Bible Charity Hall, Jr., Gaston Second Team Samantha Howard, Sr., Columbia Jessica Irving, Sr., Faith Bible Jakayla Jackson, Jr., Nestucca Maddie Lambert, Jr., NKN Kaitlyn Landwehr, Sr., Knappa Devin Vandergriff, Sr., Knappa Boys Player of the Year: Zeke Quinlan, Life Christian Coach of the Year: David Weller, Vernonia First Team Zeke Quinlan, Sr., Life Christian Levi Dalzell, Sr., Columbia C. Bo Quinlan, Jr., Life Christian Clay Sullivan, Jr., Vernonia Dale Takalo, Jr., Knappa Robert Wagner, Sr., Columbia C. Second Team Tristan Adams, Sr., Vernonia Brett Elliott, Sr., Vernonia Hunter Endresen, Sr., Columbia C. Max Halverson, Sr., NKN Cole Strober, Jr., Nestucca Colton Weirup, Jr., Knappa Honorable Mention (Knappa) Timber Engblom, So. Jason Miller, Sr.