7A
THE DAILY ASTORIAN • FRIDAY, MARCH 10, 2017
Lady Gulls: Look to advance
Continued from Page 8A
Led by their the dynamic
duo of seniors Maddi Utti
(15 points, nine rebounds, six
assists) and Sydney Villegas
(10 points, 10 rebounds, two
steals), the Gulls simply out-
hustled and outplayed the Cou-
gars to pull out the impressive
victory.
“We’re really excited
because we came out and
played our best to get the win,”
said Utti. “We rotated really
well in our zone defense and we
all did a good job to pull out the
win. We’re really, really happy
and it’s the biggest win of our
career. She (Cascade’s Halle
Wright is a big part of their
team. We’re excited and ready
to play in the Final Four.”
Utti, who injured her chin
and right wrist in Seaside’s
38-31 playoff win over Molalla
on Saturday, proved capable of
overcoming adversity, while
helping lead the Gulls to vic-
tory. Utti, the Moda Health
Player-of-the-Game for Sea-
side, fired in a jumper from the
free-throw line at the outset of
the contest, giving Seaside an
initial 2-0 first quarter lead.
What followed was a highly
physical and very aggres-
sive battle with players elbow-
ing, shoving and pushing each
other throughout the contest,
as many fell hard to floor often
after contact.
Cascade, the Oregon West
Conference champions from
Turner (near Salem), came
back with a 6-2 run to go ahead
8-4. Cascade, led by 6-foot
junior Halle Wright (17 points,
nine rebounds) remained ahead
12-10 at the end of the first
quarter, which included three
lead changes. Wright earned
the Moda Health Player-of-the-
Game for Cascade.
The two evenly matched
squads traded baskets early
in the second. After Cascade
took a 17-16 advantage, Ville-
gas hit a jumper in the post area
giving Seaside an 18-17 lead.
Utilizing a solid an effective
zone defense, the Lady Gulls
remained in control, while
leading for the remainder of the
contest.
“This is so exciting to get a
win against the No. 1-ranked
team in the state,” Villegas said.
“Honestly, I’m kind of sur-
prised we won, because in the
last couple of years, we’ve kind
of had a tough time in our open-
ing game. I just feel speechless,
though right now, but I’m just
so very proud of my team.”
Seaside capitalized on a
total of 20 Cascade fouls and
the Gulls shot 13-for-18 (72.2
percent) from the line to help
them extend their lead. Lucy
Bodner (four points) hit a
jumper underneath giving Sea-
side a 20-17 edge with 4:03 left
in the second. The Gulls sank
six free throws in the final 2:43
of the quarter, including three
each by Villegas and Utti, who
shot 7-for-9 at the line. A Ville-
gas free throw with 8.2 seconds
Photos by Danny Miller/The Daily Astorian
Seaside Seagulls’ Jackson Januik collides with Gladstone Gladiators’ Lyric Warren in
the 4A state quarterfinals on Thursday at Pacific University in Forest Grove.
Danny Miller/The Daily Astorian
Seaside Seagulls’ Maddi Utti and Gretchen Hoekstre defend
as Cascade Cougars’ Mariah Hollenbeck attempts to drive to
the basket as Seaside faces off against Cascade in the 4A
State Quarterfinals on Thursday, March 9 at Forest Grove High
School in Forest Grove. Seaside defeated Cascade 47-42.
left lifted Seaside in front 26-20
at halftime.
Injuries impact
“After the injuries that Utti
had on Saturday, she really
recovered well and came back
strong, and we really needed
to have her at full strength,”
said Hawes. “We’re extremely
proud of the team and everyone
made key contributions to help-
ing us get the win. We’re not
satisfied with one win, though,
because we still have lots of
work to do.
Seaside extended the mar-
gin to its largest of the game
early in the third when Bodner
a 10-foot baseline jumper from
the side, making it 28-20 with
7:50 on the clock. Cascade,
which reached the 2016 finals
before losing 45-40 to Suther-
lin, responded with a strong
comeback effort, trimming it to
38-36 after three.
Cascade got to within 38-37
early in the fourth, forcing a
Seaside timeout with 6:06 left.
With 4:50 left, Wright fell to
the floor hard and was crying
and pounding the floor with her
fist while obviously in severe
pain with a left leg injury. She
limped off the court assisted by
two assistant coaches.
With Cascade’s best player
sidelined, Seaside took advan-
tage of the unfortunate situation
though and extended its lead.
Seaside sophomore guard Emy
Kiser fired in a three-pointer
from the corner, putting the
Gulls up 41-37 with 3:58 left in
the game.
“We had the lead when she
(Wright) got hurt, but when-
ever your top player gets hurt,
it obviously affects your team,”
said Hawes. “We were in con-
trol for most of the game, at that
point, so I’m not really sure how
much her absence affected the
outcome. I’m was incredibly
happy to see that she did come
back into the game. Wright and
Utti are the two best players
in Class 4A, so it was a good
matchup to see those two play-
ers square off head-to-head.”
Cascade trimmed it to 41-39
with 2:37 remaining on two
free throws by Karen Miller
(12 pts.) but they didn’t get any
closer though. Utti’s jumper
in the lane made it 43-39 with
2:05 left, but Cascade came
back and narrowed it to 43-40.
Utti then had a key assist with
a long pass from near the top
of the 3-point arc to Villegas,
whose key basket inside made
it 45-40 with 1:30 left.
“I’m really excited to have
an opportunity to play Suther-
lin, which is a really good team,
too,” said Villegas. “I think
we’re capable of beating them
if we play the same way we did
today against Cascade. We just
took down the No. 1-ranked
team, which really gives us lots
of confidence now, and I think
we can beat anybody.”
Wright somehow managed
to shrug off her injury and then
played the final 90 seconds.
Cascade trimmed it to 45-42,
forcing a Seaside timeout with
44.4 seconds left. Seaside failed
to score on its ensuing posses-
sion, giving Cascade one final
chance. Wright fired up a pos-
sible game-tying 3 and missed,
but the Cougars retained pos-
session as the ball went out of
bounds after being touched by
Seaside.
Following a Cascade time-
out with 15.1 seconds left, Sea-
side’s Bryre Babbitt (5 points)
grabbed an errant ball after
forcing a Cougar turnover and
she passed the ball to Utti,
who was fouled with 6.7 sec-
onds left. Utti sank both from
the line, giving Seaside a 47-42
lead. The Gulls then reacted as
expected after a big win with
excited players jumping up and
down, screaming and hugging
one another in a very joyful and
emotional victory celebration.
Gulls: Grind onto semifinals
Continued from Page 8A
finals and the Bulldogs, who
will play Seaside at 3:15 p.m.
today at Forest Grove High
School, right after the Sea-
side girls take on Sutherlin in
a girls’ semifinal.
It’s a pretty big rematch —
and one that definitely favors
the Seaside boys. The Gulls
knocked off North Bend at
their place in the preseason,
82-62.
Low scoring
Seaside won Thursday’s
game with its lowest point
total of the season.
The Gulls had 3-point-
ers from Jackson Januik and
Attikin Babb near the end of
the first half, and even those
two shots had Seaside in front
by a low-scoring 23-15 at
halftime.
“We did just enough to get
by,” said Seaside coach Bill
Westerholm. “We didn’t do a
very good job of moving the
ball in the first half. We tried
to play a lot of one-on-one
stuff, and that doesn’t always
work at the state tournament.”
Both teams also got into
foul trouble. Januik and
Seaside Seagulls’ Chase
Januik takes a shot while
Gladstone Gladiators’ De-
shawn Dix, left, and Glad-
stone Gladiators’ Briggs
Tatom try to defend.
Hunter Thompson each fin-
ished with four.
“(The Gladiators) got into
a little more trouble than we
did,” Westerholm said. “But
we didn’t shoot the ball very
well the whole night (13-for-
39). Attikin Babb had a good
game, and we hit just enough
free throws down the stretch
(5-of-11 in the final 1:15).
But they’re a good team, too.
Every game here is going to
be a dogfight.”
Seaside was 16-of-27 at
the free-throw line, to Glad-
stone’s 1-of-6.
A 3-pointer by Thomp-
son early in the fourth quar-
ter gave Seaside a 35-26
lead, but Gladstone fought
back, eventually closing to
within 45-43 on a 3-pointer
by Briggs Tatom with 21 sec-
onds left.
Payton Westerholm was
fouled twice in the final 15
seconds, and was 1-of-4 at
the line.
On his second miss, how-
ever, he grabbed the offen-
sive rebound and was fouled
again.
“That was big,” said
coach and dad Westerholm.
“To miss two free throws
and get away with an offen-
sive rebound. The kid has a
knack for getting his hand on
the ball. He was more upset at
himself for missing the free
throws.”
Payton said, “I wish I
would have made a couple
more. I was definitely ner-
vous coming in, but hopefully
that passes.
“We were up the whole
game, and just kind of kept it
there,” he said.
“We feel good. We feel
like if we can play our game,
we can win the next one, too.”
POURING AT THE COAST
CRAFT BEER FESTIVAL
Hotel: ‘Proposal still has a few problems’
Continued from Page 1A
between the east and west sides
of the building, an additional
variance was needed to allow
the increase to 60 feet for the
roof height at the west building
wing, an addition of 15 feet over
the 45 feet allowed by zoning.
The building will have sloped
roofs and dormer windows,
with an 80-foot tower, an archi-
tectural feature already allowed
as an exception to the building
height under city ordinance.
“When you look at it from
the east, it is 15 feet above the
variance at 60 feet, but when
you look at it from the ocean
side, the Prom, it will just be
7 feet above grade,” Simmons
said.
He said the building was
comparable height to other
buildings in the area, which is
zoned for hotels and resorts.
Back and forth
Appeals were brought by
the Calefs and Avrel Nudelman,
who owns a home at 341 Beach
Drive. Based on the setback
variances, the City Council
returned the project to the Plan-
ning Commission for redesign.
Simmons and architect
David Vonada went back
before the Planning Commis-
sion in January with revised
plans eliminating the need for
setback variances by reducing
parking and eliminating four
second-floor rooms.
“The way we had to struc-
ture it, we had to give up the
second-floor oceanfront rooms
and turn that area into parking,”
Simmons said. “That did reduce
us by six oceanfront rooms.
That’s our bread-and-butter for
this type of property. That’s the
sacrifice we had to make to get
enough parking places.”
After revised plans won
Planning Commission approval
for a height variance in January,
the Calefs submitted their sec-
ond appeal to the City Council.
Nudelman did not appeal the
Planning Commission’s second
decision.
‘A few problems’
“From what I have seen,
the new proposal still has a
few problems,” Dan Calef said.
“From the prospective of 25
Avenue A — our house — one
drawing shows the building set
back from Avenue A in such
a way that our whole house is
visible — and hence we could
see the Prom — while other
drawings have the building
closer to the street and partially
in front of us.
“I would also think that there
would have to be some sort of
fence in front of our house to
stop we AARP members from
tumbling into the driveway
down into the parking garage,”
Calef added. “This would
also change our property from
‘ocean view’ to ‘fence view.’”
Simmons said he under-
stood the motivation for the
Calefs’ appeal. “It’s been their
family’s home, I understand
that. It would be a challenge for
me if it was my ancestral family
home,” he said.
Simmons said the family
had rejected purchase over-
tures. “We offered twice as
much as it was worth, based
on the comps,” Simmons said.
“They can’t even come to the
point of selling. They don’t
want to. All of their child-
hood memories are part of that
house. I understand that.”
Even if the Pearl plan wins
approval and the hotel is built,
the Calefs will continue to
receive most of their light and
views, Simmons said. “The
Pearl will be built based on
the 15-foot side yard setback
requirement,” Simmons said
in a letter to members of the
City Council. “The angle of the
vacant lot, which gets narrower
as it nears the ocean, will push
the building footprint back to
almost 25 within the lot. With
the building setbacks, the sun-
light and ocean view in front
of the neighbor’s home will be
protected.”
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