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THE DAILY ASTORIAN • MONDAY, FEbRuARY 18, 2019
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Gary Henley | Sports Reporter
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Warrenton qualifies three for state meet
Pior wins title
at 132 pounds
By GARY HENLEY
The Daily Astorian
he Warrenton wrestling
team finished fifth in the
team standings and qualified
three wrestlers for the state meet,
following two full days of action at
Warrenton High School.
The Warriors hosted the District
1/3A tournament Friday and Sat-
urday, with a field of seven teams
competing.
Willamina/Falls City racked up
358.5 points to win the team cham-
pionship, well ahead of second
place Dayton (232). Taft was third
with 225 points, followed by Rain-
ier (184) and Warrenton (134).
The Warriors were in third place
after Friday’s rounds, and remained
in third through the early part of
Saturday’s action.
“Fifth place did not tell the
whole story,” said Warrenton coach
Corey Conant. “We ended up with
13 placers. We are in a tough league
and we did not look afraid in any of
our matches.”
Three Warrenton wrestlers will
head to Portland later this week,
T
Colin Murphey/The Daily Astorian
Julien Whitsett grapples with an opponent.
after qualifying in Saturday’s finals.
The Warriors had one individual
champion, as sophomore Nic Pior
went 3-0 in the 132-pound weight
class, which had just five wrestlers.
Pior won his first match on the
BOYS HOOPS
Seaside wins tiebreaker,
as Gulls beat Banks
Entering the Cowapa League first-place
tiebreaker game Saturday at Tillamook, the
Seaside boys basketball team had a string of
eight straight wins in postseason play.
And the Gulls were not about to ruin that
mark.
Seaside made it nine straight playoff vic-
tories with a 51-42 win over Banks that puts
the Gulls back into the No. 1 spot in the state
rankings, and broke the tie at the top of the
Cowapa League standings.
The Gulls will not play again until March
1, unless Valley Catholic upsets Banks on
Monday. In that case, the Gulls would host
the Valiants on Tuesday. If Banks wins, there
would be no second league playoff meeting
between the Braves and Gulls.
For now, Banks and Seaside are on a colli-
sion course for the state championship game,
March 9 in Forest Grove.
Just two days after the Braves scored a
54-53 upset over Seaside, the Gulls returned
the favor in Saturday’s win.
Seaside never trailed in the league play-
off, although the Braves rallied from a 37-27
deficit to start the fourth period, and pulled to
within 37-35 midway through the quarter.
Seaside answered with 3-pointers from
Beau Johnson and Ryan Hague, and the Gulls
made six straight free throws in the final min-
ute to secure the win.
Hague led Seaside with 12 points, while
the team of Johnson & Johnson (Beau and
Brayden) combined for 22, 11 points apiece.
Brayden hit a 3-pointer to end the first
quarter, and made another to start the second.
Each Johnson added another 3-pointer in
the second quarter, giving Seaside a com-
manding 28-16 halftime lead.
Valiants’ win spells
end to Astoria season
After a fairly close quarter-and-a-half,
Valley Catholic threw a half-court trap on the
Astoria Fishermen, and the Valiants pulled
away with a 23-4 run on their way to a 58-20
win in a Cowapa League boys basketball
playoff Saturday.
Davis Johnson led a trio of Valley Catho-
lic players in double figures with 15, followed
by Daniel Pruitt and Isaac Flemmer with 10
apiece. Ian Hunt had five points for Astoria.
“We knew it was going to be a tough year,
the league being what it is,” said Astoria
coach Kevin Goin. After Seaside and Banks,
“Valley Catholic is as good as any team in the
state,” as the Cowapa League seeks to send a
team (or teams) to the state championship for
the fifth year in a row.
“We’ll have three starters back and some
mat with a one-minute pin over
Amity junior Cameron Weigart.
He followed with a 5-4 semifi-
nal decision over Willamina fresh-
man Spyre Nelson, then finished
off his perfect weekend with a 7-6
guards coming in, so I like where we’re at and
I’m excited for next year,” Goin said.
Rainier gets defensive
in win over Warrenton
With just one win in their final seven
games, it was a rough finish to the 2018-19
season for the Warrenton boys basketball
team.
Still, despite their 50-24 loss Saturday
night at Rainier, the Warriors finished with a
winning record (13-12) and ranked 20th out
of 35 teams at the 3A level.
The Warriors picked a bad night to score
their season-low in points, as the Columbians
held Warrenton’s Dalton Knight scoreless,
after the Warriors’ senior came in averaging
18 points per game.
Rainier’s Conner Rea led all scorers with
14 points, followed by teammates Easton
Crape, Joey Tripp and Kenny Tripp, all with
nine points each.
Ayden Stephens scored nine to lead War-
renton, which was outscored 27-11 over the
second and third quarters.
Knights top Knappa
in league title game
Saturday night’s Northwest League boys
basketball game was shaping up to be a clas-
sic, with No. 1-ranked Columbia Christian
holding a slim 21-19 lead over No. 5-ranked
Knappa in the second quarter.
Yet in a matter of minutes, the Knights led
30-19, and pulled away from there for a 67-44
win over the Loggers, in the league’s match
for top seed to the state playoffs.
Knappa still secured a home state playoff
game later this week, and likely another trip
to Pendleton.
The Loggers will host Coquille in a Sweet
16 playoff contest at 6 p.m. Friday. Knappa
has won its last five Sweet 16 home playoff
games, all by large margins.
Meanwhile, it was Columbia Christian’s
third win of the season over Knappa, which
lost the two league games, 55-47 and 75-55.
In Saturday’s playoff, the Loggers “played
pretty well in the first half,” said Knappa
coach Paul Isom. “Timber (Engblom) was
able to get to the rim and we had a really good
effort on the defensive end.”
In the second half, however, “we went
cold,” he said, “and to Columbia’s credit,
they hit some tough shots. Elijah Munyan (a
6-foot-3 sophomore guard) played extremely
well.”
Knappa’s record dropped to 19-8 overall,
but “all in all, it was a successful regular sea-
son for us,” Isom said. “Our goal at the start of
the year was to get a home (playoff) to try to
get to Pendleton, and we accomplished that.”
— The Daily Astorian
SCOREBOARD
PREP SPORTS SCHEDULE
TODAY
Girls basketball: Cowapa League seed-
ing game, Seaside at Astoria, 5:30 p.m.
BOYS BASKETBALL
Seaside 51, Banks 42
BAN (42): Blake Gobel 11, Bunn 8, Cam-
eron 6, Slifka 5, Klein 4, Hiestand 4, Evans
2, Exline 2.
SEA (51): Ryan Hague 12, Br.Johnson 11,
Be.Johnson 11, Januik 7, Thompson 6,
Westerholm 4, Meyer.
Banks
8
8
11
15 — 42
Seaside
11
17
9
14 — 51
Valley Catholic 58, Astoria 20
AST (20): Ian Hunt 5, Brockman 4, Marin-
covich 4, Altheide-Nielson 3, Long 2,
Ploghoft, Olson, Stenblom, Matlock,
Junes, Johnson.
VC (58): Davis Johnson 15, Pruitt 10,
Flemmer 10, Boileau 8, Tetzloff 8, How-
ard 5, Eck 2, Napoli 2.
Astoria
3
4
3
10 — 20
Valley C.
8
23
14
13 — 58
Rainier 50, Warrenton 24
WAR (24): Ayden Stephens 9, Jackson 5,
Morrow 4, Little 4, Green 2, Knight.
RAI (50): Conner Rea 14, Crape 9, J.Tripp 9,
K.Tripp 9, Godfrey 4, Parmley 3, Keizur 2.
Warrenton
8
2
9
5 — 24
Rainier
12
9
18
11 — 50
GIRLS BASKETBALL
Banks 59, Astoria 45
AST (45): Hailey O’Brien 13, Jackson 8,
Fausett 7, Helmersen 6, Hankwitz 5, Nor-
ris 3, Long 3.
BAN (59): Aspen Slifka 34, Kind 7, Minerv-
ini 6, Nelson 5, Hailey 3, Belden 2, Her-
nandez 2.
Astoria
3
14
9
19 — 45
Banks
18
10
18
13 — 59
Warrenton 50, Willamina 41
WIL (41): Kaya McLean 11, Grace France
11, Hughes 7, Ki.Rankin 6, Scranton 4,
P.Shrabel 2.
WAR (50): Fernanda Alvarez 15, Kenzie
Ramsey 15, Bussert 9, Kapua 9, M.Heyen
2, Miethe, Diego, Dejesus.
Willamina
10
9
11
11 — 41
Warrenton
13
8
15
14 — 50
Wahkiakum 64, Ilwaco 51
WAH (64): Paige Mace 19, Elliott 17, Merz
13, Leitz 6, Watkins 2, Curl 2, Ashe 5.
ILW (51): Erika Glenn 14, Gray 9, Kemmer
8, Bell 6, McMullen 6, Sheldon 6, Whel-
don 2.
Wahkiakum 17 11 13 23 — 64
Ilwaco
11 14 12 14 — 51
decision against Willamina sopho-
more Bryce Mode in the champi-
onship match.
The first Warrior to qualify for
state was Armin Rodriguez at 120
pounds. The junior had a first-
round bye, then pinned Dayton’s
Bryan Zuniga in 57 seconds.
Rodriguez lost a 12-6 deci-
sion to Willamina freshman Elias
Scholten in the semifinals, but
bounced back in consolation with
a pin over freshman Kaden White
of Taft.
In the third-place final, Rodri-
guez posted an 8-2 decision over
Warrenton freshman teammate
Austin Atwood.
And at 285, Warrenton soph-
omore Triston Scott had to wres-
tle four times to finish third in his
class.
Scott had a 37-second pin over
Clatskanie’s Sterling Bruce to
reach the semifinals, where Day-
ton’s Blake Larsen pinned Scott in
34 seconds.
Scott rebounded in consolation
with a fall over teammate Robert
Berk, then pinned Rainier’s Cam-
eron Governale in 1:42 in the third-
place match.
Warrenton picked up team
points with two fourth-place fin-
ishers, including Atwood at 120
pounds and Parker Greenawald at
126.
Gio Martinez and Trevor Snid-
er-Clark had back-to-back fifth-
place showings at 152 and 160
pounds, respectively.
GIRLS HOOPS
Seaside clips
the Valiants, 38-35
After losing to Valley Catholic twice in
the regular season, the Seaside girls bas-
ketball team showed how to take advan-
tage of the league playoff system Saturday
in Beaverton.
In the only game that mattered between
the Valiants (12-13) and Lady Gulls (13-
12), the Gulls won, 38-35, ending Valley
Catholic’s season, and sending Seaside on
the regional play-in round.
The Gulls will play one more seeding
game, Monday night, 5:30 p.m. at Asto-
ria. Even with a loss, Seaside’s RPI rat-
ing should be good enough for a spot in
the regional play-in round later this week.
Seaside coach Mike Hawes called Sat-
urday’s contest, “a close game all the way,
in which we seemed to keep a slim lead
most of the way,” before Valley Cath-
olic forced a tie at 35-35 with a minute
remaining.
Seaside’s Emy Kiser made 1-of-2 free
throws for a 36-35 lead, and Kiser was
fouled again with eight seconds left and
made both free throws.
Ruby Douglas led the Gulls with 15
points, eight in the fourth quarter. In addi-
tion, “we really turned the game to Lilli
(Taylor) and just created off her,” Hawes
said, and Taylor responded with 11 points
and 10 rebounds.
Slifka’s 34 points leads
Banks past Astoria
One of the best players in 4A girls bas-
ketball was at her Player of the Year best
Saturday afternoon in Tillamook.
Banks senior Aspen Slifka erupted for
34 points, leading the Braves to a 59-45
win over Astoria in the Cowapa League’s
top seed tie-breaker game, played at Tilla-
mook High School.
The Braves led from start to finish,
jumping out to a 6-0 lead and holding an
18-3 advantage after one quarter.
Coming off a 55-52 loss Feb. 5 at Asto-
ria, in which the Braves were 11-of-25
from the free throw line, Banks finished
22-for-29 in Saturday’s win, 14-for-16 in
the first half.
Both teams were in foul trouble and
the Fishermen had turnover troubles, but
Slifka scored throughout the entire game.
She had 15 points in the first half, then
highlighted the third quarter with three
three-point plays, pushing a 30-18 lead to
41-23 midway through the quarter.
Hailey O’Brien scored 13 points and
Kajsa Jackson added eight for Astoria,
which will host Seaside in a Clatsop Clash
league playoff, 5:30 p.m. Monday.
Warrenton outlasts
Willamina, 50-41
The fourth meeting of the year between
Willamina and Warrenton did not go any
better for the Bulldogs than the first three
games.
Warrenton dominated the four-game
series, winning all four, including Friday
night’s Coastal Range League girls bas-
ketball playoff game at Clatsop Commu-
nity College, 50-41.
The Warriors (19-7) will host a state
playoff next Saturday vs. Amity (16-
10). Ranked seventh in the state, Warren-
ton can secure its first state tournament
appearance since 2010 with a win, and
first since the tournament was moved to
Coos Bay/North Bend.
Meanwhile, the Bulldogs — playing
their third game of the season in Clat-
sop County — made Friday’s game much
closer than expected. Just 10 days earlier,
the Warriors defeated Willamina, 72-37.
Yet Warrenton found itself holding
a narrow 36-30 lead entering the fourth
quarter.
“It’s difficult to beat a team four times
in one season,” said Warrenton coach Rob-
ert Hoepfl. “So you have to tip your hat to
(the Bulldogs). They’re a good team, and
they were playing for their season, so we
knew it would be a close game.
“Bottom line, we got the win,” he said.
“I’m proud of the kids. We accomplished
what we set out to do, which was get to
state.”
A rough night for the regular Warrenton
scorers was saved by junior Melia Kapua,
who knocked down three 3-pointers in the
second half, including back-to-back tri-
ples in the fourth quarter that highlighted
an 11-0 run to start the period.
“Melia had an amazing game,” Hoepfl
said. “She only hit one three all season, and
she had three in the second half tonight.”
Both teams finished in foul trouble,
with two Willamina players fouling out,
along with Warrenton’s Kenzie Ramsey.
The fouls weren’t too costly for the
Warriors, since Willamina did not make a
free throw until the fourth quarter, and fin-
ished 3-for-13.
Warrenton led by as much as 20-12
midway through the second quarter, but
the Bulldogs rallied to within 21-19 at
halftime.
A pair of 3-pointers by Ramsey, coupled
with two baskets from Fernanda Alvarez,
pushed Warrenton’s lead to 31-21 to open
the third quarter.
Willamina finished the quarter on a
9-5 run, before the Warriors put the game
away with their 11-point run to start the
fourth.
Alvarez and Ramsey scored 15 points
apiece to lead Warrenton, while Claire
Bussert and Kapua each had nine. Bus-
sert also had six assists and five steals, and
Alvarez had 12 rebounds.
Wahkiakum ends
Ilwaco win streak
The Ilwaco Lady Fishermen had not
lost since Dec. 21, yet they saw their
12-game win streak come crashing down
Saturday night, as Wahkiakum shocked
No. 3-ranked Ilwaco 64-51 in a district
2B championship girls basketball game
at W.F. West High School in Chehalis,
Washington.
Ilwaco will still take part in the state
tournament, Feb. 27-March 2 in Spokane.
Wahkiakum and Ilwaco split two play-
off games last season, in which Ilwaco
was ranked No. 1 entering the state
tournament.
This year, the top-ranked Mules held a
28-25 halftime lead in Saturday’s game,
before Ilwaco rallied and took a brief lead
in the fourth quarter.
Led by sophomore Paige Mace, Wah-
kiakum took over in the last four minutes
of the game to escape with the win.
Mace hit five 3-pointers, and team-
mate Macie Elliott finished with 17 points.
Ilwaco was led by Erika Glenn’s 14 points.
— The Daily Astorian