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THE DAILY ASTORIAN • WEDNESDAY, FEbRuARY 27, 2019
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Gary Henley | Sports Reporter
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Oregon’s
Ionescu in
running
for player
of year
By DOUG FEINBERG
Associated Press
NEW YORK — With a few
weeks left in the regular season,
the college women’s basketball
player of the year race is wide
open.
Take your pick. There’s a lit-
tle bit of something for everyone
with talented post players, guards
and wings.
Usually at this point in the sea-
son, there’s a clear-cut choice for
player of the year. Sometimes it
seems as if the top player in the
country is almost a forgone con-
clusion — even before the sea-
son starts.
That definitely isn’t the case
this season.
The player of the year will be
voted on by the panel that votes
in the AP’s weekly Top 25 poll,
and will be announced at the
Final Four in Tampa, Florida.
Here’s a look at a few poten-
tial candidates, though there are
certainly others out there:
SABRINA IONESCU: Ore-
gon’s junior guard has shat-
tered every triple-double record
in NCAA history. She has seven
this season and 17 in her career
— plenty more than anyone else.
The Ducks are 17-0 in those con-
tests, which include 10 against
Power-5 programs. She’s averag-
ing 19.4 points, 7.4 rebounds and
8.2 assists this season.
KALANI BROWN: Bay-
lor’s senior center has been dom-
inant on both ends of the court.
She’s averaging 15.5 points, 7.9
rebounds and 1.5 blocks.
NAPHEESA COLLIER:
UConn’s senior forward is part
of an exclusive club, becoming
one of only five Huskies to reach
2,000 points and 1,000 rebounds.
She’s also in the top 10 on the all-
time blocks list at the school. Col-
lier is averaging 19.6 points, 10.4
rebounds and 3.8 assists this year.
ASIA DURR: Louisville’s
senior guard will finish as the
school’s second all-time leading
scorer and has developed other
aspects of her game. She’s aver-
aging 20.6 points, 3.4 rebounds
and 3.2 assists.
MEGAN
GUSTAFSON:
Iowa’s senior center has already
left her mark on the Iowa record
book as the school’s all-time lead-
ing scorer and rebounder. She has
nearly 2,700 points — more than
any man or woman in school his-
tory. She’s averaging 27.4 points
and 13.3 rebounds this season, a
year after scoring 25.7 points per
game. She has hit 65.5 percent
of the shots in her career, even
making one of her two 3-point
attempts.
ARIKE
OGUNBOW-
ALE: Notre Dame’s senior
guard has followed up her his-
toric Final Four with a stellar sea-
son. She’s averaging 21.3 points,
5.0 rebounds and 4.1 assists and
became the school’s all-time
leading scorer earlier this month.
ALANNA SMITH: Stan-
ford’s senior forward was the
first international recruit ever
for the Cardinal women’s pro-
gram. She likely won’t be the last
with the contributions she made.
She’s averaging 20.3 points, 6.0
rebounds and 2.5 blocks. She’s
also hit 41 percent of her 3-point
attempts.
SCOREBOARD
PREP SPORTS SCHEDULE
TODAY
Washington Hardwood Classic, at Spokane
Girls basketball — 2B: Saint George’s vs.
Ilwaco, 7:15 p.m.; 1B: Naselle vs. Mount Ver-
non Christian, 12:15 p.m.
Boys basketball — 1B: Garfield-Palouse vs.
Naselle, 9 p.m.
THURSDAY
Boys basketball — 2A state tournament
(Pendleton): Knappa vs. Oakland, 3:15 p.m.
Girls basketball — 3A state tournament
(Marshfield HS): Warrenton vs. Salem Acad-
emy, 8:15 p.m.
FRIDAY
Boys basketball — 4A state playoff: Sisters
at Seaside, 7 p.m.; 2A state tournament: TBA
vs Knappa
Girls basketball — 3A state tournament:
TBA vs. Warrenton
SATURDAY
Girls basketball — 4A state playoffs: Seaside
at Baker, 4 p.m.; Marist at Astoria, 7 p.m.
Warrenton boys basketball
Warrenton coach Nate McBride talks strategy with his team.
Warrenton coach, players
earn all-league honors
of the Year, along with Clatskanie’s
Deshaun Combs.
McBride joins three other Warrenton
coaches who have earned league Coach
of the Year honors: Gary McBride
(2004), Tim Peitsch (2006) and Josh
Jannusch (2010).
The Player of the Year award went to
Cooper Blodgett of Clatskanie.
Clatskanie also led the way with eight
all-league selections.
The Daily Astorian
C
ompeting in a new league resulted
in much better results for the War-
renton boys basketball program.
The Warriors went from a 1-23 over-
all record last season — and 0-16 in the
old Lewis & Clark League — to 13-12
this year, 4-8 in the new Coastal Range
League. It was Warrenton’s first winning
record since 2009-10.
Warrenton also had a player earn
first-team all-league honors for the
first time in six years, as senior Dalton
Knight was one of five players selected
to the Coastal Range League’s first team,
announced during the league playoffs.
Knight scored 421 points this sea-
son, 11th on the school’s all-time list.
His 1,111 career points tied Darcy Bjork
(1970-73) for fifth all-time.
Knight made 87 3-pointers this sea-
son, breaking the previous school record
of 72 by Eric Gantenbein in 2006-07.
Knight’s 252 3-pointers for his career
broke the mark of 177 held by Christian
Holt.
The Warriors had two more play-
ers selected honorable mention, in
senior Ayden Stephens and junior Devin
Jackson.
For his efforts, Warrenton’s Nate
McBride was named as a co-Coach
COASTAL RANGE
ALL-LEAGUE BOYS TEAM
Warrenton boys basketball
Warrenton’s two all-league seniors,
Ayden Stephens, left, and Dalton Knight.
Player of the Year: Cooper Blodgett, Clatskanie
Coaches of the Year: Deshaun Combs, Clatskanie; Nate
McBride, Warrenton
First team
Cooper Blodgett, Sr., Clatskanie
Ray Darrington, Sr., Taft
Dalton Knight, Sr., Warrenton
Conner Rea, Jr. Rainier
Joey Tripp, Sr., Rainier
Second team
Andre Combs, Fr., Clatskanie
J’Kari Combs, Jr., Clatskanie
Dawson Evenson, Jr., Clatskanie
Kaleb Floyd, So., Willamina
Chance Kalawa, Sr., Willamina
Honorable mention
Easton Crape, Jr., Rainier
Foster Evenson, Sr., Clatskanie
Tyee Fisher, Sr., Taft
Devion Godfrey, Jr., Rainier
Devin Jackson, Jr., Warrenton
Devin Jones, Sr., Clatskanie
Jonathon Moravec, Sr., Clatskanie
Justice Osborn, Sr., Clatskanie
Jackson Schoenbachler, Sr., Willamina
Ayden Stephens, Sr., Warrenton
Kenny Tripp, Fr., Rainier
Athletes win jiu-jitsu gold in Portland
By GARY HENLEY
The Daily Astorian
Clatsop County residents and
Jiu-Jitsu competitors Michelle
Johnson and Jacoby Marshall
both won double gold at this
year’s Portland International
Open, held Sunday at the Viking
Pavilion in Portland.
Johnson took first in two cat-
egories, winning the adult pur-
ple heavyweight class, defeating
Rebecca Louise Gonzalez in the
final.
And she won the Open class as
well, with a semifinal victory over
Staccia Li Ann Greenwell, then a
win over Kenna Benesh-Bradford
in the championship.
Marshall also placed first in
two divisions. He won the Master
2/super-heavy class, and he fin-
ished first ahead of Trevor Wes-
ley in the Open class.
Marshall’s first match in the
Open competition was against
Marcio Dos Santos from Brazil.
“He was very athletic,” Mar-
shall said. “We had a few times in
the match where he kinda tossed
me around. Which was fine by
me. I was there to move around
and have fun.
Zachary Adamson
After winning a competition last
November in California, Jacoby
Marshall brought home a pair of
gold medals from the Portland
International Open last weekend.
Local jiu-jitsu athlete Michelle
Johnson shows off the gold she won
in Portland.
“When all the dust settled
about two minutes into the battle,
I solidified ‘side-control,’ and set
up a ‘Rickson’ choke for another
submission.”
In the finals, Wesley out-
weighed Marshall by nearly 40
pounds.
“We had a few scrambles that
ended up with me in side con-
trol,” Marshall said of the match.
The referee stopped the bout
momentarily, when Wesley’s
coaches claimed a scoring error.
In the meantime, “I was able
to just lay on (Wesley) and rest
while they straightened things
out,” Marshall said. “They took
Zachary Adamson
two points away from me, for
some reason unbeknownst to
me. I knew where we were in
the match, and when I saw them
adjust the score, I got so focused
because I was irate with his
coaches.
“At that point I knew I was
going to smash him and make
his life miserable until he made
a mistake,” he said. “When he
posted an arm while in side con-
trol, I locked up a ‘Kimura’ and
finished him with plenty of time
left.”
Marshall had support from
local sponsors, “and of course
my professors/team at Adamson
Brothers in Seaside,” he said.
“My goals are to compete a few
more times this year and hope-
fully stay healthy enough to keep
showing up every day, help my
team and keep working at getting
better by one percent every day.”
Johnson and Marshall were
both competing for Ribeiro Jiu
Jitsu, and train under coaches
Nathan and Zachary Adamson,
who said “the whole competi-
tion team is really motivated and
training hard for the Pan Ameri-
can Championships next month
in Los Angeles.”