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THE ASTORIAN • TUESDAY, JANUARY 21, 2020
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Gary Henley | Sports Reporter
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SPORTS
IN BRIEF
Seaside knocks off No. 1 North Marion
Sharp shooting lifts
Gladstone boys
over Astoria
Gulls dominate
in 30-point win
Ten 3-pointers by Gladstone
and nine missed free throws
from Astoria made a big differ-
ence Friday night at the Brick
House, where the Gladiators
posted a 68-50 win over Asto-
ria in a nonleague boys basket-
ball game.
Gladstone had all the points it
would need from just three play-
ers, with Jeremy DeVoe scoring
a game-high 24 points, followed
by Jude Ashpole and Brandon
Wanlass with 16 apiece.
Colton McMaster led a trio of
Astoria players in double fi gures
with 16 points. Ryan Stenblom
scored 11 and Xander Marin-
covich added 10 for the Fisher-
men, who slip to 2-14 overall.
Gladstone improves to 9-4.
Astoria
opens
Cowapa
League play Tuesday at home
vs. Seaside.
Nestucca boys upset
Knappa, 55-53
Just two days after beating
Columbia Christian, the No.
1-ranked Knappa Loggers lost
their fi rst game of the season, as
Nestucca scored the major upset
of the night in 2A boys basket-
ball with a 55-53 win, Friday in
Cloverdale.
The Bobcats led 13-10 after
one quarter before the Loggers
rallied and held a 29-24 halftime
advantage.
Knappa maintained a 41-36
lead midway through the third
period before Nestucca closed to
within 46-43 to start the fourth.
The ‘Cats continued their
momentum swing into the fi nal
period, tying the game at 50-50
with four minutes left.
Nestucca grabbed a 53-50
advantage with 2:38 remain-
ing and still led 55-53 into the
fi nal seconds. Unlike Wednes-
day’s win over the Knights, the
Loggers were unable to come up
with a game-winner, suffering a
turnover with two seconds left.
“Credit to Nestucca,” said
Knappa coach Paul Isom.
“They played a great game.
They brought a ton of energy
and intensity, and just got more
and more confi dent the later the
game got.”
Knappa dropped to No. 3 in
the rankings, but still holds on
to fi rst place atop the North-
west League standings at 7-1.
The Loggers host Gaston (1-4)
Thursday, followed by road
games at Vernonia (2-5) and
Portland Christian (2-3).
Knappa girls fall
short at Nestucca
Nestucca senior guard Olivia
Leslie drained three 3-point-
ers in the second quarter, and
that helped spark the Bobcats
to a 60-42 win over Knappa in
a Northwest League girls bas-
ketball game Friday night in
Cloverdale.
“We came out very fl at
and didn’t execute our game
plan,” said Logger coach Tra-
cie Brockey. “We knew Olivia
Leslie would be their primary
scorer. She hit three three’s in
the second quarter alone. We
dug ourselves a hole in the fi rst
half (down 19) that was hard to
recover from.”
From there, Brockey said,
“We switched to a box-and-one
to neutralize her, and outscored
them in the second half with a
strong third quarter.”
Specifi cally, “Sophia Carl-
son was attacking hard to the
rim, especially toward the end
of the third and she fi nished the
quarter with a great three-point
play with a strong crossover,”
Brockey said. “We need more
of that — players who want to
compete, want to be in the game
any chance they get and aren’t
afraid to battle and get physical.”
Carlson fi nished with a team-
high 12 points and six steals,
while Katelynn Weaver fi n-
ished with 10 points, six steals
and fi ve rebounds. Madelynn
Weaver added six points and six
rebounds.
— The Astorian
‘WE HAVEN’T COMPETED FOR
FOUR STRAIGHT QUARTERS
THIS YEAR. THIS IS THE FIRST
TIME WE’VE COMPETED FOR
ALL FOUR QUARTERS.’
By GARY HENLEY
The Astorian
If the North Marion boys basket-
ball team came into Friday’s game
with the No. 1 ranking … what does
that make the team that beat the Hus-
kies by 30 points?
Unbeatable? Unstoppable? Defi -
nitely awesome.
Pick any of the above, and that
would describe the Seaside Seagulls
when they’re at their best.
The point is, if the Gulls play like
they did in the second half of Fri-
day’s 80-50 win over North Marion
… they will be unbeatable, unstop-
pable and awesome.
For much of the last four years,
the Gulls have been the t eam to
b eat in the world of Oregon 4A high
school basketball.
The Gulls seem to hold that
title once again, following Friday’s
thrashing, pounding and dismantling
of North Marion.
Although the Huskies put up a
brief battle in the second quarter,
that’s all it was. Brief.
Midway through the third period,
Seaside held a slim 38-35 lead. By
Bill Westerholm | Seaside coach
the end of the same quarter, the Gulls
led 60-37.
The 22-2 run was keyed by 11
points from Brayden Johnson —
who also keyed the rest of the night
for the Gulls, scoring a career-high
34 points, four points shy of the
school record.
From the 3:57 mark of the third
quarter to the opening minutes of
the fourth, Johnson scored 13 points,
which included three 3-pointers and
four points off his own steals.
Ryan Hague added 19 points of
his own, as the two seniors (by them-
selves ) outscored the Huskies, 53-50.
It was clear for all who saw it
— when they’re on, these Gulls are
unstoppable.
“We haven’t competed for four
straight quarters this year,” said Sea-
side coach Bill Westerholm. “This is
the fi rst time we’ve competed for all
four quarters.
“The middle of the third quar-
ter, I told them, ‘we’re up 11 right
now.’ We’ve been in this position
many times this year, and we end up
playing even or having a letdown.
We have to be smart and be solid
on defense, and we fi nally had a dif-
ferent energy and a different focus
tonight.”
He added, “We’ve had four really
good days of practice. We know what
our RPI and ranking is right now, so
we know we have to get some qual-
ity wins, because we haven’t had a
quality win yet. So we were looking
forward to this game. We had a good
game plan coming in, and this is the
most focused I’ve seen this group of
kids.”
And the Gulls set the tone early,
making every one of their fi rst four
shots from the fi eld, which happened
to be two 3-pointers from Brayden
Johnson, and two triples by Beau
Johnson and Hague.
Not to be outdone — and show-
ing a bit of their No. 1 ranking —
the Huskies countered with three
3-pointers by Brady Hansen and an
11-2 run late in the fi rst quarter, and
led 23-22 early in the second period.
That, however, was North Mari-
on’s fi nal lead of the night.
A layup by Stephen Snyder and
an offensive rebound basket from
Derrick Bennett gave Seaside a
26-23 lead, and the Gulls never
trailed again.
The Huskies simply had no
answer for Brayden Johnson and
Hague, who combined for 35 second
half points.
“We came out on fi re,” Wester-
holm said. “Brayden obviously shot
extremely well tonight. To him, he’s
always open. And it’s OK when he
makes ‘em.”
Snyder fi nished with 10 points.
And once the Gulls made their
22-2 run, “we kind of had them
where we wanted them,” Wester-
holm said. “We started rebound-
ing their missed shots and things
started going our way. I’m proud of
the kids for their effort and respond-
ing, and now we’re going in the right
direction.”
Seaside opens the Cowapa
League season Tuesday at Astoria.
Warrenton
posts league
opening win
against Taft
The Astorian
Vicki O’Brien
Astoria senior Hailey O’Brien sets up on defense against Gladstone freshman guard Hanne
Hopkins in Friday night’s win.
Lady Fish tune up for
league with a 61-31
win over Gladstone
The Astorian
G
ladstone stayed with Astoria longer
than most teams, trailing just 17-14
after one quarter, before the Lady
Fishermen outscored the Gladiators 32-10
over the second and third periods on their
way to an easy 61-32 win.
Astoria closes out the nonleague sched-
ule with a 13-2 record, ranked second in the
latest coaches poll, with one fi rst-place vote.
The Fishermen held a 31-21 lead at half-
time of Friday’s game, then pulled away
with an 18-3 run in the third quarter.
Astoria spread the scoring around, with
Julia Norris leading all players with 13
points, followed by Sophie Long with 10.
Hailey O’Brien added nine, while Kelsey
Fausett and Kajsa Jackson fi nished with
eight apiece.
The Lady Fishermen host Seaside to open
the Cowapa League season Tuesday.
North Marion defeats Seaside girls, 41-29
The Astorian
SEASIDE — North Mar-
ion never trailed in a nonleague
girls basketball game Friday night
at Seaside, where the Huskies
defeated the Gulls 41-29.
The game was tied early at 3-3
and 5-5, before back-to-back hoops
from Megan Netter and Mya Ham-
mack gave North Marion the lead
for good.
Lilli Taylor led Seaside with
10 points, but ran into foul trouble
early. Taylor fi nished the third quar-
ter on the bench with four fouls,
entered the fourth quarter with 5:24
left, and fouled out at the 5:10 mark.
“We’re inching closer, but we
had better fi gure it out by Tues-
day when we get the beast in the
Brick House,” said Seaside coach
Mike Hawes, referring to the Gulls’
Cowapa League opener Tuesday at
Astoria.
“Our effort was good, our exe-
cution at times was good, but just
a few too many turnovers (seven in
the fourth quarter), a few too many
unorganized possessions, and a few
too many blunders against their full
court pressure,” he said. “If we can
keep whittling these things down,
we have a chance, ‘cause we are
not going to run and gun our way
to victory.”
The Warrenton boys basket-
ball team opened league play Fri-
day night on the road and scored
a 55-39 win over the Taft Tigers.
Dawson Little scored 19
points and Austin Little added 11,
helping the Warriors tune up for
a Tuesday night showdown with
Rainier, in a possible preview
of the Coastal Range League
championship.
“We played pretty well for the
most part,” Warrenton coach Nate
McBride said, following Friday’s
win. “Jake Morrow played for
the fi rst time since Dec. 28, and
it was good to have him back. We
should get Devin Jackson back
(this) week so it’s good to be get-
ting healthy at the right time.”
Warrenton was 3-for-23 from
the 3-point line and 8-of-15 on
free throws, but the Warriors had
16 steals and forced 20 turnovers.
Hordie Bodden-Bodden had fi ve
steals to go with four assists, six
rebounds and eight points.
Morrow led the Warriors
with nine rebounds with Hunter
Xochipiltecatl adding eight points.
SCOREBOARD
PREP SPORTS SCHEDULE
TUESDAY
Boys Basketball — Seaside at Astoria, 6 p.m.;
Rainier at Warrenton, 6 p.m.; Perrydale at Jew-
ell, 5:30 p.m.
Girls Basketball — Seaside at Astoria, 7:45
p.m.; Rainier at Warrenton, 7:45 p.m.; Perrydale
at Jewell, 7 p.m.
THURSDAY
Girls Basketball — Gaston at Knappa, 6 p.m.
Boys Basketball — Gaston at Knappa, 7:45
p.m.; Jewell at Washington School for the
Deaf, 7 p.m.
FRIDAY
Boys Basketball — Banks at Astoria, 6 p.m.;
Valley Catholic at Seaside, 6 p.m.; Warrenton at
Clatskanie, 6 p.m.
Girls Basketball — Banks at Astoria, 7:45
p.m.; Valley Catholic at Seaside, 7:45 p.m.; War-
renton at Clatskanie, 7:45 p.m.
GIRLS BASKETBALL
Astoria 61, Gladstone 32
GLA (32): Jade Rowley 11, Hopkins 8, Jedryko-
wski 6, DeVeny 4, Pinner 2, Dilsaver 1.
AST (61): Julia Norris 13, Long 10, O’Brien 9,
Fausett 8, Jackson 8, Hankwitz 7, Rasmussen 4,
Cole 2, Helmersen, Espelien, Matthews.
Gladstone
14
7
3
8—32
Astoria
17
14
18
12—61
North Marion 41, Seaside 29
NM (41): Katie Ensign 12, Hammack 10, Craw-
ford 7, Netter 6, Sahlin 3, Huapeo 2, Christen-
son 1.
SEA (29): Lilli Taylor 10, Douglas 7, Peterson
5, Doney 3, Blodgett 2, Snyder 2, McFadden,
Owsley, Boyd.
N.Marion
14
10
5
12—41
Seaside
9
5
9
6—29
BOYS BASKETBALL
Gladstone 68, Astoria 50
GLA (68): Jeremy DeVoe 24, Ashpole 16, Wan-
lass 16, Bulisco 5, Burlingame 4, DeWall 3.
AST (50): Colton McMaster 16, Stenblom 11,
Marincovich 10, Brockman 9, Altheide-Nielson
2, Williams 1, Matthews 1, Junes, Boudreau,
Schauermann.
Gladstone
20
16
18
14—68
Astoria
15
12
13
10—50
Seaside 80, North Marion 50
NM (50): Brady Hansen 17, J.Page 11, N.Wier-
stra 7, Meyers 4, Jimenez 4, H.Wierstra 3, Arel-
lano 2, Wilson 2.
SEA (80): Brayden Johnson 34, Hague 19, Sny-
der 10, Be.Johnson 8, Kawasoe 2, Sibony 2,
Langmo 2, Bennett 2, Bartel 2.
N.Marion
18
11
11
10—50
Seaside
19
14
27
20—80