A8
THE ASTORIAN • THuRSdAy, FEbRuARy 20, 2020
FIND MORE SPORTS
COVERAGE INSIDE
ON PAGE A7
CONTACT US
Gary Henley | Sports Reporter
ghenley@dailyastorian.com
Warrenton
girls top Taft
in playoff
The Astorian
Trailing 5-4 late in the first
quarter, the Warrenton Lady
Warriors went on a 24-3 run to
close out the first half Tuesday
night, and that was all Warren-
ton would need in a 38-20 win
over Taft in a Coastal Range
League girls basketball playoff.
The Tigers were playing their
second road playoff game in 24
hours, after winning an over-
time game at Rainier 43-40 the
night before.
The Warriors advance to play
Thursday at Willamina. A win
would secure a return trip to
state for Warrenton, and would
send the Warriors to the league
championship game, Saturday
vs. Clatskanie at McMinnville.
Meanwhile, Kenzie Ramsey
and Avyree Miethe starred for
the Warriors in Tuesday’s win.
Miethe scored all six of War-
renton’s points in the first quar-
ter, then scored the first two bas-
kets of the second quarter to turn
a 5-4 deficit into an 18-6 lead.
Ramsey and Melia Kapua
added 3-pointers, with Ram-
sey capping the first half with
another trey for a 28-8 lead.
After making one of their
first two shots from the field, the
Tigers proceeded to miss 21 of
their next 22. Taft finished the
first half 2-for-23, and made
4-of-26 in the second half to fin-
ish the night 6-for-49 from the
field.
The Warriors had struggles of
their own in the second half, hit-
ting just 2-of-24 from the field,
0-for-10 in the final quarter.
Still, it was one Warren-
ton’s best games of the sea-
son. The 38 points was the sec-
ond-most in a game over the last
month-and-a-half.
Ramsey led Warrenton with
14 points, followed by Miethe
with 13.
“It was a great team victory
for us tonight,” said Warrenton
coach Jake Mullins. “A lot of
things were really working well
for us. It was our most complete
game in a while, and we did a
great job in a lot of areas we’ve
been working on. I’m really
happy for the girls. We played
some of our best basketball all
year tonight.”
Warrenton improves to 7-17
overall, while the Tigers finish
10-13.
Warrenton boys
hold off Clatskanie
After falling short of the state
playoffs by one game last year,
the Warrenton boys basketball
team is again one win away
from a return to state.
The Warriors got off to a
great post-season start Tuesday,
defeating Clatskanie 52-48 in a
Coastal Range League playoff
at Warrenton.
The Warriors play a win-
ner-to-state game Thursday at
Willamina.
Clatskanie senior posts
Dawson Evenson and Jona-
than Moravec kept the Tigers in
Tuesday’s game, but the War-
riors closed it out at the free
throw line.
Warrenton — which did not
make a single field goal in the
fourth quarter — was 8-for-17
at the free throw line in the final
period.
Warrenton was 11-for-20
over the last two quarters, while
the Tigers did not have a free
throw attempt in the second
half.
Instead, Clatskanie got hot
from the field, as Jack Boothe,
Chase Baker and Evenson all
had 3-pointers, and the Tigers
were 14-of-24 from the field in
the final two quarters.
Warrenton’s Dawson Lit-
tle and Devin Jackson made
3-pointers in the third quarter, in
which Hordie Bodden-Bodden
scored six of his points.
Clatskanie rallied from a
42-31 deficit late in the third,
closing to within 48-45 with 44
seconds left, but the Warriors
were 4-of-7 on free throws in
the final 38 seconds to clinch
the win.
Corey Conant
Warrenton district champion wrestler Sam Irwin, center, took the top spot on the podium, a place the junior has been standing all season.
WARRENTON QUALIFIES FIVE
WRESTLERS FOR STATE MEET
By GARY HENLEY
The Astorian
he Warrenton wrestling team will
be sending five wrestlers to the
state tournament, Feb. 28-29 in
Portland, following the Warriors’ perfor-
mance last weekend in the 3A Special
District 2 tournament.
Dayton ran away with the team title,
scoring 282.5 points over the two-day
tournament, Friday and Saturday at Amity
High School.
Willamina/Falls City (229.5 points)
was a distant second, followed by War-
renton (226) and Taft (201) in the eight-
team field.
The top three wrestlers at each weight
qualified for state.
Last year, the Warriors finished fifth in
the team standings and sent three wres-
tlers to state. This year — third place and
five wrestlers.
“With the addition of Yamhill-Carlton,
we knew our district was going to be even
tougher,” said Warrenton coach Corey
Conant. “We took 20 wrestlers and 16 of
them placed. We knew that we had some
depth, and we scored team points all over
the lineup.”
The Warriors had two district cham-
pions. Heading the list of those going to
state will be individual champions Aricin
Rodriguez (106 pounds) and Sam Irwin
(195), with additional state qualifiers Nic
Pior (second at 145), sophomore Josh
Niehuser (second, 160) and Alex Tapia
(third, 152).
With just five wrestlers at 106, Rodri-
guez only had to wrestle two twice, and
less than six minutes of action to win the
title.
He pinned Kaden Byrum of Taft at the
2:42 mark in the semifinal, then scored a
fall over Clatskanie’s Austin Hahn in 2:27
T
SCOREBOARD
PREP SPORTS SCHEDULE
THURSDAY
Girls Basketball — Banks at Seaside, 6 p.m.; Playoff: War-
renton at Willamina, 6 p.m.
Boys Basketball — Banks at Seaside, 7:45 p.m.; Playoff:
Warrenton at Willamina, 7:30 p.m.; TBA at Knappa, 7 p.m.
GIRLS BASKETBALL
Seaside 44, Tillamook 24
SEA (44): Lilli Taylor 13, Douglas 10, Blodgett 7, McFadden
6, Doney 6, Klemp 2, Peterson, Snyder.
Seaside
14
9
9
12—44
Tillamook
5
8
3
8—24
BOYS BASKETBALL
Valley Catholic 64, Astoria 39
VC (64): Daniel Pruitt 14, French 10, Hussein 8, Schultheis
8, Baglai 8, Cheung 6, Lo 6, Eberhart 4.
AST (39): Xander Marincovich 12, Stenblom 11,
Junes 5, McMaster 4, Brockman 3, Moore 2, Williams,
Altheide-Nielson, Field, Boudreau.
Valley C
15
12
18
19—64
Astoria
10
13
5
11—39
in the title match.
“Aricin has gotten better every tour-
nament,” Conant said of the freshman.
“He’s not afraid to wrestle tough wrestlers
that may be heavier than him, and always
gives himself a chance to win.”
Irwin cruised to another title, pinning
his first two opponents in 2:49 and 4:48
then posted a 7-2 decision over Willam-
ina sophomore Corey Greenlaw in the
championship.
A junior, Irwin “has put together a stel-
lar season, making the finals in every tour-
nament this year,” Conant said. “After an
all-state football season, he looks to keep
rolling at state.”
A junior at 145, Pior opened with a pin
over Amity’s Josh Espalin and won his
quarterfinal match by injury default with
Yamhill’s Eli Potter when Potter suffered
a dislocated elbow.
Pior pinned William Calderon of
Taft in 5:06, then lost the championship
match against Brandon Isaacson, in a 6-2
decision.
“Nic was district champion last year,
and we know he was disappointed to not
repeat,” Conant said. “He can be proud of
how he wrestled and will be locked in on
his state tournament goals.”
Niehuser won twice at 160, with a pin
in 1:46 against Dayton’s Corbin Magee
and a 9-3 semifinal decision over Andrew
Allen of Willamina, before Rainier’s
David Katon pinned Niehuser in 3:01 in
the final.
Tapia won his first match at 152,
advanced by forfeit to the semifinals,
where he lost by fall to Willamina’s Spyre
Nelson.
He bounced back with two consolation
wins, including a 5-4 decision over Wil-
lamina’s Wyatt Baker in the third place
match.
“We picked up some wins that people
didn’t expect us to win in the early rounds,
and pushed 10 into the semifinals and four
into the finals,” Conant said. “Winning
a district championship has big implica-
tions for state seeding.”
The three champions from each district
and best runner-up will be the top four
seeds in a nine-wrestler bracket at state.
With the realignment of leagues and the
shrinking of the 3A tournament from 12
to 9 wrestlers, places will be awarded for
1st-4th instead of 1st-6th.
“We think this group (a freshman, two
sophomores and two juniors) can surprise
some people at state, and we’ll take the
next two weeks to work on stuff and be as
sharp as possible,” Conant said.
“Improvement is always the goal, and
we exceeded that goal as a team,” he said.
“We tried to engineer our practice and
schedule to prep us for districts as much as
possible, and the work bore out for us. On
the other hand, we still have a lot of room
to keep improving. Our wrestlers are hun-
gry to get better.”
A Valiant sweep at the Brick House
The Astorian
Valley Catholic held a slim 27-23 lead at
halftime, then outscored Astoria 18-5 in the
third quarter on its way to a 64-39 win over the
Fishermen, in a Cowapa League boys basket-
ball game at the Brick House.
Valley Catholic also won the girls game,
scoring a 54-47 upset over the No. 4-ranked
Lady Fishermen.
In the boys’ game, Daniel Pruitt scored 14
points and Will French added 10 for the Val-
iants, who improved to 2-5 in league.
Astoria finishes 0-8 in league, 2-22 over-
all. Xander Marincovich scored 12 points and
Ryan Stenblom chipped in 11 for the Fisher-
men, on Senior Night.
“Had we been more healthy earlier in the
season, I think we would have been more
successful,” said Astoria coach Kevin Goin.
“But I’m still happy with how we performed.
We played tough at Banks (a nine-point loss
last week), we kept it close with Seaside (an
eight-point loss to the Gulls), and we played
well against Tillamook. We struggled at Val-
ley Catholic, and Pruitt was the one guy we
couldn’t stop tonight.
“I’m looking forward to next year,” he said,
following successful seasons at the junior var-
sity level. “We’ll have five regulars back.”
Girls
Valiants 54, Fishermen 47
With the Cowapa League title already
locked up, the Astoria girls were still unable
to close out a perfect league season Tuesday
night, as Valley Catholic scored a 54-47 upset
at the Brick House.
The Valiants handed the Lady Fishermen
just their third loss of the season, and their
first loss to an Oregon 4A team since Dec. 21
(Philomath).
Astoria will have more than a week off
before hosting a first round state playoff.
Astoria’s Ryan Stenblom soars in for a score in Tuesday’s game against Valley Catholic.
Melissa Linder-Cho