A3
THE ASTORIAN • THURSDAY, MARCH 18, 2021
SPORTS
Utti, Fresno State close out season
By GARY HENLEY
The Astorian
If there’s one thing Sea-
side basketball fans know
about Maddi Utti: No matter
who the opponent, what the
score is or whatever physical
ailment she might be dealing
with, the hard-working for-
ward with the golden touch
always gave it everything she
had, for four full quarters.
The game took her from a
fi fth-place fi nish at state as a
freshman in 2014 and third-
place as a senior in 2017, to
an outstanding Division I bas-
ketball career at Fresno State,
highlighted by a conference
Player of the Year award in
2020.
Unfortunately for Utti
and the Bulldogs, Fresno
State came up one win short
of the NCAA Tournament
for the second straight sea-
son this year, following a loss
last week to Wyoming in the
Mountain West Conference
championship game.
Fresno State — which
entered the conference tour-
nament as the No. 4 seed —
got past No. 1 New Mex-
ico the night before, but lost
a nail-biter to the Cowgirls in
the fi nal, 59-56.
Fittingly, Utti was the only
player for either team to play
the entire 40 minutes, fi nish-
ing with a game-high nine
rebounds and seven points.
The night before, in a
77-72 victory over New Mex-
ico, Utti contributed 17 points
and 12 rebounds.
The Bulldogs lost six con-
ference games in the regu-
lar season, but the last four
losses came by just a com-
bined seven points. And last
Wednesday’s defeat fell into
the same category.
Four days before the con-
ference tournament began,
Utti talked about the close
losses.
“There’s been a lot of close
games, we just haven’t been
able to fi nish them out,” Utti
said. “We know we should
have won those games, which
Fresno State Athletics
TOP: Seaside’s Maddi Utti, on her Senior Night at Fresno State
with coach Jaime White. ABOVE: Utti puts up a shot in her last
game of the conference tournament.
would have made us confer-
ence champions. That’s pretty
disappointing, but going into
the tournament we know
that we’re able to win those
games.”
Win them they did. The
fi rst two nights, Fresno State
beat Nevada (70-46), then
New Mexico.
The loss to Wyoming was
a heartbreaker for the Bull-
dogs, especially for Utti and
her four senior teammates.
Arguably the greatest girls
basketball player in Clatsop
County history, Utti’s college
basketball career may or may
not be over — that decision
will come later.
For now, Utti’s latest sea-
son came to a close in an
empty arena, 1,100 miles
from home.
There were no fans
allowed at the tournament,
held at Thomas & Mack Cen-
ter in Las Vegas — something
Utti was fi nally getting accus-
tomed to.
“It’s defi nitely weird” not
having fans in the arena, she
said. “They would have the
crowd noise, the audio, but
there was just not as much
energy in the gym. I’ve gotten
a little used to it, but I would
defi nitely like the fans back.”
For Fresno State’s Senior
Night, Feb. 27 vs. UNLV, Utti
had family members (sort of)
in attendance.
“They had our parents up
on the big screen, to announce
us into the starting lineup,”
Utti said. “It was defi nitely
way diff erent not having them
in the gym, but it was still a
special night.”
It’s also just beginning to
hit Utti that her four years at
Fresno State could be up.
“It started Senior Night,
thinking that game was going
to be my last game at the Save
Mart Center,” she said. But,
“I’m not sure it will sink in
until it’s done.”
And even then, there’s a
chance that Utti could return
next season.
“I do have another year
of eligibility, but I haven’t
decided what route I want to
take, or if I want to keep play-
ing,” said Utti, who has had to
deal with shoulder problems
on her shooting arm for most
of the 2021 season.
The injury happened in
one of early games, she said.
Utti had to wear a shoulder
wrap under her uniform the
rest of the season.
“It’s just there to make
sure it’s stable. I haven’t
had to change much as far
as shooting. This year has
not been the easiest. With
COVID and all the hoops we
have to go through just to play
… it’s been a little mentally
draining.”
Throughout it all, Utti
always gained strength from
the hometown support she
received from Seaside.
“Seaside has always been
one of my biggest support
systems, all the time,” said
Utti, who is closing in on her
degree in business fi nance.
“I see the diff erent posts on
Facebook and the articles, so
I really appreciate the sup-
port throughout my past four
years.”
Astoria girls soccer off to
best start in school history
The Astorian
After
a
scoreless
40-minute fi rst half, the
Astoria girls soccer team
scored three goals in the
fi rst 15 minutes of the sec-
ond half, on their way to an
easy 3-0 win over Banks in
a Cowapa League match
Monday night at CMH
Field.
For what it’s worth in a
shortened season, the Lady
Fishermen are off to their
best start in school history
at 4-1, keeping pace with
current fi rst place Valley
Catholic (5-0) in the league
standings, as the only two
Cowapa teams with win-
ning records. The two
teams meet March 23 at
Valley Catholic.
Meanwhile,
Astoria
allowed just one shot on
goal in 80 minutes of action
Monday, with 11 shots on
goal of their own (eight in
the second half).
The fi rst score came 3:50
into the second half, when
Astoria’s Avery Biederman
made a run down the right
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LEO FINZI
Warrenton volleyball tops Rainier
The Astorian
Not quite ready to give up their
defending league champions title, the
Warrenton volleyball team took to the
road and scored a crucial, four-set win
Tuesday night at Rainier, 25-21, 17-25,
25-18, 25-23.
The Warriors (5-1 overall) pulled into
a fi rst-place tie with the Columbians in
the league standings at 2-1. Four of War-
renton’s fi ve remaining matches are at
home.
Tuesday’s fi rst set was tied at 15-15,
when Mia McFadden took over at the
service line and served the Warriors to a
23-15 lead. A back row kill by McFad-
den provided the winning point.
After a loss in the second set, the
Warriors jumped out a 7-3 lead behind
the serving of Brenna Bemus, and never
trailed in Game 3.
Rainier led 9-4 early in the fourth set,
but McFadden served Warrenton right
back into a 10-9 lead with an ace serve
as the go-ahead point.
Rainier rebuilt a 23-19 lead, but
McFadden saved the day again, serving
the fi nal six points of the match, which
included two ace serves.
Warriors defeat Loggers
Over the weekend, Warrenton and
Knappa managed to play their annual
Bruce Dustin
Hailey Bentley delivers a kill for the
Warriors in their victory at Knappa.
nonleague match, held last Saturday at
Knappa.
The two teams made the most of it,
with the Warriors scoring a fi ve-set win
over the Lady Loggers.
Knappa rallied from a two-set defi -
cit to force the fi fth set, with Warrenton
escaping with the 25-21, 25-21, 19-25,
16-25, 15-9 victory.
“Hailey Bentley, Ann Heyen and
Jaime Annat were fi erce at the net,” said
Warrenton coach Staci Miethe, as the
trio combined for 15 block kills, seven
blocks and 16 touches.
Avyree Miethe had a strong defen-
sive game with 17 digs and four saves.
She also led Warrenton with eight ace
serves, while Mia McFadden paced
the Warriors with 11 kills, followed by
Miethe with 10.
Brenna Bemus was 14-for-14 serving
with three aces, and Marlie Annat was
18-of-19. Warrenton only missed 10
serves in fi ve games with 18 aces.
“I knew the games would be tight,”
said Knappa coach Jeff Kaul. “Play-
ing Warrenton, which usually happens
during the fi rst week of the season, is
always a time to see how we stack up
against a much larger school. I was not
disappointed by what I saw.”
For the Loggers, Ava Skipper and
Taylin Regier were a combined 32-for-
35 serving with nine aces.
Skipper added 29 assists and 12 digs,
Victoria Ramvick had 15 kills and Han-
nah Dietrichs fi nished with 13 kills.
In a Northwest League match Tues-
day in Rockaway Beach, Knappa swept
Neah-Kah-Nie, 25-5, 25-17, 25-16.
Victoria Ramvick led Knappa with 11
kills and three blocks, while Ava Skipper
was 21-of-22 serving with six aces.
Seaside boys soccer defeats Yamhill-Carlton, 7-1
The Astorian
After having Tuesday’s
game with Astoria can-
celed, the Seaside boys soc-
cer team brought in Yam-
hill-Carlton for a nonleague
match, and pounded the
Tigers 7-1 at Broadway
Field.
The Fishermen are play-
ing a junior varsity-only, or
8-on-8 varsity schedule this
season.
Seaside built a 3-0 half-
time advantage, and with
only 10 players on the fi eld
in the second half, still out-
scored the Tigers 4-1, with
three goals from Dodger
Holmstedt, and another by
Westin Carter.
After two straight losses
to start the season (1-0 to
Valley Catholic, 7-0 to Stay-
ton), the Gulls have won
three straight, outscoring
the opposition by a com-
bined 14-1.
Seaside can pull into a
fi rst-place tie in the league
standings with a win Thurs-
day at Valley Catholic.
The 1-0 loss to the Val-
iants to start the season
“was a pretty good contest,
for our fi rst run out,” said
Seaside coach John Chap-
man. “We have some young
guys out there, and we had
one error, and that was all it
took.
“We pretty much con-
trolled the Tillamook game
(a 3-0 win),” he said. “Stay-
ton contacted us about add-
ing a game, and as good as
they are, that showed some
respect that they have for us.
“We lost a starter in the
opening minute, so we basi-
cally had to play 80 min-
utes with 10 guys. The score
wasn’t really indicative of
the game.”
Always the Cowapa
League favorite, Chapman
said the Gulls are “going to
graduate another solid era of
kids, but we’ve got plenty of
talent coming up.”
In the meantime, “our
senior cadre of players
is doing a great job, with
Westin, Luke (Verley),
Dodger, Patrick (Chapman),
Diego (Angulo-Joli) and
Owen (Higdon),” Chapman
said. “Riley Wunderlich (a
junior) is fearless and solid
in goal, so we’ll be fi ne
there for next season.”
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sideline and pushed the ball
ahead to Elle Espelien.
The Astoria senior car-
ried the ball to the baseline
and centered a short pass to
Karen Jimenez directly in
front of the net for an easy
score.
Less than four minutes
later, it was Jimenez who
sent a pass ahead to Espe-
lien, whose shot from 18
yards out squeezed past the
Banks goalkeeper inside the
right post.
Espelien scored her sec-
ond goal in the 54th min-
ute of play, chasing down
a pass up the middle from
Maddie Sisley and scoring
from 10 yards out.
Astoria was set to play
Wednesday at Tillamook.
In other Cowapa action
Monday, Valley Catho-
lic remained unbeaten by
defeating Seaside 3-0 at
Broadway Field. The Gulls
play Wednesday at Rainier/
Clatskanie.
Astoria and Seaside will
end the regular season with
a Clatsop Clash March 31
at Broadway Field.
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