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About The Hood River news. (Hood River, Or.) 1909-current | View Entire Issue (Jan. 21, 2015)
S PORTS www.hoodrivernews.com Hood River News, Wednesday, January 21, 2015 A7 Buzzer-beater, record-setter coin HRV action last week Eagle basketball gains momentum as CRC action tips off Friday By ADAM LAPIERRE News staff writer HRV girls: It might not have been pretty, but Friday’s 39-37 overtime road win against Vancouver’s Her- itage High was a much-needed shift in momentum for the Hood River Valley High School varsity girls bas- ketball team as it heads into the start of Columbia River Conference play. After a slow start that saw the Ea- gles score just seven points in the first half (including a one-point sec- ond quarter), the girls came out fresh after halftime, tied the score by the third quarter and matched points in the fourth to force an overtime period. A highlight of the game came from senior wing Jestena Mattson, who led the team with 16 points, nine rebounds, two blocks and two steals. With HRV’s chances for the win dwin- dling away with the clock, Mattson post- ed up from long range, took a shot and sank the buzzer- beater three to force an overtime peri- od. T he Ea gles JESTENA then outscored MATTSON Herita g e 7-5 to claim the come- G REAT W HITE H OPE from-behind victory. Other highlights came from Kelsey Wells, who had 15 points and eight boards and from Marlie Bloomster, who had a team-high 12 rebounds and six blocks. The girls were on the road Tuesday for their final non- league g ame of the season against Stevenson, where they’ll look to build momentum before Fri- day’s CRC opener at home, 7 p.m., against the 10-5 Pendleton Bucka- roos. “Going into the league play on Friday, we are going to have our work cut out for us,” Coach Scott Walker commented. “The girls have been working really hard in practice to take care of the ball in the full court press and also in our half court sets. Our defense is really putting pressure on the ball, which I like, and we have been working hard on weak-side help. Right now the other three teams in our conference are ranked in the top 10 in the state; we look forward to the challenge.” HRV boys: In another remark- ably high-scoring game, the Hood River Valley High School varsity boys basketball team broke the sound barrier Friday night in Stevenson with a 101-92 win over the 7-4 Bulldogs. The win marks the first time in recent memory – certainly in the last several years – that the Eagles have broken the 100-point threshold, and the number boosts the team’s season points total to 958, which remains the highest in the Please see HOOPS, Page A8 Photo courtesy of Mt. Hood Meadows and Grany Myrdl Photography Although still far below average for this time of year, the Mount Hood snowpack got a small boost over the weekend, with six to 12 inches reported at Mt. Hood Meadows in time for the resort’s annual Rotary Ski Day Monday, as seen here. While there’s still of time for a turnaround, the picture is grim across much of the state. The National Resource Conservation Service test site on Mount Hood (5,370 ft.) shows the snow-water equivalent at 14.1 inches and 34 percent of average. Kegler’s Corner By JEFF OLSON Zach Mohun mauls the maples Team of the Week Zach Mohun, +166 (817) Carl Casey, +140 (794) Jeff Brittle, +121 (775) Greg McDaniel, +110 (767) Kay Pratt, +110 (710) Hood River’s Orchard Lanes was the place to be last week. Bowling league action never ceases to amaze, and this Team of the Week is comprised of a perfect representation of our best keglers, regulars and new faces who are basking in the limelight for the first time. Not too many years ago, Zach Mohun was a key player on our award winning Hood River Val- ley High School bowling team that nearly won the state cham- pionship. Zach didn’t get a lot of press for his role on the team, but he hung in there and he kept on bowling. It was just a matter of time; we knew he would shine very soon, and last week he put a stamp on that in- domitable perseverance in the high flying Wednesday night Fraternal league — the best lea gue in town — with a scratch 670 series that was capped with 248 and 235 games. Zach finished up 166 pins over his average, tops in town last week! Smooth Carl Casey, the bowler whose epitomizes the phrase “let the ball do the work,” makes the big five for the third time this season after splashing a nifty scratch 704 set in the Monday night Industrial league. Carl made it all happen in his third and final game of the session, where he had the first 10 strikes in a row but just missed on that eleventh try, fin- ishing up with a huge 289. Carl was 140 pins over his average for the outing. His 289 game was the highest individual game rolled at the lanes last week. Please see BOWL, Page A8 KELSEY WELLS Kelsey Wells earns unique distinction By ADAM LAPIERRE News staff writer In a rare, if not unprece- dented, distinction for Hood River Valley High School basketball, senior Kelsey Wells is one of 25 girls from across the state named on the list of candidates being considered for the 2015 Mc- Donald’s All-American Game, set to take place April 1 at Chicago’s United Center. In its 38th year, the Mc- Donald’s All American Game is coined the only democrati- cally selected prep all-star event in the country. This year marks the 14th anniver- sary of the girls game, which Wells, along with 330 other high school girls from across the country, have been select- ed as potentials for. In the end, just the top 24 boys and 24 girls from the U.S. will be selected, by a committee made up of a panel of coach- es and media representa- tives, to play in the national- ly-televised game. Of the 26 Oregon girls to make the cut, Wells is the only player from the Colum- bia River Conference. On the boys side, just six players from Oregon were selected, none of whom represent the CRC. Wells, a 5-11 wing/post, leads the Eagles this season in points (159 total, 11.4 per game), rebounds (110 total, 7.8 per game) and assists (20 total, 1.5 per game) and has a shooting percentage of 44 from the field. HRV wrestling hangs with state’s best Eagles compete in seven dual meets in three days By ADAM LAPIERRE News staff writer Hood River Valley High School wrestling had an action packed week- end in Central Oregon, competing in a double dual against Summit and Redmond Thursday night at Summit, then sleeping on the mats in Red- mond and waking up to the two-day 2015 Oregon Wrestling Classic at the Deschutes County Fairgrounds, where the Eagles wrestled three dual meets Friday and two more on Satur- day. The team had little time to rest after the weekend, as it hosted St. He- lens on Tuesday night (7 p.m. Vannet Court) for a PinCancer fundraiser dual meet (rescheduled from earlier in the season due to weather) and will travel to Stevenson High for an- other all-day varsity tournament on Saturday. The Oregon Wrestling Classic, well-known as one of the state’s most competitive tournaments of the year, brings almost 100 teams to the expan- sive Redmond arena to face off in a dual-meet format that, among other things, paints an accurate picture of which teams are at the top of their re- spective divisions going into the crux of the season and the all-telling OSAA state championships. Last sea- son, OWC division winners Roseburg (6A), Hermiston (5A), Crook County (4A) and Culver (2A/1A) all went on to win overall team titles at the OSAA state championships. Competing at the 5A level, HRV went 3-2 overall, with wins against Bend, Ridgeview and Mountain View and losses against Crater and Sandy; a result coach Trent Kroll is pleased but certainly not content with. “Overall I think we performed very well and grew a lot as a team,” he said. “We lost to three of the best teams in the state over the weekend and defeated everyone else. Richard Rockwell rankings (ore- IN ACTION: Jorge Orte- ga looks for a fall in Cen- tral Oregon over the weekend. Ortega went 5-2 in the team’s seven dual meets. At left, Pay- ton Rigert, Martika Lane, Sarah Sullenger, Joanna Endown, Jessica DeHart and Monique Yanez celebrate after winning a special dual against Elmira. Submitted photos Please see WRESTLE, Page A8 Horizon boys steamroll ahead; girls win first league game By MIKE WEBER For the News A powerhouse Horizon Christian School boys varsity basketball team steamrolled two opponents over the weekend by a combined total of 45 points to remain undefeated in both the Big Sky Conference (5-0) and in the OSAA’s Class 1A level (8-0). Horizon’s senior trio of Mason Bloomster (17 points), Jared Davis (10 pts.) and Wes Johnston (nine pts.) combined for a total of 36 points to help lead the team (13-3 overall) to a 60-33 home win Satur- day over the Mitchell-Spray Log- gers (2-3 Big Sky, 6-7), and one-two scoring punch of Davis (24 pts.) and Bloomster (22 pts.) powered the Hawks to a 74-56 road win Friday in Maupin over the South Wasco County Redsides (3-3, 7-7). Davis and Bloomster lead Horizon’s offense as both average over 20 points a game. Horizon has solidified its posi- tion atop the Big Sky while defeat- ing every top contender in the eight- team league. The Hawks host the seventh-place Ione Cardinals (1-4, 2- 9) this Friday and host the league’s last place team, the Condon-Wheel- er Knights (0-4, 3-10) next Friday. “We played very well on Satur- day,” said coach Darren Lingel, whose squad is targeting a fifth straight Big Sky Conference cham- pionship this year. “Jared and Mason are doing a good job and I’m really pleased about their perfor- Photo by Adam Lapierre UNDEFEATED IN LEAGUE play, the Hawks host Ione Friday, 7:30 p.m. mance so far. We have to do a better job of having more balanced scor- ing. When you have two guys scor- ing a majority of your points, then it’s easier for opponents to defend against you. It’s a little harder to de- fend a team that has balanced scor- ing and that’s what we’re trying to improve on. Wes has the ability to score lots of points as well as Nick Andersen. We’re focusing on get- ting them more involved offensively. The other guys have to make key contributions by passing better and distributing the ball well to players who are in scoring position.” Horizon’s only losses this year have been to Class 2A and 3A schools. One of those defeats was a Jan. 13 road loss to Class 2A’s No. 2 ranked Irrigon Knights (13-1) of the Columbia Basin Conference. Please see HAWKS, Page A8
