S PORTS
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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