SPORTS
TUESDAY, MARCH 29, 2016
Sports shorts
Capitals clinch
Presidents’ Trophy
WASHINGTON (AP)
— Fourth-liner Tom Wilson
atoned
for two
penalties
by scoring
the winning
goal early
in the third
period as the Washington
Capitals clinched the Presi-
dents’ Trophy for the second
time in franchise history by
beating the Columbus Blue
Jackets 4-1 Monday night.
The Capitals needed only
a point to clinch the NHL’s
best record this season
and wrapped up home-ice
advantage throughout the
Stanley Cup playoffs with
seven games left. Justin
Williams and T.J. Oshie also
scored and Nicklas Back-
strom added an empty-netter
for Washington, which has
an NHL-leading 113 points.
Goaltender Braden
Holtby made 21 saves to
earn his 46th win, two shy
of Martin Brodeur’s single-
season record.
1B
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MILTON-FREEWATER
Pioneers settling into groove
Copeland, Earls
allow combined
one run in wins
By ERIC SINGER
East Oregonian
Williams: ‘I have
to be 300 percent’
KEY BISCAYNE, Fla.
(AP) — Serena Williams’
20-match winning streak
at Key Biscayne ended
Monday with a 6-7 (3),
6-1, 6-2 loss to Svetlana
Kuznetsova
FACES in the fourth
round of the
upset-¿ lled
Miami Open.
Williams
was bidding for
her ninth title
in the event
Williams
and her fourth
in a row. But after a grueling
¿ rst set that lasted nearly
an hour, the 21-time Grand
Slam champion faded on a
sweltering afternoon.
It was her earliest exit at
Key Biscayne since 2000,
when she lost in the fourth
round to Jennifer Capriati.
“I did the best I could,”
she said during a postmatch
news conference that lasted
less than three minutes
before she cut it off. “I can’t
win every match. These
players come out and play
me like they’ve never played
before in their lives. I have
to be 300 percent every day.”
“Nine times is a
lot of Final Fours.
That’s a lot. That’s
a lot of players
over a lot of
years. It’s not easy
to do.“
— Geno Auriemma
UConn women’s bas-
ketball coach after the
Huskies beat Texas
86-65 on Monday to
reach their ninth-straight
Final Four. UConn was
such a heavy favorite in
the game that bettors in
Las Vegas had to wager
$63,000 against the
money line to win $100
on the Huskies.
THIS DATE IN SPORTS
1941 — Wisconsin, led
by Gene Englund’s 13 points,
wins the NCAA basketball
championship with a 39-34
victory over Washington State.
1962 — Elgin Baylor (45)
and Jerry West (41) of the
Los Angeles Lakers become
the ¿ rst teammates to score
40 or more points in an NBA
playoff game. The Lakers,
however, lose to Detroit
118-117.
1990
—
Houston’s
Akeem Olajuwon is the third
player in NBA history to
achieve a quadruple double
during a 120-94 victory over
the Milwaukee Bucks. He
¿ nishes with 18 points, 16
rebounds, 11 blocks and 10
assists.
Contact us at 541-966-0838 or
sports@eastoregonian.com
Staff photo by Kathy Aney
Mallory Copeland, of Mac-Hi, is greeted by her teammates after hitting a home run Saturday against
Estacada during the Spring Break Crossover Tournament in Milton-Freewater. Mac-Hi won 10-0.
The Mac-Hi softball team
¿ nished off the Spring Break
Crossover tournament feeling very
con¿ dent about the remainder of the
season.
The Pioneers defeated the Twin
Falls (ID) Bruins 11-1 and then
defeated the Estacada Rangers 11-0
on Saturday afternoon for a 3-0
record in the round-robin tourna-
ment.
Mac-Hi (7-1) powered through
to the victories on the backs of
excellent team play, as well as
strong performances from pitchers
Mallory Copeland and Sydney
Earls.
Pitching was one of the biggest
questions for the Pioneers coming
into the 2016 season after gradu-
ating the only player to throw an
inning for them last season, all-state
pitcher Colette Robert. But the team
has done well in replacing her, as
the junior Copeland and freshman
Earls have had solid outputs in the
team’s eight games.
Earls, who transferred from
Rainier (WA), started against
Estacada and threw ¿ ve no-hit
innings and allowed just three
base runners, one on an error and
then two in the fourth inning on
a hit-by-pitch and a walk. It was
Earl’s second pitching appearance
See PIONEERS/2B
Oregon State women reach ¿ rst Final Four
Oregon
State
forward
Deven
Hunter
kisses the
Division I
Regional
Champi-
onship
NCAA tro-
phy after a
women’s
NCAA
basketball
tourna-
ment
game
against
Baylor
Monday in
Dallas.
Weise helps No. 2 Beavers
hold off No. 1 Baylor
By STEPHEN HAWKINS
Associated Press
DALLAS — Sydney Wiese scored 18 points,
including three free throws in
the ¿ nal 33 seconds and Oregon
NCAA
Women
State advanced to the women’s
Final Four for the ¿ rst time after
a 60-57 victory over Baylor on
Monday night.
The Lady Bears (36-2) #2 Oregon St.
¿ nished their season with a
regional ¿ nal lost for the third
consecutive season.
Oregon State (32-4) is going
to Indianapolis to face three-
#1 Baylor
time defending national cham-
pion UConn after eliminating
the six-time defending Big 12
champions.
Jamie Weisner, the Pac-12 Player of the Year
who was the regional Most Outstanding Player,
had 16 points while Ruth Hamblin had 10 points
and 12 rebounds for the Beavers — playing in
their ¿ rst regional ¿ nal.
Alexis Jones had 19 points for top-seeded
Baylor, while Kalani Brown had 12 and Nina
Davis 11. Nina Johnson, the senior point guard,
60
AP Photo/Bran-
don Wade
57
had only one assist with seven rebounds in her
¿ nal chance to get to a Final Four.
With a roster ¿ lled with seniors and juniors
recruited by coach Scott Rueck, the Beavers were
in a regional ¿ nal nearly six years after he had to
conduct open tryouts to ¿ ll his ¿ rst roster.
Oregon State has won 22 of its past 23 games
and has already set a school record for victories
this season. They won the Pac-12 Tournament and
Crabbe leads Trail Blazers past Kings
Portland has won
five straight at home
By ANNE M. PETERSON
Associated Press
PORTLAND — Reserve
Allen Crabbe scored 21
points
and
the Portland
NBA
Trail Blazers
cruised to a
105-93 victory
over the short- Sacramento
handed Sacra-
mento Kings
on
Monday
night.
CJ McCo-
Portland
llum had 16
points, while
Damian Lillard
added
13
points and nine assists, before
both sat out the fourth quarter.
Portland, which led by as many
as 28 points, remained sixth in
the Western Conference with
seven games to go.
The Blazers have won 14
of their last 16 games at home,
PENDLETON
Buckaroos hold
off Riverhawks
Pendleton undefeated
at Boise tournament
East Oregonian
93
105
shared the regular-season title, after last season
winning the crown outright to end Stanford’s run
of 14 championships in a row.
“I don’t know how you put this into words,”
Rueck said after getting the championship trophy.
Weise made her second free throw after being
fouled by Jones with 33 seconds left. Jones
had a turnaround jumper that rattled around the
See BEAVERS/2B
AP Photo/Steve Dykes
Portland Trail Blazers forward Maurice Harkless (4) blocks the
shot of Sacramento Kings center Kosta Koufos as center Ma-
son Plumlee (24) defends during the fi rst quarter of an NBA
basketball game in Portland, Ore., Monday, March 28, 2016.
including ¿ ve straight.
Seth Curry had a career-high
21 points in just his third start
of the season and Omri Casspi
added 18 for the Kings, who
have lost ¿ ve straight to the
Blazers.
The Kings, all but out of the
playoff picture, rested Rudy Gay,
Rajon Rondo and DeMarcus
Cousins. The starting lineup had
Curry and Darren Collison in the
backcourt, along with forwards
Casspi and Quincy Acy and
center Kosta Koufos.
“Just opportunity for the
See BLAZERS/2B
BOISE, Idaho — The Pendleton
Buckaroos concluded play in the Bucks
Bags tournament on Saturday, holding
off the Canyon Ridge
Riverhawks 4-2 to ¿ nish
Baseball
the tournament with a
perfect 4-0 record.
Junior Nick Lani got
Pendleton
the starting nod on the
mound, and tossed six
strong innings allowing
just two earned runs
and four hits with six
strikeouts. Gage Correa
Canyon Ridge pitched the seventh in
relief and threw a perfect
inning.
The Buckaroos bats
did not have much action against Canyon
Ridge, registering four hits as Wyatt
4
2
See BUCKAROOS/2B