Page 2B
SPORTS
East Oregonian
Tuesday, February 21, 2017
ROCKETS: Defense held Weston-McEwen to just 22 percent shooting
Continued from 1B
Staff photos by E.J. Harris
TOP: Pilot Rock’s Rachel Willingham drives across mid
court trailed by Weston-McEwen’s Katie Vescio in the
Rocket’s 65-39 win against the TigerScots on Saturday
in Pendleton.
BOTTOM: Weston-McEwen’s Amie Coffman drives
on Pilot Rock’s Bekah Roe in the Rocket’s 65-39 win
against the TigerScots on Saturday in Pendleton.
again tomorrow, it could be a
different outcome because we
match-up so evenly.”
Being the fourth meeting, both
teams knew what to expect and
what to plan for. The outcome of
the game simply came down to
who could make the most shots
and that statistic was heavily in
the Rockets (18-4) favor as Pilot
Rock shot 20-53 (37 percent)
compared to Weston-McEwen’s
11-49 (22.4 percent). The Rockets
also finished 6-9 from the 3-point
line, while Weston-McEwen
finished 1-14.
Weston-McEwen
(16-8)
coach Jeff Griggs hinted at a
possible fatigue factor for the
TigerScots, playing their third
game in five days and especially
after a physical game against
Culver the night before in the
district semifinals, as a possible
reason for the cold shooting.
“Another poor postseason
shooting outcome against a Pilot
Rock team that seemed to be
hitting on all cylinders,” Weston-
McEwen coach Jeff Griggs said.
“We got outplayed in a number
of aspects of the game but won’t
make many excuses other than
Pilot Rock playing well. Maybe
we came out a little emotionally
flat but we’re not taking anything
away from Pilot Rock and we
have to play at that level in post-
season now if we hope to make it
back to Pendleton.”
Pilot Rock’s offense, normally
a well-balanced scoring output,
was a two-person show between
Bekah Roe and Kayla Deist on
Saturday. Roe led all scorers
with 19 points on 6-11 shooting
and added 12 rebounds to go
with two assists and three steals,
while Deist had 17 points and 10
rebounds and made 10-12 from
the free throw line.
Roe was a steadying hand for
the Rockets, stepping up to hit
shot after shot when her team
needed a score. Perhaps her
biggest shot came in the third
quarter, as Pilot Rock hit a dry
spell through the first three-plus
minutes of the quarter and the
TigerScots creeping up. Thanks to
some quick ball movement from
the Rockets, Roe found herself all
alone on the right wing, pulled up
and hit nothing but net for a big
3-pointer for the teams’ first field
goal of the quarter and give the
Rockets some momentum back.
“Bekah is by far the heart-and-
soul and the leader of the team
and she gets them going,” Wilson
said of Roe. “The coaches could
probably go sit in the stands and
she could handle it all on her own,
she’s a smart basketball player.”
Wilson was ecstatic to learn
that his team also won the
rebounding battle 41-30, pointing
out that Weston-McEwen out-re-
bounded the Rockets by 20 in
their previous meeting.
“That’s the story of the game
really,” he said, “not giving them
second and third chances, that
really makes me proud.”
Chelsea
Quaempts
led
Weston-McEwen with 14 points
and added eight rebounds and
Sarah Finifrock followed with 12
points on 5-6 shooting.
Earning the district title was a
bit of redemption for the Rockets,
who were arguable the best
team in the CBC last season but
flopped in the semifinals against
Irrigon and cost themselves a trip
to the state playoffs. Wilson said
that reason alone kept his team
determined from start to finish of
the regular season.
“It put a sour taste in their
mouths for sure,” he said. “They
came in this year basically the
same team and came with a whole
different attitude and desire and
this has been a really fun season
and to have a home game now is
great.”
UP
NEXT
Pilot Rock will host Grant Union
in a first round playoff game next
Saturday at 5 p.m., while Weston-
McEwen will travel to Faith
Bible for its first round playoff
game, with time TBD.
————
ALL-LEAGUE TEAMS
Player of the Year — Irma
Retano, Culver
Coaches of the Year — Rene
Houle and Scott Fritz, Culver
First team — Bekah Roe,
Pilot Rock; Chelsea Quaempts,
Weston-McEwen; Kayla Deist,
Pilot Rock; Mia Gamboa,
Culver; Sarah Finifrock, Weston-
McEwen.
Second team — Jacee Currin,
Heppner; Jacey Wilson, Pilot
Rock; Rachel Willingham, Pilot
Rock; Katie Vescio, Weston-
McEwen; Jessica Johnson,
Culver.
Honorable mention —
Kendra Hart, Stanfield; Natalia
Esquivel, Stanfield; Brittin
Braithwaite, Stanfield; Sara
Weinke, Pilot Rock; Bailey
Hillmick, Weston-McEwen; Ali
Schroeder,
Weston-McEwen;
Morgan Correa, Heppner.
————
Staff photos by E.J. Harris
TOP: Weston-McEwen’s Chelsea Quempts
shoots the ball guarded by Pilot Rock’s Sara
Weinke in the Rocket’s 65-39 win against the
TigerScots on Saturday in Pendleton.
BOTTOM: Pilot Rock’s Bekah Roe shoots the
ball over Weston-McEwen’s Ali Schroeder in
the Rocket’s 65-39 win against the TigerScots
on Saturday in Pendleton.
W-M
11 7 13
8 — 39
PR
17 13 13 22 — 65
WESTON-MCEWEN — C. Quaempts 14, S. Fin-
ifrock 12, A. Schroeder 5, K. Vescio 4, A. Finifrock
2, R. Penney 1, B. Hillmick 1, M. Muilenburg, A.
Coffman, J. Lambert.
PILOT ROCK — B. Roe 19, K. Deist 17, J. Wilson
8, R. Willingham 8, B. Howland 5, S. Weinke 4, R.
Oates 3, M. Sutherland 1, K. Crumbliss, K. Evans,
G. Austin.
3-pointers — W-M 1, PR 6. Free throws — W-M
16-22, PR 19-24. Fouls — W-M 17, PR 19.
————
Contact Eric at esinger@
eastoregonian.com or 541-966-
0839. Follow him on Twitter @
ByEricSinger.
TIGERS: Went on 20-5 run over the final four minutes
Continued from 1B
and that’s state champs. Well
we have two down, now just
one more left.”
Angel, who finished with
10 points and four rebounds,
hit one of the biggest shots of
the game for Stanfield late in
the fourth quarter. As Weston-
McEwen (14-10) was on a 14-5
run to start the quarter to cut
the Tiger lead to 68-62, Angel
nailed a wide-open 3-pointer
from the left corner to bump
the lead back to nine points and
sparked Stanfield’s sprint to the
finish line.
“We made that great run
in the fourth quarter there and
then I think we ran out of gas,”
Weston-McEwen coach Brian
Pickard said. “But I can’t be
more proud of the way we
played ... the guys gave every-
thing they have and I thought
we played pretty well.”
Prior to Angel’s shot, Stan-
field coach Jason Sperr called
a timeout where Angel said the
coach simply wanted the team
to re-set themselves.
“He just told us to play our
game ... we had slowed down
and that’s when we struggled
in the half-court sets,” Angel
recalled. “They (TigerScots)
were playing physical and we
weren’t reacting to it well and
he (coach) just said to be smart
and keep playing our game.”
Weston-McEwen surprised
Stanfield to start the game, as
the TigerScots were able to
break the full-court press and
turn those into some easy shot
attempts, keeping the quarter
at a lightning-fast tempo. The
TigerScots held a 7-2 lead early
before Stanfield quickly tied it,
and then re-took the lead for
the remainder of the quarter at
20-17.
“Most teams don’t want to
match our speed and I think
that was a bit different to our
guys, surprised them,” Sperr
said. “But I thought Weston-
McEwen was as good a team
Staff photo by E.J. Harris
Stanfield’s Enoel Angel (23) and Jose Galarza scramble for
the ball with Weston-McEwen’s Shaw Broncheau in the
Tiger’s 88-68 win against the TigerScots on Saturday in
Pendleton.
as we’ve seen all year basically
from start to finish at playing
our style of game and it was fun
to watch.”
Stanfield’s offense took
some time to settle in as well,
as the Tigers hit just 5-19
shots (26 percent) in the first
quarter, but then went 26-55
(47 percent) over the final three
quarters. Dylan Grogan led all
scorers with 31 points on 12-22
shooting and added seven
rebounds and four assists,
continuing the consistent
leadership and play that he has
played with this season.
“We know if we need a
score, we can give Dylan the
ball and he’ll do it,” Angel said.
“He’s arguably the best player,
I say, in the state.”
Shaw Broncheau played
a fantastic game for Weston-
McEwen with 25 points on
11-17 shooting to go with nine
rebounds and eight assists. He
was a one-man wrecking crew
at various spots in the game,
boosting the TigerScots offense
with his slick dribbling and
first-class speed to break the
Stanfield press with relative
ease.
“He does a great job of
knowing when we need a
basket and great at making
decisions of taking it to the
basket or finding an open man,
“Pickard said. “That’s the way
he’s been all year and we love
having that.”
UP NEXT
Both teams will advance
to the state tournament next
Friday, where No. 2 Stanfield
will host No. 15 Oakland and
No. 13 Weston-McEwen will
travel to No. 4 Santiam.
————
ALL-LEAGUE TEAMS
Player of the Year —
Logan Grieb, Heppner
Coaches of the Year —
Mike Weinke, Pilot Rock;
Jeremy Rosenbalm, Heppner
First team — Shaw
Broncheau, Weston-McEwen;
Chris Weinke, Pilot Rock;
Dylan Grogan, Stanfield; Ethan
Reger,
Weston-McEwen;
Bryson Pierce, Pilot Rock.
Second team — Ryan
Bailey, Stanfield; Jake Lindsay,
Heppner; Mike Davis, Culver;
Jose Garcia, Stanfield; Brett
Speed, Weston-McEwen.
Honorable mention —
Thyler Monkus, Stanfield;
Caden Hedman, Heppner;
Tony Flores, Stanfield; Weston
Basl, Culver; Kevin Murray,
Heppner.
————
W-M
20 13 15 20 — 68
SHS
17 26 20 25 — 88
WESTON-MCEWEN — S. Broncheau 25,
E. Reger 13, G. Hungerford 9, B. Speed 8, B.
Dearing 6, J. Speed 4, J. West 3, B. Rudolph,
STANFIELD — D. Grogan 31, T. Flores 16, E.
Angel 10, J. Garcia 9, J. Galarza 8, T. Monkus
6, B. Woods 4, R. Bailey 4.
3-pointers — W-M 4, SHS 8. Free throws —
W-M 12-22, SHS 18-33. Fouls — W-M 21, SHS
21. Fouled out — J. Speed (W-M); B. Woods,
J. Garcia (SHS).
————
Contact Eric at esinger@
eastoregonian.com or 541-966-
0839. Follow him on Twitter @
ByEricSinger.
Staff photos by E.J. Harris
Weston-McEwen’s Ethan Reger shoots the ball
over Stanfield’s Dylan Grogan in the Tigers’ 88-
68 win against the TigerScots on Saturday.
BOTTOM: Weston-McEwen’s Shaw Broncheau
falls over the back of Stansfield’s Dylan Gro-
gan as James West looks on in the Tigers’ 88-
68 win against the TigerScots on Saturday in
Pendleton.