SPORTS
Tuesday, March 7, 2017
East Oregonian
Page 3B
GOLDEN EAGLES: Free throws help establish lead in second quarter
Continued from 1B
With the Nixyaawii-heavy
crowd giving them a standing
ovation, the realization that
they were about to be state
champions finally sank in.
“It was cool, it was
different,” said Stewart of
the feeling. “Like at districts
it was way different. It was
a bigger crowd (at state) and
a lot of people came and
supported us from different
areas. It was cool.”
“It was a crazy feeling
because we finally knew that
we did it,” said senior Stacy
Fitzpatrick, who finished
with eight rebounds to go
with four points. “We accom-
plished something that we’ve
been trying to get to all year,
and to know we actually got
it is crazy.”
Fitzpatrick
said
the
undefeated season was never
a goal, and junior Kaitlynn
Melton said she needed to be
reminded that the team had
also pulled off the incredibly
difficult task of winning
all 27 games it played this
season.
“That wasn’t even a
thought until after the game,”
said Melton, who finished
with 10 points and eight
rebounds. “Somebody came
up to me and said, ‘Unde-
feated.’ And it’s like, ‘Oh
yeah we are!’ We don’t think
about it. We just go and do
our thing.”
Going into the state
bracket, the list of potentially
derailments for the Golden
Eagles was extremely short.
One thing that had to be
added after some late season
struggles at the line, though,
was free throw shooting.
But the Golden Eagles
were solid at the line all
week, and came into the
game shooting 17-of-27 at
Baker High School. And on
Saturday it was the Golden
Eagles’ free throw shooting
that established their lead
and kicked off a 26-9 second
quarter that sucked all of the
drama out of the second half.
Country Christian (22-8)
was handing with Nixyaawii
through a first quarter that had
six lead changes, but when the
Cougars opened the second
quarter shooting 1-for-7 from
the field the Golden Eagles
made their move.
Despite seeing their own
shooters hit a cold spot as
well, the Golden Eagles
were able to get to the line
and double the lead over
the first three minutes.
Milan Schimmel (14 points,
7 rebounds, 3 steals, 2
assists), Melton and Stewart
combined to go 6-of-8
Staff photos by Kathy Aney
MAIN PHOTO: Ermia Butler (30), of Nixyaawii, launches a shot over County Christian’a Mollie Lewandowski (4) during Saturday’s 1A OSAA
championship game in Baker City. TOP RIGHT: Nixyaawii head coach Jeremy Maddern takes his turn cutting down the net after his team beat
the Cougars. BOTTOM RIGHT: Nixyaawii’s Milan Schimmel smiles for a selfie with her sister Shoni Schimmel and the 1A Championship trophy.
on free throws during the
stretch, and Stewart added a
three-pointer as the lead grew
to 25-12 with 5:08 left in the
first half.
“We’ve had games where
we haven’t shot well at the
free throw line, but we had
some ice in our veins tonight,”
said Maddern, who also
coached the team to its other
state title in 2011. “It was just
a great effort by all the girls.”
Country Christian finally
started to hit some shots, but
by then the Golden Eagles
had fully worked through
their pre-game jitters and
shot 6-for-8 from the field in
the final three minutes to take
a 42-19 lead at halftime.
“It’s a big thing, we
couldn’t let our community
down, basically,” Melton
said of the pressure coming
into the game. “We were
nervous. … But that also
pushed us to do better.”
Nixyaawii shot 15-for-32
(46.9 percent) in the first half,
including 3-for-6 from three-
point range, and was 9-of-11
at the line.
“That first half is probably
the best ball I’ve seen in
20 years,” Maddern said.
“We executed everything
perfectly with our game plan.
The girls shot the ball well,
I’m just proud of this group
of kids. We worked hard, we
rotated some younger kids
in this game for the height
and they played out of their
minds as well. We did some
meditation before the game,
and I’ll probably do that
every game after the way we
played tonight.”
The Golden Eagles didn’t
let up after halftime.
“We went out there and
the score was zero-zero,”
said Melton. “That’s what
we go out every game, so we
were treating this game like
HONKERS:
TIGERS:
Continued from 1B
Continued from 1B
No. 12 Arlington (22-8)
finished in fifth place after
making its first final bracket
since 1987.
Hauner, a second-team
all tournament selection,
scored a game-high 16
points for the Honkers, but
after she connected from
deep off a pass from Joely
Patnode to make it 34-28
with 7:24 play the Honkers
were 0-for-6 from the field
with a pair of missed free
throws and four turnovers
before Hauner was able to
stop their dry spell with a
jumper with 2:29 left.
Carlee Morton had
seven of her 10 points
during the critical stretch,
and Anna Hutchings and
Vollarreal each scored
12 to lead Adrian (25-4).
Villarreal added four steals
as the Antelopes pressured
the Honkers into 23 turn-
overs.
Hauner finished with a
double-double and added
10 rebounds, two blocks
and two steals to her state
line. Hannah Davidson and
Sara Grady came off the
bench to chip in a combined
11 points, but Arlington
shot just 11-for-40 (27.5
percent) from the field in
the game and was 13-of-26
at the free throw line.
Adrian didn’t shoot the
lights out in the field or at
the line, but was able to
sink five three-pointers and
finished just better than the
Honkers at 16-of-47 (34
percent) shooting and made
13 of 33 freebies.
The game was tied just
once at 2-2 after Shelby
Collins connected from
close range for the Honkers,
but Arlington never let
Adrian get comfortable
with its lead during the first
three quarters.
A jump shot by Davidson
pulled Arlington within
four at the end of the first,
and when Adrian extended
the lead into double digits
in the second quarter it was
Emily Kirby and Hauner
with buckets to bring the
lead to nine going into
halftime.
The closest Arlington
came in the second half was
when Collins hit the front
end of a pair of free throws
to make it 25-20 with 5:01
left in the third.
Adrian went on a 9-2 run
capped by a three-pointer
by Villarreal to give the
game its largest lead to that
point at 34-22 with 1:23 left
in the third.
Hauner scored the next
six points spanning the
quarters to bring Arlington
within 34-28, and that was
as close as they got.
Morton answered with
a jump shot right away,
then Lauren Barraza added
a free throw and Shyanne
Allaire connected in the
paint to make it 39-28 with
6:12 to go. The lead never
dropped back below double
digits.
Arlington will lose
six seniors to graduation
including Hauner, Collins,
Patnode, Rileigh McClure,
Sadie Weathorford and
Andrea Galvin.
———
ARL
8 8
9 11 — 36
ADR
12 13
9 16 — 50
ARLINGTON — M. Hauner 16, H. David-
son 6, S. Grady 5, S. Collins 4, E. Kirby 3,
J. Patnode 2, R. McClure, K. McClure, E.
Erskine, A. Galvin.
ADRIAN — A. Hutchings 12, S. Villarreal
12, C. Morton 10, S. Allaire 8, L. Barraza 2,
M. McLay 2, Su. Speelmon 2, G. Nichols
1, M. Bayes 1, E. Nielson, G. Morton, Sa.
Speelmon, R. Young.
3-pointers — ARL 1; ADR 5. Free throws
— ARL 13-26; ADR 13-33. Fouls — ARL
25; ADR 23. Fouled out — S. Collins, R.
McClure, E. Kirby (ARL); A. Hutchings
any other game.”
Country Christian saw
its shooting percentage drop
after halftime and finished
16-for-67 (23.9 percent)
from the field. The closest
the Cougars came in the
second half was when
Mollie Lewandowski scored
a putback with 2:12 left in
the third quarter to make it
52-30. Trisatlynn Melton
answered with a bank-shot
at the other end, Schimmel
came up with a steal and
fast break, and then Stewart
found Fitzpatrick for a layup
to close out the frame with a
58-30 lead.
Nixyaawii finished the
game shooting 27-for-67
(40.3 percent) and was
11-for-13 at the line.
The Golden Eagles also
kept the Cougars from
gaining an advantage on
the glass and were out-re-
bounded just 49-45.
put Santiam on top 53-50 with 2:21 left and keep them
on top for good.
Downey finished with 15 of his game-high 33 points
in the fourth quarter on 4-6 shooting and 4-5 at the free
throw line.
For Stanfield, the Tigers offense simply fell flat in the
fourth. The team made just 4 of 13 shots in the quarter
and couldn’t get any bounces to fall their way.
“I think we were a little stagnant,” Sperr said of
his team. “We just didn’t quite get ball movement
and movement in general like we typically do. I don’t
know exactly, we probably should have had them more
prepared.”
Stanfield had a chance to tie at the game at the end,
however Ryan Bailey’s off-balance 3-pointer clanked
off the rim as the buzzer sounded, sending the Wolver-
ines and their fans into pandemonium.
Grogan was Stanfield’s leading scorer with 16 points
to go with eight rebounds, but the rims were not being
kind to the 6-4 senior as he made just 4 of 17 shot
attempts, many of which bounced in and out. Behind
Grogan, Monkus had 10 points and a pair of banked-in
3-pointers, which helped earn him one of the two Player
of the Game honors.
While Sperr admitted afterwards that it may take a
while for the team to accept being runner-up, he knows
the season that the Tigers put together and finishing
second out of 42 schools in Class 2A is a tremendous
accomplishment.
“It was an incredible season and these guys worked
their tail ends off to get here,” Sperr said. “They deserved
the opportunity and then took it and gave it all they had
and just came up a tiny bit short. I couldn’t have asked
for a better group of guys and they’ll go a long ways in
life and I’m excited to watch that.”
ALL-TOURNAMENT TEAM
First Team
Simeon Hess, Western Mennonite; Jonah Downey,
Santiam; Julian Downey, Santiam; Zeke Quinlan, Life
Christian (unanimous); Dylan Grogan, Stanfield (unani-
mous).
Second Team
Joel Snyder, Oakridge; Ryan Bailey, Stanfield; Clay
Sullivan, Vernonia; Brett Elliott, Vernonia; L. Dalzell,
Columbia Christian.
———
SANT
14 12 11 20 — 57
STAN
17 13 14 10 — 54
SANTIAM — Ju. Downey 33, Jo. Downey 21, A. Fawcett 2, N. Butler 1, J.
Fawcett, R. Nicot.
STANFIELD — D. Grogan 16, T. Monkus 10, J. Garcia 9, B. Woods 6, T. Flores 6, R.
Bailey 4, E. Angel 3, J. Galarza.
3-pointers — SANT 5, STAN 4. Free throws — SANT 14-19, STAN 12-16. Fouls —
SANT 16, STAN 20. Fouled out — T. Monkus (STAN).
———
Contact Eric at esinger@eastoregonian.com or
541-966-0839. Follow him on Twitter @ByEricSinger.
“We executed, and we
defended them the way we
should have,” Stewart said.
“(Maddern) had a plan and
we stuck to it. … For this
game we needed to rebound,
and that’s what we did.”
Country Christian had
its final lead of the game
on a Lewandowski putback
that made it 10-9 with 3:15
left in the first quarter. That
lasted about 30 seconds until
Schimmel hit a pair of free
throws to put Nixyaawii back
on top, and then stole the ball
and passed to Stewart to
finish the fast break. Stewart
hit a three-pointer with 1:51
left to make it 16-10 and close
the first-quarter scoring.
Debby Grandle led the
Cougars with nine points
and Lewandowski finished
with seven points and 13
rebounds. Sarah Phillips
added seven points and 10
rebounds.
The Golden Eagles grad-
uate just two players from
their title run — Fitzpatrick
and starting center Sunshine
Fuentes, who wasn’t credited
with a block in the score sheet
but made a habit of altering
shots against the Cougars.
“Mary (Stewart) told me
before the season started that
she was going to get the rings
for me, make sure I got it for
my senior year,” Fuentes said.
“It was kind of sad for a little
bit, knowing I won’t be able to
play for this community again,
but it was a good feeling
knowing that we won.”
———
CC
10 9 11
9 — 39
NCS
16 26 16 10 — 68
COUNTRY CHRISTIAN — D. Grandle 9,
M. Lewandowski 7, S. Phillips 7, J. Griffith
5, A. Farner 4, K. Halverson 2, J. Warrington
2, K. Sandberg 2, S. Ross 1, H. Fincher, E.
Casterline.
NIXYAAWII — M. Stewart 34, K. Melton
14, S. Fuentes 10, S. Fitzpatrick 4, T. Melton
4, E. Butler 2, S. Fuentes, A. Tonasket,
S. Patrick, T. Broncheau, E. Looney, K.
Mountainchief.
3-pointers — CC 2; NCS 3. Free throws
— CC 5-14; NCS 11-13. Fouls — CC 13;
NCS 13.
TOP:
Stanfield’s
Dylan
Grogan
shoots the
ball in the
Tigers’ 57-
54 loss to
Santiam in
the class
2A basket-
ball state
champion-
ship game
Saturday
in Pendle-
ton.
BOTTOM:
Stanfield’s
Jose Gar-
cia shoots
the ball
guarded
by San-
tiam’s
Austin
Fawcett
on Sat-
urday in
Pendleton.
Staff photos by
E.J. Harris