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About East Oregonian : E.O. (Pendleton, OR) 1888-current | View Entire Issue (April 14, 2017)
SPORTS FRIDAY, APRIL 14, 2017 1B FOLLOW US ON TWITTER @EOSPORTS ALL-EO GIRLS BASKETBALL Stewart’s divergent drive Nixyaawii junior shuns spotlight while also striving for success practices were, I wouldn’t say brutal, but it was fun to watch. There were times when I wouldn’t call for a ven at a young age, Mary Stewart scrimmage before a game because we were pounding on each other so much. wanted to be like Mike. I think her competitiveness trickled The Nixyaawii junior is too down to the rest of the team. I think young to remember the ear-worm that’s why you saw some of the one big Gatorade commercials, but she knew margins, just because we’re pushing her favorite clothing and shoes were each other so hard in practice.” Nike’s Air Jordan line, and that Stewart turned in some huge games was enough to make her pick up a during her junior basketball and head campaign, including a out to the hoop behind 41-point game against her grandmother’s Helix in which she Pendleton home. went 10-for-11 from “I was like four,” three-point range, and a said Stewart, the 34-point game against All-EO Player of the Country Christian in Year for girls basket- — Mary Stewart, the state championship ball. “It was in the Nixyaawii junior guard which Nixyaawii won back of my grandma’s and All-EO Player of the 68-39. house in the grass Year for girls basketball. But while she’ll on a 10-foot hoop. I gladly bask in the could hit the rim, then glory of a win, Stewart will be the fi rst I started getting better and I started to point out that there were 34 other making them. I went down there by points scored by her teammates in the myself a lot, then my grandma started that title win, and she’s just playing the coming out with me. role her natural talents have put her in. “My grandma started shooting She’d be the last person you’d expect with me, and I thought it was so fun to slap her emblem on a shoe and sell it so we’d go shoot every day. It got into around the world. our schedule, like we’d go shoot every “I’m not shy, you can just talk to me day.” and I’ll talk back. But I guess I don’t The addition of a competitor would really like talking about, like, just me I prove key for Stewart’s growth as a guess. I feel like if it’s just me then it’s player. Perhaps unknown to her at the time, not fair,” she said. “I kind of push (the Stewart shared a very distinct trait with attention) to the side. After our games I try to leave as soon as I can before her basketball idol Michael Jordan. someone can talk to me. And that’s “I just don’t like to lose,” she said. what I did at state, when they wanted to Stewart’s competitive streak just take pictures but I didn’t want to do it. may have been the biggest factor in So I was trying to leave.” Nixyaawii’s undefeated championship For sports reporters this poses a season in 2016-17. Undoubtedly, her problem, but not for her coach. 27.7 points, 5.9 assists, 4.8 rebounds “For me I don’t really think it’s an and 6.4 steals played a big role in issue, and I think she does what she the Golden Eagles’ 27-0 record, but Nixyaawii coach Jeremy Maddern said needs to do. She stays away from the spotlight,” Maddern said. “She’s going Stewart’s drive to win seemed to be contagious to her teammates and made to have that spotlight but she tends to shy away from that. You can defi nitely for some pretty intense practices. tell it bothers her a little bit but I’ve “The thing I think is the more seen kids the exact opposite where they competitive the drill is, the harder are attention hogs, so for me I’d rather you push her, the more you’re going have a kid who does the right things to get,” said Maddern, whose Golden and doesn’t look for that attention.” Eagles outscored teams by a 27-point average. “I think the key to her success is that competitiveness. Some of our See STEWART/2B By MATT ENTRUP East Oregonian E “I feel like if it’s just me then it’s not fair.” Staff photo by E.J. Harris Nixyaawii’s Mary Stewart is the All-EO player of the year for the 2017 girls basketball season. PENDLETON Prep Roundup Greb, Som lead Bucks to wins Pendleton golfers shoot low rounds at Pendleton Country Club East Oregonian PENDLETON — Haley Greb shot her second-straight sub-par round and Nathan Som led the Pendleton boys to their lowest score of the season on Thursday at the Buckaroo Invite at Pendleton Country Club. Greb posted a three-under 69 to win the girls’ individual title, and Som paced the boys’ fi eld with a 74. It was a tough day on the greens, said Pendleton coach Nels Nelson, and several players saw their scores suffer due to some unforgiving surfaces. But Pendleton’s Brayden Pulver wasn’t one of them and needed just 26 putts to get through his round to fi nish second with a 77 after winning a scorecard playoff. The Pendleton boys shot as second-low 320 to win the team title by two strokes over Kamiakin, and also beat regional foes The Dalles (324) and Hermiston (346). “We kind of put it all together as a team,” said Nelson. “The greens were fast and hard to hold, but we managed it well.” Jared Geier shot an 84 and Brandon Cox turned in an 85 to complete Pendleton’s score. Hermiston was led by Anders Lind with an 83, and fi fth-place Mac-Hi (352) was led by an 83 from Riley Chester. On the girls side, Pendleton took the top team spot with a 351, followed by Kamiakin with a 412 and Herm- iston a 446. Pendleton girls coach Terry Prouse See PREPS/3B BMCC’s Mathews signs with Saints Sophomore post makes jump to NCAA East Oregonian Photo courtesy of Blue Mountain Community College Blue Mountain’s Jared Mathews, right, and athletic director Brett Bryan smile after Mathews signed a National Letter of Intent with St. Martin’s for men’s basketball. For the past two seasons, Blue Mountain’s Jared Mathews has been one of the top post players in the NWAC East Region. Now, Mathews will take his talents to the NCAA. On Wednesday, Mathews signed a National Letter of Intent with Saint Martin’s University in Lacey, Washington and will join the NCAA Division II team this fall. At Saint Martin’s, the sophomore from Bakersfi eld, California will reunite with the coach that recruited him to BMCC, Adam Ellis, who is now an assistant coach with the See MATHEWS/2B Sports shorts Plum picked No. 1 in WNBA Draft NEW YORK (AP) — The San Antonio Stars made Washington star Kelsey Plum the No. 1 overall pick in the 2017 WNBA Draft on Thursday night. The NCAA Player of the Year fi nished her college career with an NCAA-record 3,527 points. The Stars had the worst record last season and held the top pick for the fi rst time in franchise history. “I’ve been dreaming about it for so long,” Plum said. “I’m really excited and grateful for the Plum opportunity and will make the most of it.” The Stars took Moriah Jefferson with the No. 2 pick last season. Plum played with Jefferson on a USA Basketball Under-18 team and was excited for the chance to play with her again. Oregon State star Sydney Wiese went 11th overall to the Los Angeles Sparks. “We’re not going into the playoffs saying ‘Alright, we got here, we did a great job, we fought back and let’s just go in here and put up a fi ght.’ We’re going in here and we want to win. Ain’t no moral victories and all that.“ — Damian Lillard Portland Trail Blazers guard says he is confi dent in his team’s abilities to take on and possibly take down Golden State in the fi rst round of the NBA playoffs, even telling CSN Northwest the Blazers will win in six games. OSU baseball’s win streak comes to a halt after 23 games SEATTLE — For the fi rst time in 23 games, the Oregon State Beavers fi nished a game on the wrong side of the scoreboard. The Washington Huskies beat the Beavers 3-2 in the series opener on Thursday night, ending OSU’s ninth-inning rally with the tying run stranded on second base. It’s just the second loss of the season for Oregon State (28-2, 12-1 PAC-12), with last loss coming on Feb. 24 to Ohio State. Trevor Larnach opened up the scoring in the game with an RBI double in the fi rst inning, but that would be the last run OSU would get until an RBI single by KJ Harrison in the ninth. Luke Heimlich started for OSU, pitching 6 1/3 innings giving up seven hits and three runs with seven strikeouts. The series continues today at 4:05 p.m. at Husky Ballpark in Seattle. THIS DATE IN SPORTS 1960 — The Montreal Canadiens win their fi fth straight Stanley Cup with a four-game sweep of the Toronto Maple Leafs, including tonight’s 4-0 victory. 1994 — Seattle becomes the fi rst team in NBA history to have 10 double-fi gure scorers in one game, as the SuperSonics beat the Los Angeles Clippers 150-101. 2006 — Kobe Bryant sets the Los Angeles Lakers’ single-season scoring record with a fl ourish, getting 50 points to eclipse Elgin Baylor’s long-standing total (2,719) in a 110-99 victory over Portland. Contact us at 541-966-0838 or sports@eastoregonian.com