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SPORTS FRIDAY, JANUARY 5, 2018 1B FOLLOW US ON TWITTER @EOSPORTS UMATILLA Prep Basketball Golden Eagles beat down Cougars Vikings run away from Tigers Uriel Garcia’s 18 points helps Umatilla end two-game skid By ALEXIS MANSANAREZ East Oregonian UMATILLA — The Umatilla boys basketball team had spent almost its entire winter break on the road. From facing the Nixyaawii Eagles on their home court to playing in the Salem Academy Boys Basketball Christian Holiday Tourna- ment, it was the Stanfi eld team’s longest away stretch of the season. And as of Tuesday, the joyful return was put on hold Umatilla after Umatilla dropped its third game of the season. The Vikings, however, quickly recovered and in front of a home crowd dished the visiting Stan- fi eld Tigers a 80-22 beating on Thursday. “I’m glad we were able to end our long, multiple games, tour- naments, New Years, Christmas vacation right now,” head coach Scott Bow said after the game. “Sickness has hit our team, we’ve had multiple kids not playing or dehydrated all game because of it so I’m glad we ended where we did today.” The fatigue of travel and illness that comes with the new season didn’t show on the court. Umatilla was able to get out to an early 18-4 lead after the fi rst quarter, and stay in control for the rest of the game. The Vikings (12-3) had standout performances from a number of player and had 12 of their 13-player roster put points on the board. Junior Uriel Garcia led the team with a game-high 18 points followed by senior Kaden Webb, who dished out 16 points of his own, and junior Sebastian Garcia, who knocked down 12. One of Bow’s goals for the team was to step up its defensive output. During Umatilla’s road trip East Oregonian ECHO — The Nixyaawii girls basketball team stayed red-hot on Thursday night, as they beat down the Echo Cougars Girls Bball 78-33 to r e m a i n unbeaten on the season. Nixyaawii Milan Schimmel had a game-high 29 points to lead the Echo Golden E a g l e s (12-0, 3-0 Old Oregon League), while adding seven steals and seven rebounds as well. Mary Stewart followed with 12 points and Kaitlyn Melton added 11 points and six rebounds. Nixyaawii shot nearly 46 percent from the fi eld in the game and outrebounded Echo 52-30. Marti Huff led the Cougars (5-8, 1-2) with 14 points and 12 rebounds, while Tylene Skillman added eight points. As a team, Echo shot just 24 percent from the fi eld. UP NEXT Nixyaawii faces its biggest test of the season as it hosts the undefeated and No. 2-ranked Powder Valley Badgers on Friday at 6 p.m. Echo hosts Joseph Friday at 6 p.m. ———— 22 78 80 See UMATILLA/3B 33 NCS 17 22 25 14 — 78 ECHO 2 17 8 6 — 33 NIXYAAWII — M. Schimmel 29, M. Stewart 12, K. Melton 11, E. Butler 8, L. Moses 5, T. Melton 4, K. Mountain Chief 4, E. Looney 3, T. Van Pelt 2. ECHO — M. Huff 14, T. Skillman 9, R. McCarty 8, L. Cox 2. 3-pointers — NCS 5, ECHO 1. Free throws — NCS 7-13, ECHO 12-25. Fouls — NCS 17, ECHO 12. Staff photo by E.J. Harris Umatilla’s Trent Durfey shoots the ball guarded by Stanfi eld’s Fernando Ramirez in the Vikings’ 80-22 win against the Tigers on Thursday in Umatilla. Chelsea Quaempts (32), of Weston-McE- wen, drives to the basket past Grant- Union’s Alcie Moore during Thurs- day’s non- league game in Athena. Staff photo by Kathy Aney See PREPS/2B ATHENA Prospectors trample TigerScots Grant Union pushes pace, snaps Weston-McEwen’s fi ve-game winning streak By ERIC SINGER East Oregonian ATHENA — The Weston-McEwen girls basketball team goes into each game with a plan to push the tempo against its opponent with the idea of forcing bad decisions that lead to easy offense. That plan was a big reason for Weston-McEwen’s fi ve-game win streak that it rode into Thursday evening’s game with Grant Union. Except in that game, the talented Prospectors, currently ranked No. 5 in Class 2A, used that against them. Grant Union’s full-court press defense Girls Basketball Grant Union Weston-McEwen 92 54 helped force 32 TigerScot turnovers which fed an ultra-effi cient offense that broke the 90-point barrier for the third time this season in a 92-54 victory over the TigerScots. The Prospectors (8-2) had fi ve players fi nish in double fi gures for the game, with Kaylee Wright leading the way with 23 points and Madison McKrola fi nishing with 22 points. Grant Union shot 56 percent from the fi eld for the game (36-of-64). “They were just better than us,” Weston-McEwen coach Mike Giusti said, “and I think everybody under- stands that. They’re (Grant Union) very athletic and simply take advan- tage of that. There were just too many times offensively where we broke down because they rushed us.” Chelsea Quaempts led the Tiger- Scots (6-6) with 18 points, with 10 of those coming from the free throw line. Jordyn Lambert followed with 10 points and Katie Vescio had eight points. The TigerScots shot a paltry 28 percent (19-of-67) from the fl oor, including a multitude of close-range shots that just didn’t seem to bounce favorably on Thursday. “We haven’t been the best shooting team,” Giusti said, “but again we were just rushed all game. We rushed everything on offense tonight.” Weston-McEwen scored the fi rst See TIGERSCOTS/3B Sports shorts Washington State’s defensive coordinator leaving for Ohio State (AP) — Washington State defensive coor- dinator Alex Grinch is leaving the Cougars and joining Ohio State as an assistant, a source told the Associated Press on Thursday. Sports Illustrated fi rst reported Grinch was heading to Ohio State. Grinch, an Ohio native who played at Division III powerhouse Mount Union, has been with Washington State since 2015. The 37-year-old directed a defense ranked 16th in the country in yards Grinch allowed per game (323.3) and 34th in yard per play (5.13) this season. The Cougars ranked second in the Pac-12 in both those categories. Washington State also ranked eighth in the nation in tackles for loss with 103. Grinch is from Grove City, Ohio, just outside of Columbus, where Ohio State is located. “I try to just make sure that I’m in my zone every competition. I’ll always get nervous regardless of how big or small the competition is. I defi nitely feel the energy is different than last year (being an Olympic year).” — Nathan Chen The defending champion, and America’s best hope for a gold medal at the Olympics, said after his winning performance in the short program at the U.S. Figure Skating Championships Williams will not be defending Australian Open title in 2018 (AP) — Serena Williams’ decision not to defend her Australian Open title four months after giving birth to her fi rst child had nothing to do with merely being able to play at Melbourne Park. The seven-time Australian Open champion confi rmed she wouldn’t attempt to defend the title she won here last year, saying she wasn’t convinced she could win it. Williams played in an Williams exhibition tournament last weekend in Abu Dhabi to test her match condition, and indicated after her loss to French Open champion Jelena Ostapenko that she might not travel to Melbourne. Williams was pregnant when she won at Melbourne Park last year, her Open-era record 23rd Grand Slam singles title. THIS DATE IN SPORTS 1999 — Nolan Ryan, George Brett and Robin Yount are voted into the Baseball Hall of Fame, the biggest class of fi rst-time candidates since Babe Ruth and four others were chosen in the original election of 1936. 2013 — Aaron Rodgers connects with an NFL play- off-record 10 receivers as he throws for 274 yards in his fi rst playoff victory at home, leading Green Bay to a 24-10 victory over Minnesota. 2017 — The Columbus Blue Jackets lose 5-0 to the Washington Capitals ending their winning streak at 16 games, one shy of the NHL record. Contact us at 541-966-0838 or sports@eastoregonian.com