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SPORTS THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 22, 2018 1B FOLLOW US ON TWITTER @EOSPORTS HERMISTON Bulldogs sign to play at Carroll White, Hunter the latest Bulldogs to play college football By ALEXIS MANSANAREZ East Oregonian HERMISTON — Playing at the next level wasn’t on Eric White’s mind at the start of his senior season on the Hermiston football team. White was more concerned with whether he would be able to play another quarter after sustaining an injury in the first quarter of the first game of the season. During the 35-21 loss at Union (WA) on Sept. 1, White broke his collar bone and wouldn’t take the field for nearly two months. “There were a lot of times where I thought, ‘Wow, is my last game really going the be the first quarter of my first game my senior year?,’ White said. “But I just kept thinking that maybe if I just keep trying, I (can) get back for maybe just another quarter, and that’s what the goal was to get back just to play one more time.” White made a big enough impression during Herm- iston’s playoff run, which eventually ended with a state championship, to garner the attention of Carroll College. On Tuesday, alongside teammate Tyler Hunter, White signed a Letter of Intent to continue playing football in the fall as a Fighting Saint. It’s not just the athletic program and coaching staff of the six-time NAIA National Football Championships that attracted White. The private Roman Catholic liberal arts college in Helena, Montana has a nationally and regionally recognized pre-med and nursing program, a field of study White will pursue. It also doesn’t hurt that Hunter will be joining him, See BULLDOGS/2B Staff photo by Alexis Mansanarez Tyler Hunter (left) and Eric White (right), in attendance with head coach David Faaeteete, sign their Letters of Intent to continue playing football at Carroll College next year. Winter Olympics US finally gets the gold Women’s College Basketball Ducks set sights on Pac-12 title Oregon in first place as last week of season starts By ANNE M. PETERSON Associated Press AP Photo/Jae C. Hong United States celebrates winning the women’s gold medal hockey game against Canada at the 2018 Winter Olympics in Gang- neung, South Korea, Thursday, Feb. 22, 2018. Americans top Canada in shootout for first gold medal since 1998 By TERESA M. WALKER AP Sports Writer GANGNEUNG, South Korea — The Americans’ gold medal drought in women’s hockey — finally — is over. Even though they needed the first shootout in an Olympic women’s final to do it. Twenty long years after taking gold when the sport debuted in 1998 at Nagano, the United States snapped Canada’s streak of four straight Olympic golds Thursday with a 3-2 shootout victory. Jocelyne Lamoureux-Davidson scored in the sixth round of the shootout to start the Americans piling over the boards, throwing gloves in the air before huddling and hugging on the ice. Gigi Marvin and Amanda Kessel also scored in the shootout. Monique Lamoureux-Morando tied it up with a breakaway with 6:21 left in regulation . Hilary Knight also had a goal. Maddie Rooney made 29 saves for the win against their archrival. Women’s Hockey United States Canada 3 2 on Olympic gold, they ended a skid of five straight against their rival coming into this game, including a 2-1 loss to wrap up pool play a week ago. Marie-Philip Poulin and Haley Irwin each scored goals for Canada. Agosta and Melodie Daoust scored in the shootout. The Americans had been dominating in non-Olympic years, AP Photo/Matt Slocum winning the last four and eight of Members of the Untied States hockey team poses with their gold the last 10 world championships, medals after beating Canada in the women’s gold medal hockey including a 3-2 overtime victory game at the 2018 Winter Olympics in Gangneung, South Korea. over Canada last spring. Their domination on the world The 20-year-old goalie stopped the Canadians snatch gold from the last two Canadian shooters their hands in 2014 at Sochi after stage only made the lack of gold at in the shootout in Brianne Jenner tying it up with 54.6 seconds left the Olympics all the more notice- and then Meghan Agosta on her in regulation and winning 3-2 in able, and Canada has been in their way since losing the inaugural second attempt. overtime. It was sweet redemption for Not only did the Americans gold in Nagano. Canada had won the 10 Americans who watched snap the Canadians’ stranglehold See GOLD/2B As of late Monday night, Oregon coach Kelly Graves wasn’t even sure who the No. 8 Ducks were playing the final week of the regular season. “It’s somewhere down in the desert — and we’ve got more work to do,” he said. The importance of the Pac-12’s final week was certainly not lost on Graves. The Ducks (25-4, 14-2) are in first place in the conference, vying for their first Pac-12 title since the 1999-2000 season. But they’re among four teams are still in contention for the title heading into the last weekend. For the record, Oregon plays at Arizona State on Friday and Arizona on Sunday. A regular season champi- onship — and a good showing in the upcoming Pac-12 tournament — means a great chance that Matthew Knight Arena will host early-round NCAA tournament games. As always at this point in the season, Stanford is up there, too, just one game back of Oregon. The Cardinal (19-9, 13-3) have won the conference’s season title or a share of it for seven of the past 10 seasons. The No. 16 Cardinal visits Washington on Friday and Wash- ington State on Sunday. Tenth-ranked UCLA is coming off a disheartening loss to the Ducks on Monday. The Bruins (21-6, 12-4) erased a 19-point deficit to push Oregon into over- time but ultimately fell 101-94 in a nationally televised game of Top 10 teams. It was the second-straight over- time loss for UCLA, the team also fell 67-64 last Friday to Oregon State. “I actually stole a coach (Kate) Yow quote after the Oregon State game: You can swish your feet in See DUCKS/2B Pac-12 Leaderboard Oregon Stanford UCLA Oregon St Arizona St Conf. 14-2 13-3 12-4 12-4 10-6 Overall 25-4 19-9 21-6 21-6 19-9 Sports shorts Mavs owner Mark Cuban fined $600,000 for tanking comments DALLAS (AP) — The NBA has fined outspoken Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban $600,000 for comments about tanking during a podcast with Hall of Famer Julius Erving. Commissioner Adam Silver said Wednesday the fine was for “public statements detrimental to the NBA.” The podcast with Erving was posted Sunday, the day the All-Star game was played in Los Angeles. Cuban Cuban said during the 30-minute interview that he met recently with some of his players and told them “losing is our best option.” Cuban said he shared the club’s summer plans with the players and “that we’re not going to tank again.” He said by the end of the season, it will be “a year and a half of tanking.” “Putting all four of them into a run is certainly the most challenging thing I’ve ever done.” — David Wise United States freestyle skier said Wednesday after successfully de- fended his gold medal by break- ing through on his final run to give the U.S. its third gold medal in the halfpipe at the Pyeongc- hang Olympics. Condon/Wheeler, Arlington boys fall in Class 1A first round The 2018 OSAA basketball playoffs officially started on Wednesday night with the first round of the Class 1A boys basketball bracket. Two local teams were aiming to start a postseason run, with the Condon/Wheeler Knights hosting the Joseph Eagles and the Arlington Honkers hitting the road to take on Grand View Christian. And both teams came up on the losing end, as the Knights dropped a close one 64-59 to the Eagles, while the Honkers lost 44-34. The Knights’ tremendous season comes to an end with a 17-10 overall record, while the Honkers finish up with a 14-12 overall mark. The second round for 1A continues this weekend, along with the first round for the Class 3A and Class 2A teams. THIS DATE IN SPORTS 1998 — Bjorn Dahlie, the Norwegian cross-country skiing great, extends his Winter Olympics record by picking up his 12th medal, and record eighth gold, in the last race of Nagano the 50-kilometer. 2008 — Lindsey Vonn clinches the World Cup downhill title, becoming the first American woman to claim the crown since Picabo Street in 1996. 2013 — The Chicago Blackhawks sets an NHL record for the best start to a season, beating the San Jose Sharks 2-1 to give them at least one point in their first 17 games. Contact us at 541-966-0838 or sports@eastoregonian.com
