SPORTS
TUESDAY, MARCH 6, 2018
1B
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Prep Basketball
Knights
bring
home a
trophy
Irigon claims sixth
place in Class 3A
East Oregonian
Staff photo by E.J. Harris
Nixyaawii coach Jeremy Maddern consoles Kaitlynn Melton after the Golden Eagles’ 56-54 loss to Country Christian on Saturday at the
state 1A girls championship game in Baker City.
Dream season slips away
Country Christian stuns Nixyaawii to claim state title and halt win streak
By ERIC SINGER
East Oregonian
Class 1A Championship
BAKER CITY — With three
minutes left, the scoreboard inside
Baker High School’s gymnasium
read Nixyaawii 54, Country Chris-
tian 46. After a back-and-forth
game, the Nixyaawii Golden Eagles
had momentum on their side and
were creeping closer and closer to a
second straight unbeaten season and
state championship.
However, with 2:50 left on the
clock, everything changed.
Nixyaawii senior do-it-all guard
Milan Schimmel picked up her fifth
foul while going for a steal and was
forced to sit the remainder of the
game. That play alone appeared
to suck the momentum from the
Golden Eagles and into the Cougars’
favor, and they pounced.
Country Christian outscored
the Golden Eagles 10-0 in the final
two minutes and 34 seconds to stun
the Golden Eagles 56-54 to win
the Class 1A state championship
on Saturday afternoon. It was the
Cougars’ second championship in
three years, previously winning in
2016. And it marked the first loss for
Nixyaawii
Country Christian
54
56
Nixy-
aawii’s
Mary
Stewart
(13) passes
the ball
to Ermia
Butler in
the Golden
Eagles’
56-54 loss
to Country
Christian
on Satur-
day at the
state 1A
girls cham-
pionship
game in
Baker City.
the 2017 champion Golden Eagles
in two years, having won 56 consec-
utive games coming into Saturday’s
matchup.
“I don’t know if anything
went wrong, really, they (Country
Christian) just played really well,”
Nixyaawii coach Jeremy Maddern
said afterward. “It was a high-level
game and it was back-and-forth. But
obviously Milan going out in the
fourth hurt, because we had a lead
there and we have those two guards
(with Mary Stewart) that we’re able
to kill a lot of clock and muscle into
possessions ... So I don’t want to
say we did bad things, they did good
things. It was just a high-quality
game that they (Country Christian)
played better.”
After Schimmel was sent to the
Golden Eagle (28-1) bench, the
Cougars defense was keying on
Staff photo by
E.J. Harris
See NIXYAAWII/2B
COOS BAY — In the
consolation finals at the Class
3A state tournament, the No.
8 Irrigon Knights had to face
No. 6 Cascade Christian. At
first, Irrigon had the advantage,
going up 11-7 after the opening
quarter. But the Challengers
put together back-to-back
quarters where they held the
Knights to only 20 points while
scoring 34 of their own.
In the second quarter,
Cascade Christian chipped
away at its deficit to enter
the half just one point behind
Irrigon.
Then, in the third quarter
the Challengers exploded and
their efforts led to a 55-45
victory to claim fourth place.
Irrigon brought home the sixth
place trophy in Class 3A, its
first trophy since moving to 3A
last season and the first since
the 2A state championship in
2015.
Cascade Christian was
led by Joel McLemore, who
finished with a game-high 24
points.
The Challengers (20-10)
shot 40 percent from the field
and banked more than half of
their free throw attempts.
For the Knights (22-6),
Eric Carillo finished with 13
points and Johnny Phillips
followed with 12 points and 10
rebounds. Keith Fleming also
had a solid game with seven
points and 10 rebounds. Adrian
Roa also led the team with five
assists.
Irrigon finished 43 percent
from the field and only hit
3-of-13 3-pointers.
THURSTON 58, PEND-
LETON 40 — The Pendleton
Buckaroos season came to an
end on the road Saturday with
a 58-40 to Thurston in a Class
5A first round playoff game.
The Colts move on to face
Mountain View in the quar-
terfinals. The Bucks finished
15-11 overall.
Women’s College Basketball
Oregon tops Stanford for first-ever Pac-12 title
By TIM BOOTH
AP Sports Writer
SEATTLE — All day
long, Oregon coach Kelly
Graves noticed something a
little different about Pac-12
player of the year Sabrina
Ionescu. It wasn’t something
that could be defined, just
something the coach noticed
about his star player.
“She had a different look
about her,” Graves said. “I
didn’t know what that was
going to translate to.”
heading into
N o w
PAC-12
the upcoming
Graves knows
NCAA tourna-
what that look
ment. Ionescu
meant.
Oregon
was the star,
I o n e s c u Stanford
scored
a
as the Ducks
career-high 36
(30-4) avenged
points and No.
one of their
6 Oregon won its first Pac-12 two regular season losses in
Conference tournament title conference play.
beating No. 16 Stanford
Ionescu was brilliant
77-57 on Sunday night.
early, scoring 12 points in the
Playing in their first first quarter, and took over
conference tournament final, late in the third quarter as
the Ducks looked every bit Oregon held a double-digit
the part of a premier team lead most of the second half.
57
77
Ionescu scored 19 points in
the second half.
“It was the Ionescu show
today,” Stanford coach Tara
VanDerveer said.
A year ago, Oregon
was the surprise of the
NCAA tournament making
an unexpected run to the
regional final before falling
to UConn. Now they’ll go
into the tourney as one of the
favorites.
Ionescu is a big reason
See OREGON/2B
AP Photo/Elaine Thompson
Confetti rains down as Oregon players hold the cham-
pionship trophy after beating Stanford in an NCAA col-
lege basketball game in the finals of the Pac-12 Confer-
ence women’s tournament on Sunday in Seattle.
Sports shorts
Mariners lose OF Ben Gamel for
4-6 weeks with strained oblique
PEORIA, Ariz. (AP) — The injuries continue
to mount for the Seattle Mariners, who will be
without outfielder Ben Gamel for four to six
weeks due to a strained right oblique muscle.
The Mariners were hopeful that
Gamel would miss only a few days
but an MRI revealed a more exten-
sive injury after it was reviewed by
team physicians. Gamel first felt
the injury after batting practice late
last week.
Gamel
Gamel is added to a growing
list of ailments for the Mariners.
Seattle has already seen first baseman Ryon
Healy (hand), outfielder Mitch Haniger (hand)
and pitcher Felix Hernandez (bruised forearm)
slowed by injuries during spring training.
Outfielder Guillermo Heredia is also still
recovering from offseason shoulder surgery,
leaving Seattle thin at the position.
“I can’t really put it into
words given the tough
times over the last four
years, and the struggle
to get here, and knowing
that I was able to compete
at this level but not doing
it. To finally break
through and to have this
validation means a lot to
me.”
— Phil Mickelson
The 47-year-old pro golfer beat
Justin Thomas in a playoff to win
the Mexico Championship on
Sunday, ending a drought of 102
tournaments without a victory, the
longest of his career.
Lillard scores 39 as Blazers
come back to beat Lakers
LOS ANGELES (AP) — Damian Lillard
scored 19 of his 39 points in the fourth quarter
and the Portland Trail Blazers won their 15th
consecutive game over the Los
Angeles Lakers, 108-103 on
Monday night.
Lillard scored 15 in a row
for the Trail Blazers down the
stretch, giving them a 104-103
with 1:08 remaining by knowing
down 1 of 2 free throws.
CJ McCollum had 22 points, and Jusuf
Nurkic added 16 points and 16 rebounds.
Julius Randle had 21 points and nine
rebounds for the Lakers, who had their
five-game winning streak ended. Kentavious
Caldwell-Pope had 16 points, and Lonzo Ball
had 10 points, two rebounds and two assists.
Lillard was 5 of 7 from the floor and 4 of 5
from 3-point range in the fourth quarter.
THIS DATE IN SPORTS
1982 — The San Antonio
Spurs and Milwaukee Bucks
combine for 337 points in the
highest-scoring game in NBA
history, to that point. The Spurs
win 171-166 in three OT.
1996 — Detroit’s Chris
Osgood becomes the third
goalie in NHL history to score
a goal, firing the puck into an
empty net with 11 seconds
remaining in the Red Wings’
4-2 victory over Hartford.
2014 — The Los Angeles
Clippers rout the Los Angeles
Lakers 142-94. It’s the most
lopsided victory for the
Clippers’ franchise and the
most one-sided loss in Lakers
history.
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