SPORTS
WEEKEND, MARCH 24-25 2018
1B
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ALL-AREA GIRLS BASKETBALL
McGlothan’s passion runs deep
Season Superlatives
Pendleton’s Kalan
McGlothan is
the 2018 All-EO
Player of the Year
Top team: Nixyaawii
Golden Eagles
Nixyaawii put together their
second straight undefeated regular
season and bumped its win streak up
to 56 games dating back to March of
2016. However, the streak stopped at
56 as the Golden Eagles were upset
by Country Christian in the Class 1A
championship game 56-54. But with
the fantastic four seniors of Mary
Stewart, Milan Schimmel, Kaitlynn
Melton and EllaMae Looney, the
Golden Eagles still won 28 games
on the season, won 16 times by at
least 40 points, and scored 2,074
total points — the most in the entire
OSAA for a girls basketball team.
By ERIC SINGER
East Oregonian
When Kalan McGlothan
moved to Pendleton in middle
school, she was eager to dive
in to the world of athletics.
Up to that point she had
limited playing experience
in organized sports while
attending a small Christian
school in the town of
Christmas Valley in rural
central Oregon, as the school
didn’t have much for a
basketball program. McGlo-
than was tall for her age,
which made her basketball
coach’s dream. But she was
also “awkward and didn’t
know what I was doing,”
McGlothan described.
It was then when
McGlothan latched on to
a middle school basketball
team coached by the name
of Kevin Porter — now the
head varsity girls basketball
coach at Pendleton High —
and started to discover her
passion for the sport.
It was that passion that
helped push McGlothan to
a successful high school
basketball career, becoming
a three-time all-Columbia
River Conference selection,
an all-state honoree, the 2018
Columbia River Conference
Player of the Year and now
the 2018 East Oregonian
All-Area Girls Basketball
Player of the Year.
“For some reason, there’s
just that passion that I
always want to be playing
basketball,” McGlothan said
in a recent interview with the
East Oregonian. “I want to
chase after those loose balls,
out-jump girls that are taller
than me, I just love it and I
was born with it.”
Standing 5-feet and
9-inches tall and playing
inside the paint as a post
player, McGlothan is rarely,
if ever, the tallest forward
on the floor. Yet, that never
stopped her from perhaps
being the hardest working
player on the floor at any
given night. McGlothen
often bullied her way through
opponents’ box-out attempts
to grab rebound after
rebound, she would dive on
the hardwood floor for steals
and loose balls, and fought
through contact for well-de-
served two-point baskets.
For the season, McGlo-
See ALL-AREA/3B
Top newcomer: Sydney
Wilson, Heppner, fr.
Wilson was a dynamic player
for the Mustangs this season,
quickly becoming one of the top
scorers, rebounders and defenders
on the team and earning a first
team all-conference selection. And
doing so as a freshman was quite
impressive.
Wilson was a key part of
the Mustangs squad that upset
Weston-McEwen to win the district
championship and earned a trip to
the state tournament, where she
continued to show her potential
against some of the top players and
teams in the state.
Top games: (Tie)
Riverside-Nyssa; Weston-
McEwen-Culver, Feb. 10
Staff photo by E.J. Harris
Pendleton senior Kalan McGlothan has been named the All-EO girls basketball player of the year.
ALL-AREA FIRST TEAM
Two games with similar endings
in both teams’ regular season finales.
For Riverside, the Pirates had a 15-8
overall record and welcomed the
league No. 1 Nyssa to their home
gym wanting to end the season on a
high note — which they did. Battling
all game long, Riverside shocked
Nyssa 34-33 when Alondra Caldera
banked in a 3-pointer at the buzzer to
give the Pirates the victory.
For Weston-McEwen, the
game with Culver on Feb. 10 was
a tiebreaker to decide the regular
season league champion and which
team would receive the No. 1 seed
at the district tournament. Tied
47-47 with only seconds left on the
scoreboard, the TigerScots put up
a shot as the clock ticked away and
missed, but Jordyn Lambert got the
rebound and putback at the buzzer.
It gave the TigerScots the 49-47 win
and the CBC championship.
Coach of the Year:
Robert Wilson, Heppner
G
G
G
G
C
Mary Stewart, sr.
Nixyaawii
Milan Schimmel, sr.
Nixyaawii
Jada Burns, sr.
Irrigon
Jazlyn Romero, so.
Hermiston
Jordan Thomas, jr.
Hermiston
HERMISTON
In Bulldog versus
Bulldog, Hermiston
comes out on top
Almaguer throws her first career
shutout as Hermiston tops Pasco
By ALEXIS MANSANAREZ
East Oregonian
HERMISTON — This time last season, the Herm-
iston softball team had more losses then wins and
would go on to win only two of its
Softball next five games after the opening
week.
This season, the Bulldogs
handily move to 3-0 after a 16-run
Pasco (WA)
shutout victory over Pasco (WA)
on Friday.
“It’s exciting,” head coach
Kate Greenough said. “They are
working so hard and I think now
everybody gets a chance to see
Hermiston
that. They are doing all of the little
things right right now so regardless
of whether that game is close or
not, they did what they needed to
do when they needed to do it and that’s exciting. It’s
showing growth and showing maturity.”
Hermiston was just coming off a game that was
0
16
See HERMISTON/3B
Wilson’s first year as Heppner
coach, the Mustangs were 2-19
overall and 0-10 in the conference.
This season the Mustangs were a
16-win team that won the district
championship and secured its first
playoff berth since the 2012-13
season, won a first-round playoff
game and earned a trip to the state
tournament. Job well done.
Prep Roundup
Dawgs rebound to thump Pacers 13-3
Schwirse pitches
five strong innings
East Oregonian
HERMISTON
—
In
Wednesday’s game, the Herm-
iston baseball team fell behind
early and needed a comeback
to win but instead fell just
short.
“One thing I stressed was
to not dig ourselves into a hole
like we have the last couple
of games,” head coach Kevin
Moore said.
On Friday afternoon’s
non-league game against
Lakeridge, the Bulldogs made
sure they wouldn’t need to
orchestrate a comeback to earn
a victory, scoring 13 runs in the
first two innings for an easy
13-3 victory.
Along with the runs, the
Bulldogs (2-1) had the benefit
of a terrific outing from starting
pitcher Caden Schwirse. The
senior right-hander gave up
just six hits and three runs in
five innings with two strikeout
and one walk.
Staff photo by E.J. Harris
Hermiston’s Wyatt Noland slides safely into home after colliding with both Lakeridge
pitch Spencer Santana (3) and catcher Trent Allen in the Bulldogs’ 13-3 win against
the Pacers on Friday in Hermiston.
“Caden pitched to contact
and positive things happened,”
Moore said.
Wyatt Noland led the
Bulldogs’ offense by going
2-for-4 with one run and one
RBI. Joey Gutierrez also had a
strong game going 1-for-3 with
one run and two RBI, while
Joel Mendez scored three runs.
————
R H E
LHS
100 11 —
3 6 8
HHS
850 0X — 13 6 1
(L) S. Santana, C. Clayton (2). (H) C.
Schwirse. W — Schwirse, L — Santana.
See PREP ROUNDUP/4B