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About East Oregonian : E.O. (Pendleton, OR) 1888-current | View Entire Issue (Feb. 27, 2019)
E AST O REGONIAN WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 27, 2019 FOLLOW US ON TWITTER @EOSPORTS | FACEBOOK.COM/EOSPORTS B1 Weather wreaking havoc for Pendleton teams With game canceled, Pendleton girls will be the IMC’s No. 2 seed in the state playoffs By ANNIE FOWLER East Oregonian Pendleton coach Kevin Porter would rather have had his team decide the top two seeds from the Intermountain Conference on the court, but Mother Nature had the last say Tuesday night. “Absolutely. No question about it,” said Porter, whose team was scheduled to play at Redmond on Wednesday in the girls IMC title game. “It’s weird, we cruise through all of November, Decem- ber and January, and February decides to go all winter on us. Red- mond has no school tomorrow, so there is no game.” The Redmond girls, based on their conference record and state ranking, will be the IMC’s top seed, with the Bucks No. 2. “For the all the people who wanted to play this game, I was at the top of the list,” Porter said. “This changes everything. With the rankings, we likely will be the No. 16 seed and have to play No. 1.” With a two-hour delay to the start of school Wednesday, and a glance at the road reports, Porter had an inkling his game would not be played. “As a farmer, I watch the weather all the time, but not much in the winter,” Porter said. “When you look at Trip Check, the roads (to Redmond) look like you are in the Antarctic.” The Pendleton boys are are scheduled to play at Hood River Valley on Wednesday. So far, that game appears to be a go. Because there is no time to play consolation games, it has been determined that Ridgeview would be the No. 3 seed for the girls, while The Dalles will be the No. 3 seed for the boys. “It’s crazy with the weather,” Pendleton Athletic Director Troy Jerome said. “When I left school, Redmond had 24 inches of snow. I talked to both ADs and it didn’t look good. It has been a miserable two weeks trying to fi gure this out. Safety comes fi rst.” The cancellation of the girls Nixyaawii on a win streak Golden Eagles open play today against Horizon Christian By ANNIE FOWLER East Oregonian The Nixyaawii boys are making a return trip to the 1A state basketball tournament, armed with experience and riding a nine-game win streak. “We are as good as anybody left,” Nixyaawii coach Shane Rivera said. “We can be beat, but I like our chances. We play well, we have a good chance of winning.” The Golden Eagles (25-2) will open play at 3:15 p.m. Wednesday against Horizon Chris- tian (19-6) at Baker High School. “We play summer league basketball, so we have seen them,” Rivera said of the Hawks. “We have an idea of what they do. I have tape on every- one but them, but they are similar to us in that they are guard oriented. There are no 6-4 or 6-5 guys, so it will not be a throw it into the post kind of game.” Nixyaawii went 0-2 at state last year, but Rivera said his team is a more experienced squad this time around. “We bring back almost all the kids from last year,” he said. “We have some experience and I feel like we are playing well and peaking right now.” The Golden Eagles are led by 6-foot junior guard Mick Schimmel, who is averaging 18 points per game. He has a good support- ing cast in sophomores Tyasin Burns and Moses Moses, junior Quanah Picard and senior Deven Barkley, who all chip in an average of 10 points a game. “Moses comes off the bench for us,” Rivera said. “He had 18 points in a playoff game. We are pretty well-rounded, and that’s nice to have. If you overplay Mick, we have more than enough guys to fi ll in the blanks. For two game fi t into the plan that the IMC athletic directors devised on Tuesday. Now, they await the outcome of the boys title game, but the sce- nario for the Pendleton boys is pretty cut and dried. As the No. 1 seed, they would host LaSalle on Friday. Should they end up No. 2, they would be the No. 10 seed and would play at No. 7 Parkrose (Portland) on Friday. “Cross your fi ngers we can squeeze out of here tomorrow and get that game played,” Pendleton boys coach Zach Dong said. Heppner girls back for more playoff action The Mustangs will compete in the 2A state tournament for the second year in a row By BRETT KANE East Oregonian Staff photo by E.J. Harris Nixyaawii’s Tyasin Burns drives past St. Paul’s T.J. Crawford in the Golden Eagles’ 73-54 win over the Buckaroos on Feb. 22 in Pendleton. IF YOU GO Nixyaawii vs. Horizon Christian 3:15 p.m. Wednesday Baker High School Admission: $8 adults/$5 students years, he had to carry the load. He has sacrifi ced for the team, which in the long run has benefi tted us.” Nixyaawii did its best to put together a tough schedule this season. They played 2A and 3A teams, and even went up against two-time defend- ing Washington 2B state champion Kittitas and its star player, Brock Ravet, who has signed to play at Gonzaga University. The Golden Eagles’ two losses are to 3A Uma- tilla (38-25) and Kittitas (92-53), which was their last loss. “I feel if we play Uma- tilla again, we might get them,” Rivera said. “Kit- titas, that is a whole other monster.” Should Nixyaawii get past Horizon Chris- tian on Wednesday, they would get the winner of the Sherman-Prairie City game. The Huskies (24-3) won the 2016-17 state titles, while the Panthers (25-2) were the state run- ner-up last year to Pacifi c. “I think the tournament is very balanced,” Rivera said. “They each come with matchup problems. We can dribble, shoot and pass better than most. I think we’ll be OK.” In the other fi rst- round matchups, Trin- ity Lutheran plays Triad, and Days Creek takes on Damascus Christian. Last year, the Heppner girls fell just short of taking the state title, with a 62-46 semifi nals loss to Grant Union. This year, they hope to take it even farther. The No. 1 Mustangs (18-8, 9-4 BMC) punched their ticket to state after beating Grant Union 62-57 and claiming the Blue Mountain Conference title two weeks ago. On Thursday, they’ll play a quar- terfi nals game against the Central Valley Conference’s No. 2 Oak- land Oakers. Heppner is currently ranked No. 6 in the OSAA’s 2A division, while Oakland (24-3, 13-1 CVC) holds the No. 3 seed. “They’re a tough team,” Mus- tangs coach Robert Wilson said. “They’re really disciplined, and play great together.” Wilson said he saw the Oakers in action last season during their state fi nals run at the Pendleton Convention Center. “I haven’t seen much of them this year, but I know they’re returning a lot of key players, so I’m expecting a similar team to what I saw last season,” he said. The Mustangs have a couple stars of their own on their roster: sophomore forward Sydney Wil- son, who averages 22 points per game, and senior guard Jacee Cur- rin, who averages 16. “Jacee is our leader,” Wilson said. “She’s a four-year starter. She handles the ball and the pressure well when the other teams are try- ing to slow us down and stop us.” This season is Wilson’s second as a starter for the Mustangs. “Sydney is a good all-around player,” Wilson said. “She puts herself in the right place at the right time, whether it’s shooting or stealing.” See Heppner, Page B2 SPORTS SHORTS Claressa Shields in another boxing fi rst NEW YORK (AP) — Claressa Shields is partici- pating in another fi rst for women’s boxing. The two-time Olympic gold medalist and Christina Hammer will be featured in “All Access” episodes on Showtime Sports’ social media platforms. Showtime announced on Tuesday that the episodes will premiere March 29 and April 5 on SHO Sports YouTube and Facebook pages. Shields and Hammer will fi ght for the undis- puted middleweight championship on April 13, broadcast live on Showtime from New Jersey. The episodes will show Shields preparing at the U.S. Olympic Training Center in Colorado and Hammer training in Austria. Shields (8-0, 2 KOs) and Hammer (24-0, 11 KOs) were supposed to fi ght Nov. 17, but Ham- mer postponed it because of illness. Showtime Sports President Stephen Espi- noza says the fi ght highlights “two of the elite athletes in boxing” in the network’s 10th wom- en’s bout since 2017. Undefeat- ed women’s middleweight world champion Claressa Shields, second from left, and her world champion opponent Chris- tina Hammer, right, will fi ght April 13. AP Photo/Bebeto Matthews
