Image provided by: University of Oregon Libraries; Eugene, OR
About East Oregonian : E.O. (Pendleton, OR) 1888-current | View Entire Issue (March 1, 2019)
E AST O REGONIAN Friday, March 1, 2019 FOLLOW US ON TWITTER @EOSPORTS | FACEBOOK.COM/EOSPORTS B1 Mustangs charge past Oakers and toward the 2A semifinals 2A STATE HOOPS Red-hot Coquille cruises past Grant Union heppner girls take down Oakland in 2A quarterfinals defending boys champ columbia christian posts big win over Kennedy By BRETT KANE East Oregonian I t may have taken them a quar- ter to get going, but once they did, there was no stopping the Mustangs. On Thursday night, the hep- pner girls broke away from Oak- land’s grasp in the second quarter to run away with the 2A quarterfinals, 48-39. “When we play hard and as a team, good things will happen,” said coach robert Wilson. “it comes down to all the little things that we do as a team that helps us compete with these state-qualifying teams.” Oakers senior hadley Brooksby knocked down two straight buckets in the first quarter to claim the lead before heppner senior Jacee cur- rin and sophomore Madison ash- beck scored a basket each to take the game back. Oakers senior cassidy Jones would knot the score again twice, and Brooksby returned with another basket to keep Oakland ahead 9-7 at the end of the quarter. “We saw Oakland play last year, and had a pretty good idea of the abilities of their returning girls,” Wilson said. “They’re a great team. We knew what No. 11 (Brooksby) could do.” heppner senior Madison combe and sophomore Syndey Wilson quickly remedied their team’s defi- cit in quarter two, combining for six points to put the Mustangs out front again. The Oakers didn’t manage a score until 4:47, after which Syd- ney Wilson sunk four more points, and knocked down a 3-pointer with 1:41 left in the half before the Mus- tangs took a 22-15 advantage into the locker room. “Sydney’s fearless, and it showed tonight,” coach Wilson said. “She’s aggressive on offense, and that helps the others get good looks at the net.” Sydney Wilson and currin took care of 12 of heppner’s 14 points in the third quarter, and the Oak- ers were held away from the net for nearly 4 1/2 minutes. Oakland pulled together just seven points before the end of the quarter, five of which came from junior Gabby Parnell. “Our coach told us to slow down and keep the pace of the game,” Syndey Wilson said. “They got By ANNIE FOWLER East Oregonian Morgan Baird poured in 22 points and hauled down nine rebounds to lead coquille to a 54-36 victory on Thursday over Grant Union in the quar- terfinals of the 2A state basket- ball tournament at the Pendle- ton convention center. The red devils (26-1), who have won 15 games in a row, will play Kennedy at 6:30 p.m. in Friday’s semifinals. The Tro- jans beat central Linn 39-31. The Prospectors (18-6) will play central Linn at 9 a.m. in a loser-out game at Pendleton high School. The red devils, who have played in the 3a state tourna- ment the past three years, fin- ishing fifth or better, made a big splash in their Pendleton debut. coquille led 25-22 at the half, then used a 17-5 third-quarter outburst to take control of the game. Baird, the Sunset confer- ence Player of the year, scored eight of her points in the fourth quarter as coquille outscored the Prospectors 12-9. See 2A hoops, Page B2 Staff photo by E.J. Harris Heppner’s Sydney Wilson shoots the ball in front of Oakland’s Hadley Brooksby in the Mustangs’ 48-39 win against the Oakers on Thursday in Pendleton. tired, and we came out hot. We held them off.” a trey from Brooksby at 3:59 in the final quarter pulled the Oakers within 10 points of heppner, and she would do it again at the line with just 1:01 left to go. Oakers senior Grace Wit- ten wrapped the game up with a 3-pointer to chip their deficit to just nine, but heppner held them off in the final seconds to punch their ticket to the semifinals. See Mustangs, Page B2 Irrigon, Umatilla have first-team players By ANNIE FOWLER East Oregonian irrigon senior ana Zacarias was named to the Eastern Oregon League first team, and freshman JaLay Burns to the second as the all-league selections were announced this week. Zacarias averaged 13.8 points and three steals per game for the Knights (12-11). Burns averaged 13.3 points and 3.2 assists per game. Sophomore allie hueckman of Burns was named MVP, and hilanders coach Earl Garcia Zacarias Brandon McMullen took the coaching award. Also named to the first team were Gra- cee Jacobs and Matyson Siddoway from Vale, Shai Skinner of Burns, and Samantha Moore of Nyssa. For the boys, Umatilla junior andrew Earl and senior Uriel Garcia were named to the EOL first team, while senior Trent durfey was named to the second team. riverside sophomore Francisco Barajas was named to the second team, as was irri- gon senior Keith Fleming. Rounding out the first team are Omar Jaquez of Nyssa, Kade haueter of Vale, and dakota ceja of Burns. Nyssa junior Pedro chavez was named MVP, while Bulldogs coach aaron Mills took the coaching award. Staff photo by Kathy Aney Abby Lusco, of Grant Union, goes up for a shot as Coquille’s Maya Salazar defends during Thursday’s state quarterfinal game at the Pendleton Conven- tion Center. EASTERN OREGON LEAGUE SELECTIONS Girls First Team Allie Hueckman, so., Burns, Gracee Jacobs, sr., Vale; Ana Zacarias, sr., Irrigon; Shai Skinner, sr., Burns; Samantha Moore, sr., Nyssa; Matyson Siddoway, so., Vale. Second Team JaLay Burns, fr., Irrigon; Aundraya Ceja, so., Burns; Faith Rose, sr., Riverside; Taylor Durfee, fr., Umatilla; Alexia Arredondo, sr., Nyssa; McKenzie Hoyt, sr., Burns; Emersyn Johnson, so., Vale. Honorable Mention Brendy Avalos, sr., Riverside; Mileah Skunkcap, sr., Burns; Madyson Hartley, sr., Nyssa; Kyla Wright, sr., Vale; Hailey Cas- tro, so., Nyssa. Boys First team Pedro Chavez, jr., Nyssa; Omar Jaquez, sr., Nyssa, Andrew Earl, jr., Umatilla; Uriel Garcia, sr., Umatilla; Kade Haueter, sr., Vale; Dakota Ceja, jr., Burns. Second Team Zane Taylor, sr., Burns; Francisco Barajas, so., Riverside; Agus- tin Trujillo, sr., Nyssa; Tanner Hamilton, sr., Vale; Trent Durfey, sr., Umatilla; Keith Flemming, sr., Irrigon. SPORTS SHORTS Jones can fight at UFC 235 despite new drug test woes (aP) — Light heavyweight cham- pion Jon Jones will be allowed to fight at UFc 235 on Saturday despite two recent drug tests showing traces of a steroid metabolite. The Nevada State athletic com- mission announced the findings on Thursday and affirmed its belief that the tests do not reflect new drug use by the UFc star. The commission believes the two positive tests conducted Feb. 14 and 15 uncovered residual results from the drug intake that resulted in a 15-month suspension for Jones in 2017. Tiny amounts of the same metabolite have periodically appeared in several tests taken by Jones since then. Jones has denied ever know- ingly taking performance-enhancing drugs. Jones received a one-fight license from the commission last month to face anthony Smith this weekend. AP Photo/John Locher, File In this Jan. 31, 2019, file photo, light heavyweight champion Jon Jones attends a news conference for the UFC 235 mixed martial arts event in Las Vegas.