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Saturday, February 20, 2021
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B1
COLLEGE BASKETBALL
Kispert leads
No. 1 Gonzaga
past Saint
Mary’s, 87-65
By NICHOLAS K. GERANIOS
Associated Press
SPOKaNe, Wash. — Gonzaga is
undefeated and has been ranked No. 1
all season. Coach Mark Few wants to
put that in some perspective.
“this isn’t the most physically
imposing squad we’ve marched out
there,” Few said, noting the 2017 team
that reached the NCaa championship
game was bigger and the 2019 team
may have had more gifted athletes.
“This is a team. They move it and
share it. Our offensive numbers are
reflecting that,” Few said. “It’s some-
thing to behold if you ask me.”
Corey Kispert scored 20 points,
Joel ayayi added 16 and Gonzaga beat
cold-shooting Saint Mary’s 87-65 on
Thursday night, Feb. 18, extending the
nation’s longest winning streak to 25
games over the past two seasons.
drew timme scored 12 points to
help Gonzaga (21-0, 12-0 West Coast)
extend its home winning streak to
48 games and wrap up the confer-
ence regular-season title. Fans were
allowed at a Gonzaga home game for
the first time this season and a few
dozen family members of players
were in the stands.
“We’re really playing tough, hard-
nosed, attentive defense,” Few said.
Ayayi made four of five from
3-point range. “I love that Joel was
hunting his 3 a little bit more today,”
Few said.
the Zags looked better than in the
first game at Saint Mary’s, when they
trailed after 11 minutes and finished
with a season-low 73 points.
“We delivered against their physi-
cality better than we did down at their
place,” Few said.
Judah brown scored 16 points,
and Logan Johnson had 13 for Saint
Mary’s (11-7, 2-5). the Gaels are typi-
cally one of Gonzaga’s arch-rivals, but
See Gonzaga, Page B2
Ben Lonergan/East Oregonian
Megan Burchard kicks a soccer ball during a Blue Mountain Community College soccer practice at the college on Friday, Feb. 19, 2021.
A PACK MENTALITY
BMCC athletes
ready for seasons
to begin April 1
By COREY KIRK
Baker City Herald
ENDLETON — After nearly a year of
the COVID-19 pandemic, April 1 is the
date circled on calendars for athletes
and coaches from blue Mountain
Community College and other teams in the east
region of the Northwest athletic Conference.
that’s when competition between teams in
that region is slated to begin.
Member schools have been proceeding
through the conference’s reentry phase this
winter, and Marco azurdia, the conference’s
executive director, said he understands that for
P
some students, athletics is a key part of their
college experience.
“For them to not have that opportunity to
compete and to take classes online has been a
huge obstacle in terms of keeping student-ath-
letes engaged,” azurdia said. “Keeping them
engaged so that they can get the most important
thing, and that’s their education.”
at blue Mountain, athletes began a two-week
quarantine on Jan. 4 as part of the reentry proce-
dure.
Jordan Hillmick, women’s head soccer coach
for the Timberwolves and Blue Mountain’s
sports information director, said the process
went well.
“It’s actually gone really successful, they did
the two-week quarantine, all the athletes did
an amazing job being able to work and under-
stand,” Hillmick said.
Since the pandemic put sports on hold back
in March 2020, NWAC schools have been rely-
ing on state guidelines. the conference has
STAYING CAUGHT UP
Schedules and other information for
the Timberwolves are available at www.
bmcctimberwolves.com.
For more information involving NWAC and
its “Return to Play,” protocols, go to www.
nwacsports.org.
member schools in Oregon, Washington and
Idaho.
Hillmick credits the conference, the Oregon
Health Authority and Gov. Kate Brown’s office
for providing direction.
“We were working hand-in-hand with OHa,
the Governor’s Office, making sure our guide-
lines and our protocols here at the school, as
well as the NWAC office did an amazing job
See BMCC, Page B2
Frontier Conference modifies schedule for remaining teams
Montana tech,
Montana Western
opt out of 2021
spring season
East Oregonian
WHIteFISH, Mont. — the
Frontier Conference is revamping
its 2021 spring football schedule
— again.
Montana tech and Montana
Western announced on tuesday,
Feb. 16, that they would be opting
out of the conference spring foot-
ball season.
“a s t h e p a n d e m ic h a s
progressed, the health and safety
of our student-athletes has always
been our No. 1 priority,” Montana
Western director of athletics bill
Wilson said in a media release. “as
each week has passed, it became
La Grande Observer, File
Eastern Oregon will start the 2021 spring football season with a bye week
and will not step on the gridiron until March 20, when it will host Carroll
College at Community Stadium in La Grande.
increasingly clear to us that
moving forward with the confer-
ence football schedule was going
to be very difficult at best. With
scheduled games taking place as
early as March, we had to make
this very difficult decision.”
tech and Western join Southern
Oregon University in opting out of
competing in the modified spring
schedule. Five Frontier Confer-
ence schools — eastern Oregon
University, College of Idaho,
Carroll College, MSu-Northern
and rocky Mountain College —
have committed to play a spring
schedule.
“We cer tainly k now that
these tough decisions by the
three member institutions have
been well thought out,” Frontier
Conference Commissioner Kent
Paulson told MontanaSports.com.
“The league is most appreciative
that this decision has been made
now so that the rest of the Frontier
Conference member teams will
be able to know what the modified
schedule looks like. teams can
adjust travel plans, and coaches
and student-athletes will have a
definitive direction as we move
forward in preparation for the
upcoming conference season.”
the new schedule has the
season now starting on March 13,
and will go five weeks. Each team
will get a bye week and will play
a pair of home and away games,
respectively. Eastern Oregon will
start the season with a bye week
and will not step on the gridiron
until March 20, when it will host
Carroll College at Community
Stadium in La Grande.
the following week, eOu hits
the road to face rocky Mountain
College on March 27. the second
home game for the Mounties will
be on April 3 when they host long-
time rival College of Idaho for
Senior Day. The final game of the
regular season has eOu playing at
MSu-Northern on april 10.
Kickoff is set for 1 p.m. local
time for all games.
SPORTS SHORT
Daytona 500 win lands McDowell more sponsorship money
Associated Press
daytONa beaCH, Fla. —
daytona 500 winner Michael
Mcdowell was rewarded on Friday,
Feb. 19, with a sponsorship increase
from CarParts.com.
the online parts sales company
was already part of Mcdowell’s
program at Front row Motor-
sports, but was still working on its
2021 budget when the NaSCar
season began on Sunday, Feb. 14,
with the daytona 500. Mcdowell
earned his first victory in 358 Cup
races by overcoming 100-1 odds in
winning NaSCar’s biggest race.
CarParts.com will be Mcdow-
ell’s primary sponsor on the No. 34
Ford at Watkins Glen, Indianapolis,
at Mcdowell’s return to daytona
in August and finally at Las Vegas
Motor Speedway in September. Las
Vegas is a playoff race, the only one
open for sponsorship in FrM’s
inventory. The company will also
be an associate sponsor all season.
“the story of Michael Mcdow-
ell winning the daytona 500
mirrors CarParts.com’s story. both
of us were building a really strong
foundation under the radar,” said
Houman Akhavan, chief marketing
officer. “Both of us were building
great teams.”
The company received a market-
ing boost in summer 2020 when it
bought bubba Wallace’s bumper
after Mcdowell and Wallace had an
incident at bristol. Wallace had left
the bumper at Mcdowell’s hauler
and CarParts.com auctioned it for
charity donations.
the daytona 500 was the third
victory in Front Row Racing’s
history. The team still has five
races for Mcdowell open for spon-
sorship.
Michael McDowell crosses the finish line ahead of Austin Dillon to
win the NASCAR Daytona 500 auto race at Daytona International
Speedway on Monday, Feb. 15, 2021, in Daytona Beach, Fla.
John Raoux/Associated Press