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Craig Mitchelldyer/Associated Press
Portland Trail Blazers forward Carmelo Anthony, left, and
Phoenix Suns forward Dario Saric vie for a rebound during
the second half of an NBA basketball game in Portland on
Thursday, March 11, 2021.
Devin Booker scores
35 points, Suns beat
Trail Blazers 127-121
By ANNE M. PETERSON
Associated Press
Ben Lonergan/East Oregonian
Hermiston’s Jayden Ray, left, Jizelle Gonzalez and Sydney Seavert pose for a portrait at Kennison Field in Hermiston on
Wednesday, March 10, 2021.
Learning curve
Hermiston girls soccer
team has put lessons
learned to good use
during undefeated start
to season
By ANNIE FOWLER
East Oregonian
HERMISTON — Twenty-five goals
scored in five games.
The Hermiston girls soccer team
did not score that many goals the past
two years combined in the Mid-Co-
lumbia Conference, but the Bulldogs
did learn valuable lessons from their
new conference members in Washing-
ton.
“I feel like playing against the MCC
in all sports has helped us,” said senior
team co-captain Jayden Ray. “They
have some legit teams. We have grown
as a team and players the past two
years. It has shown us our faults and
where we can be better.”
The Bulldogs will try to run their
record to 6-0 on Saturday, March 13,
when Hood River Valley visits Kenni-
son Field.
The Bulldogs (5-0) have been
putting their lessons learned to good
use this season, albeit with a make-
shift schedule with games against their
former Oregon foes, and two upcom-
ing games against MCC partners
Chiawana and Walla Walla.
“I’m excited to play them,” Ray said
of the Oregon teams. “I like playing the
teams I did when I was a freshman — a
little reminiscing — but also being able
to put our team to the test.”
A poll of this year’s opponents
would have the Bulldogs heading back
to the MCC.
The Bulldogs beat former Columbia
River Conference rival Pendleton 7-0
in their season opener, then trounced
Umatilla 7-0. They followed with a 5-0
win over The Dalles, then rallied for a
2-1 win over Hood River. Hermiston
beat The Dalles again, this time 4-1,
on Thursday, March 11.
“It’s a game changer,” Hermiston
coach Freddy Guizar said. “You go
from pushing and being hard on them,
and now you can sit back and enjoy it.
I have a big smile from ear to ear that
the culture and family bond we wanted
is here. I have learned as much from
the girls as they have from me. I am
improving as much as they are.”
It was Hermiston’s first win over
Hood River in recent memory. The
teams tied three times (2013, 2015,
2017) in the past eight years.
See Soccer, Page B2
NCAA rules panel recommends
change to shorten overtime games
The NCAA Football
Rules Committee is
recommending a slight
change to overtime rules
By ERIC OLSON
AP College Football Writer
INDIANAPOLIS — The NCAA
Football Rules Committee on Friday,
March 12, recommended a slight
change to overtime rules that would
require a team to try a two-point
conversion after a touchdown when
a game reaches the second overtime
instead of the third.
The committee also addressed the
problem of teams faking injuries to
slow an opponent’s momentum and
blocking below the waist, among
other areas.
Changes must be approved by
the NCAA Playing Rules Oversight
Panel, which is scheduled to discuss
football rules recommendations April
22.
The over time recommenda-
tion was based on player safety
and intended to reduce the number
of plays it takes for a winner to be
determined. National coordinator of
officials Steve Shaw said overtime
games add an average of 16.4 plays
to a contest.
The new rule would have teams
run alternating two-point plays in
the third overtime instead of start-
ing another drive at the opponent’s
25-yard line. Alternating two-point
plays currently start in the fifth over-
time.
Teams could still choose whether
to kick the point after touchdown or
run a two-point conversion play in the
first overtime.
The committee has discussed the
issue of faking injuries in recent years
and now is proposing that a school or
conference be allowed to ask Shaw
for a postgame video review about
See NCAA, Page B2
PORTLAND — Devin
Booker returned from the
knee injury that kept him out
of the All-Star Game to score
35 points and the Phoenix Suns
beat the Portland Trail Blazers
127-121 on Thursday night,
March 11, for their fifth straight
victory.
Chris Paul added 19 points
for Phoenix, and Mikal Bridges
scored 16 of his 18 points in the
first half. Second in the NBA
behind the Utah Jazz, the Suns
have won 17 of their last 20
games.
It was Booker’s 100th
career game with 30 or more
points. Paul, who didn’t think
Booker would play on March
11, called it “smooth.”
Phoenix outscored the Blaz-
ers 37-27 in the final period.
“I think we had some good
energy going into the fourth
quarter,” Booker said. “We
were really animated in the
huddle right before the fourth
quarter. I was saying ‘This is
winning time, time to lock in.’
That’s what we did.”
Damian Lillard had 30
points for Portland, and Enes
Kanter added 16 points and 11
rebounds. They had won three
in a row.
The Suns trailed by 11
points in the third quarter,
but pulled to 96-95 early in
the fourth on Abdel Nader’s
3-pointer. Cameron Payne
followed up with a 3 of his own
to put Phoenix in front.
Paul’s 3 stretched the Suns’
lead to 104-99 with 7:44 left.
Booker added another with
five minutes to go that made it
114-104 and Portland couldn’t
catch up.
Booker did not play in the
All-Star Game on Sunday
night, March 7, because of a
sprained left knee, which he
injured in the Suns’ 120-98
victory at home over Golden
State.
“He comes out focused on
the task at hand,” Payne said.
“It’s amazing to watch — even
as a teammate — to see him get
going.”
Booker was fouled late in
the fourth quarter against the
Blazers and came up limping
after falling to the floor, but he
remained in the game. Suns
coach Monty Williams said
that Booker “seemed OK,”
following the game.
“That’s part of the game,”
Booker said afterward. “That’s
what comes with it.”
Portland led by as many as
13 points in the opening half,
but the teams went to the break
tied at 60.
Williams said he was
impressed with his team’s
steadiness throughout the
game.
“I thought we grew tonight
in our emotional stamina,
especially on the road against
a good team,” Williams said.
It was the second of three
games between the teams this
season. The Suns won the first,
132-100 in Phoenix last month.
“We played them better this
time than last time, which was
encouraging,” Blazers coach
Terry Stotts said. “We’ll see
what happens next time.”
The teams played in Port-
land on March 10 of last
year, the last game for both
teams before the league was
suspended by coronavirus
concerns. The Blazers won
127-117.
Tip ins
Suns: Stotts praised Paul in
his pregame chat with report-
ers, saying he has shown this
year and last year in Oklahoma
City what a great player he is. ...
The Suns had seven players in
double figures.
Trail Blazers: The Blaz-
ers wore their gray and black
Nike “earned” jerseys for
the first time. The “earned”
jerseys went to teams who
made the 2020 playoffs. ...
Kanter leads the Blazers with
21 double-doubles this season.
Booker’s 30+
The NBA said Booker, at 24
years and 132 days, is the eighth
youngest player in history to
reach 100 games with 30 or
more points. The only younger
players were LeBron James —
who was a day shy of his 22nd
birthday when he reached
the milestone — along with
Kevin Durant, Bob McAdoo,
Carmelo Anthony, Oscar
Robertson, Shaquille O’Neal
and Michael Jordan.
Up next
Suns: Host Indiana on
Saturday night, March 13.
Trail Blazers: At Minnesota
on March 13 and Sunday night,
March 14.
SPORTS SHORT
Russian folk song rejected as substitute Olympic anthem
By GRAHAM DUNBAR
Associated Press
GENEVA — Russia’s wish to use
a patriotic Soviet-era folk song as a
replacement anthem for the Tokyo
Olympics was rejected by the Court of
Arbitration for Sport on Friday, March
12, in further fallout from a years-long
doping scandal.
The court said its panel of three
judges was asked to clarify what music
it would allow within the two-year
ban on Russia’s team name, flag and
national anthem from Olympics and
world championships imposed in
December 2020.
Russian officials proposed the
“Katyusha” song, which is strongly
identified with the fight against Nazi
Germany in World War II.
“The CAS panel considers that ‘any
anthem linked to Russia’ extends to
any song associated with, or with links
to, Russia, which would include Katy-
usha,” the court said in a statement to
The Associated Press.
It is unclear which piece of music
Russian Olympic officials could
propose in consultation with the Inter-
national Olympic Committee.
Russia will compete in Tokyo and
next year’s Winter Olympics in Beijing
as “ROC,” an acronym for the Russian
Olympic Committee.
The CAS judges’ ruling in Decem-
ber 2020 settled Russia’s long-running
dispute with the World Anti-Doping
Agency over a state-backed doping
program and cover-ups.
The IOC asked the Russian Olym-
pic body last month to submit an alter-
native piece of music for use at medal
ceremonies.
Similar restrictions apply to world
championship events in Olympic
sports, and most governing bodies
have played their own anthems for
Russian athletes and teams.
A piece of music by 19th-century
Russian composer Pyotr Tchaikovsky
was approved by the International
Skating Union for its world champi-
onships.
Eugene Hoshiko/Associated Press
A man and a woman stand with the backdrop of the
Olympic rings floating in the water in the Odaiba section
in Tokyo on Wednesday, March 3, 2021.