A18
Sports
wallowa.com
February 7, 2018
Outlaw boys gun down
Elgin, Union; girls split
Wallowa County Chieftain
Joseph cagers
overpower
Pine Eagle
By Stephen Tool
By Steve Tool
Wallowa County Chieftain
Wallowa County Chieftain
The Outlaw boys came
into their own Feb. 2-3, notch-
ing two consecutive wins on
their six-shooters while the
girls defeated Elgin but fell to
27th-ranked Union.
The boys knocked the Hus-
kies into the doghouse with a
54-45 win that saw a dead-even
first half at 22. Second half, the
Outlaws began to pull away
leading by as much as 13, 43-30,
by the end of the third quarter.
The Huskies pulled to within
six points in the final period, but
the Outlaws had them fully col-
lared at the buzzer.
Brett Greenshields had an
amazing game. Literally unstop-
pable, he fired in 18 points for
the Outlaws while point guard
Trent Walker notched 10 and
Rylie Hayward dropped in for
nine.
The following day saw the
boys win a 66-64 shootout with
Union behind the stellar shoot-
ing of Jimmy Wells with 27
points. Greenshields played
another outstanding game, nail-
ing the bucket for 15 points
while Walker donated 14 to the
Outlaw cause.
“It was a real shootout,”
Coach Larry Wells said. “We’re
not used to being north of 45 or
50 points.”
He also noted that Union put
up a stiff struggle with one of
its players scoring 35 against
the Outlaws’ generally stellar
defense.
“You could tell by the way
they celebrated down court that
it doesn’t happen all that often,”
Wells said of the Bobcats. He
estimated that Union shot above
60 percent from the three-point
zone in the first half.
The boys have a 2-4 league
record and currently hold fourth
place.
The ladies had a tough
time putting the Huskies away
despite strong performances
from Ashlyn and Riley Gray,
Steve Tool/Chieftain
Gassett for the lay-up. Lexie
Gassett scored two on this
play, helping the Outlaws
on to a 52-44 win over Elgin
last Friday night.
To win the game
while Elgin had
such an edge in free
throws is really an
accomplishment.”
Steve Tool/Chieftain
Looking for the open man -- Enterprise Outlaws post Brett
Greenshields looks to make a play during the Outlaws’ 54-
45 win at home over Elgin on Friday, Feb. 2. The Outlaws also
won their game the following night in a wild 66-64 shootout at
Union.
— Mike Crawford
Girls basketball coach
who both shot at least 50 per-
cent from the floor while the
combined team effort showed
only 33 percent from the floor.
Some of that can be
explained by lackadaisical
shooting efforts, but the girls
also fell prey to, and were frus-
trated by, questionable offici-
ating, judging by the crowd’s
reaction. Elgin scored 18 of
their points on free throws, of
which they were awarded 35 on
22 fouls charged to the Outlaws.
EHS was awarded only
four. An Enterprise player was
charged with a foul on nearly
every Elgin possession.
Nonetheless, the girls kept
their nose to the grindstone and
their far superior talent allowed
them to win the game going
away, 52-44.
“To win the game while
Elgin had such an edge in free
throws is really an accom-
plishment,” said coach Mike
Crawford.
To show the disparity, the
Eagles made more than 20 shots
from the field while Elgin had
only 11.
The Feb. 3 game against
Union saw the probably
exhausted Outlaws team go
down in what appears a snooze-
fest, 35-28. Neither team scored
in the fourth quarter, according
to the stats.
“I’m a lot surprised,” Craw-
ford said. “It was not a very
good outing for us. You have to
make shots to win games.”
The team only shot 22 per-
cent from the field with Karli
Bedard leading the way with
eight points and 43 percent
shooting. Her nearest Outlaw
competitor shot only 33 per-
cent. “It wasn’t our day, but
I’m betting we’ll bounce back,”
Crawford said.
Riley Gray and Gracie
Carlsen added seven points
each to the Outlaws total. The
ladies are still in second place
with a 9-3 league record.
The Pine Eagle Spartans made a Feb. 3 trip to Joseph
and left winless. Although the boys gave the Eagles some-
thing to think about, the girls barely escaped with their
lives.
The Joseph girls played their bench much of the game,
but it had little effect on the massacre of the Spartans who,
at the bottom end of a 67-28 score, were as badly beaten as
their namesakes at the Battle of Leuctra.
“It was good,” said Coach Lance Homan. “Our defense
is getting better and better. It’s fun to watch our defense
evolve.”
Homan particularly noted the play of up-and-comer
Madelyn Nelson who sank five shots from outside the
paint, scoring 20 points total.
“She’s really been coming along at practice,” he said.
It’s really good to see.” The coach added that point guard
Sabrina Albee came on strong in the second half. He had
nothing but praise for his team in general:
“They pass the ball around and share and cheer each
other on,” he said. “They create turnovers and play hard.
This is a fun group of girls to be around.”
Albee scored 16 for the Eagles while Alexis Sykora
nailed 13 and Haley Miller knocked in 10.
The Eagles are third in the Old Oregon League with a
9-3 record and ranked fifth in the state.
The boys had no such easy time of it. Their game was
touch and go from the very start although much of the
Eagles’ issues stemmed from an ability to find the bucket
and a lack of hustle getting upcourt on possession changes.
Senior Eagle Jean Luc Palma had no such issues. The
best sixth man and pound-for-pound the best defensive
player in the league was all over the court, causing numer-
ous turnovers and scoring clutch points, particularly down
the home stretch when the Eagles needed every resource
they had to finally put the Spartans away, 51-46.
The Spartans were up by as much as seven in the sec-
ond quarter, before the Eagles revved up the engines and
managed to tie the score at 22 by the halftime mark. The
Eagles were up by seven midway through the third quar-
ter, but the Spartans doggedly fought, and with five min-
utes remaining in the contest, the Eagles were only up by
two, 40-38, and the Spartans were up by one after a three-
pointer and up by two a minute later, 44-42.
A three-pointer by Tyler Homan put the Eagles up for
good. Palma forced two turnovers in the remaining time,
giving the Eagles room to breathe while scoring points of
his own.
Coach Olan Fulfer said the Eagles needed that type of
game to stay sharp and not underestimate opponents.
“In the first quarter, we only shot seven percent from
the floor,” he said. “It was bad. It keeps happening, but
we’re going to keep working and hope we peak at the right
time going into District. We have to be ready for every-
body’s best shot.”
Chase Murray led the charge with 13 points while
Palma and Caevan Murray bagged 11 each. Homan con-
tributed five to the Eagle effort.
Cougar boys best Leopards, move to 11-10 for the season
A depleted Wallowa Cougar
boys’ basketball team gave the
Joseph Eagles all they could
handle on Jan. 23 coming up on
the short end of a 48-59 score.
Cougar starting point guard
Ryan Hafer got sick in the
locker room during the third
quarter of the girls game.
The Cougars were also with-
out starting guard Chance
Goebel who was still nursing a
sprained ankle.
Starting post Wyatt Prince
was only about 70 percent as
he had just come to school on
game day from being out sick
for a couple of days. That
forced Coach David Howe to
scramble to come up with a
starting rotation. The Cougars
started two freshmen, Mason
Moore and Tristin Bales, one
a first-year player and a senior
(Bales) and the other a junior.
“Although my senior and
junior are pretty good players,”
said Howe.
Christopher Nobles led
the scoring with 14, followed
by Sam Hilliard with 12 and
Wyatt Prince with 11.
CALL Jeff Courtney 541-379-6400
ĂĀĉċĈąăċĆĆĈĈƫħƫāċĉĀĀċĈćĊċĆćĆą
ĂĂĀăƫāć 0$ ƫ2!
!3%/0+*Čƫ ƫĉăĆĀā
SERVICE HOURS: MON-FRI 7 am – 5:30 pm SAT 8 am – 5 pm SALES HOURS: MON-FRI 8:30 am – 6:30 pm SAT 9 am – 6 pm SUN 10:30 am – 5:30
pm
“Junior Zane Mallory
played some good minutes and
got a couple of big baskets for
us and Freddy DeVore, another
freshman, filled his roll,” Howe
said.
The Cougars traveled to
Helix Jan. 24 to take on the
Grizzlies of Griswold. The
Cougars started out slow in a
very physical and brutal game
but came out on top 49-36 of
a very improved Griswold
squad. Sam Hilliard went off
for 28 points.
The Cougars hosted the
Spartans from Pine Eagle
Jan. 25, again coming out on
top 54-37. Apparently Hil-
liard enjoyed scoring so much
on Friday that he repeated his
performance with 34 points
against the Spartans.
He was followed by Chris-
topher Nobles with nine points.
Wallowa faced Cove Feb.
3. Previous games with Cove
and have been close with Cove
coming out on top.
This game was close for
most of the contest. Wallowa
threatened to blow the game
open several times, but Cove
battled back. Cove tied the
game at 30 going into the 4th
quarter; however, the Cougars
outscored the Leopards 10-7 in
the final quarter preserving a
40-37 win.
“We didn’t play very well,
we committed 28 turnovers,
several were unforced,” Howe
said. “To our credit, we stayed
in there and fought until the
end to preserve the win.”
Leading scorers for Wal-
lowa were Nobles 13, Bales 13,
and Hilliard 12.
The Cougars will be in
action again on Friday at home
versus Echo. The Friday night
game will be senior night and
the “blackout” game.
The action brought Wal-
lowa to 11-10 overall and 6-6
in league.
“The players continue to
work hard in practice and con-
tinue to improve every time we
play,” Howe said. “Our play-
ers are starting to believe, so
we could be a tough out by the
time districts roll around in a
couple of weeks.”
The Wallowa varisty girls
team lost to Cove, 38-48 and
stand at 5-16 overall and 3-9 in
league play.
Riley Gray
This week’s athlete of the week is Enterprise High School
basketball player Riley Gray. The Outlaws senior played a stellar
role in the EHS 52-44 win over Elgin on Friday, Feb. 2.
While most of the rest of her team’s shooting percentage was
at or well below 33 percent, Gray shot 50 percent, 8-16 from
the field, for a team-leading 16 points.
Gray also competes in volleyball and track for the
Outlaws and is a presence on
the school’s honor roll.
Proudly Sponsored By:
Eastern Oregon’s Full Service Propane Supplier
201 E. Hwy 82, Enterprise
541-426-0320
www.edstaub.com