Wednesday, December 8, 2021
A7
SPORTS
KICKING OFF THE
SEASON IN STYLE
Enterprise has
two winners in
kickoff wrestling
tournament
By RONALD BOND
Wallowa County Chieftain
E
NTERPRISE
—
The Enterprise Out-
laws had two indi-
vidual champions at
their home Kickoff
wrestling tournament to start the
season.
Cody Fent rallied from a defi -
cit to claim the 170-pound title
while Gabby Delapena won all
four of her matches by fall to
claim the girls 135-pound title to
lead the Enterprise eff ort Friday,
Dec. 3.
“I thought Friday was abso-
lutely outstanding for our kids,”
EHS head coach Court Fent said.
“They all came out a bit nervous
since it was the fi rst tournament
of the year, however, I thought
their performance was outstand-
ing. They worked on things we
had worked on a couple weeks
in practice. They came out in
the end very confi dent in their
ability.”
Delapena was nothing short
of dominant for the Outlaws. The
lone girl in the program pinned
all four of her opponents and only
once was forced to go past the
fi rst round. She defeated Baker’s
Lilly Collins by fall in 2:31, fol-
lowed that with a pin of Melany
Bombela in just 1:43, then in her
third match needed just 15 sec-
onds to pin Dayana Sepulveda of
Riverside. In her fi nal match —
each of the girls’ weight classes
and a handful of the boys’ were
done in a round-robin format —
she pinned Shelby Elliot of Riv-
erside in just 1:15.
“I guess just not being too ner-
vous, doesn’t matter how tall they
are, how much they weigh, if
See Wrestling, Page A9
Ronald Bond/Wallowa County Chieftain
Enterprise’s Cody Fent, front, wrestles against Riverside’s Chris Kent in the 170-pound fi nal of the Enterprise Kickoff Friday, Dec. 3, 2021.
Ronald Bond/Wallowa County Chieftain
Ronald Bond/Wallowa County Chieftain
Enterprise’s Gabby Delapena, top, won all four of her matches by fall to
win the girls 135-pound title at the Enterprise Kickoff Friday, Dec. 3, 2021.
Joseph’s Gavin Russell, top, took third at 160 pounds to lead the Eagles’
eff ort at the Enterprise Kickoff Friday, Dec. 3, 2021.
Joseph girls rally to win home opener
Wallowa girls go
1-1 on weekend;
Enterprise
drops two
By RONALD BOND
Wallowa County Chieftain
JOSEPH — The Joseph
girls basketball team picked
up its fi rst win Saturday,
Dec. 4, in comeback fash-
ion, rallying in the fourth
quarter for a 51-48 home
win over South Wasco
County.
The Eagles saw a 32-24
halftime lead vanish, and
fell behind after three quar-
ters, 40-38.
Joseph rallied behind
Aimee Meyers, who scored
18 points to share game-
high honors with teammate
Cooper Nave. Meyers had
seven of her points in the
fi nal quarter, including hit-
ting fi ve free throws in the
period to help push Joseph
over the top.
Joseph as a team was
7-for-12 from the free-throw
line in the fourth.
“I was extremely proud
of how our girls handled
themselves,” head coach
Lance Homan said. “They
stuck together, picked each
other up, and grinded out a
victory. We had Abby (Orr)
and Cooper foul out in the
last quarter and we were
able to utilize other kids
that haven’t been in that sit-
uation, and they did great.
Overall it was a great team
eff ort and a very hard fought
win for sure.”
The Eagles opened up
their eight-point halftime
margin thanks in large part to
Nave, who went off to score
10 points in the fi rst quarter,
and 16 in the opening half.
Meyers had 10 points in the
second as Joseph doubled
its margin from 14-10 to the
eight-point halftime gap.
Sarah Orr added eight
points for the Eagles (1-1
overall), who play Adrian,
Jordan Valley and Tri-Val-
ley, Idaho, next Thursday
through Saturday at the Cal-
vin Hiatt Memorial Tourna-
ment in North Powder.
Also Saturday
Jordan Valley 58, Wal-
lowa 27: The Wallowa Cou-
gars girls basketball team
wrapped up their opening
week 1-2 with a loss at Jor-
dan Valley on Saturday, Dec.
4, 58-27.
The Mustangs broke the
game open early as they built
a nine-point lead after one,
pulled ahead to a 30-13 lead
at the break and added on
from there.
“They’re solid,” said
Wallowa head coach Greg
Oveson, noting his team was
within about four in the sec-
ond quarter before the Mus-
tangs took off . “Their post
play is solid. Their out-
side shooters, they’re good.
They’re aggressive, they’re
physical, they’re a pretty
solid team. The second quar-
ter, we played pretty well
against them for about six
minutes.”
Abby Straight turned in
her best scoring eff ort of the
young season, as the fresh-
man scored six points in the
See Girls, Page A9
Joseph boys open with a pair of losses
Wallowa,
Enterprise
also drop
weekend pair
By RONALD BOND
Wallowa County Chieftain
JOSEPH — The Joseph
boys basketball team cut a
14-point halftime defi cit in
half against South Wasco
County on Saturday, Dec. 4,
but a 3-pointer by the Red-
sides stopped the rally, as
they went on to win 65-33
over the Eagles.
Joseph head coach Olan
Fulfer, though, said his
team’s play was improved
over Friday’s loss to Crane.
“There’s a lot of things
that we did that showed
fl ashes of good potential,”
he said.
The opening weekend
was a winless one for the
Eagles, but Fulfer said after
Saturday’s game there were
things to build on.
“Our goal is to be com-
petitive at the end of the sea-
son,” he said. “We showed
fl ashes the last two games.
It was nice. The teams we
played showed us a lot of
weaknesses that we have to
fi x to be competitive against
good teams. ... It’s not going
to all happen all at one.”
The Eagles trailed against
South Wasco County at
halftime, 33-19, but started
the second half strong to get
within seven, Fulfer said.
But the Redsides fi n-
ished the quarter strong to
go ahead after three, 50-28,
and added on in the fourth.
Chase Homan led the
Eagles with 12 points, and
Hayden Hite added eight
points.
“Chase Homan and
Hayden Hite, I feel like
today, they played really
well with staying aggres-
sive, doing exactly what we
were working on,” Fulfer
said.
Joseph (0-2 overall)
plays next weekend at the
Calvin Hiatt Memorial Bas-
ketball Tournament in North
Powder, and faces Adrian
on Thursday, Jordan Valley
ADVERTISE TODAY in Wallowa County’s only newspaper!
Call Jennifer Cooney today at 541-805-9630 to place your ad
on Friday and Tri-Valley,
Idaho, on Saturday.
Also Saturday
Jordan Valley 45, Wal-
lowa 18: The Wallowa boys
basketball team dropped to
0-3 on the young season
with a loss at Jordan Valley
Saturday, Dec. 4, 45-18, but
did turn in their best defen-
sive eff ort of the season.
Jordan Valley opened up
a 20-point halftime lead,
31-11, but the Cougars held
them to just 14 points in the
second half.
Head coach Deon Chan-
dler said he is already seek-
ing marked improvement
from his Cougars.
“As long as we improve
every game, that’s what
I want to see,” he said.
“Every game they play with
big hearts, (and) haven’t
given up one game yet.”
Isaac Barnum was the
Cougars’ leading scorer
with 10 points, including
eight in the fi rst half.
“We had some kids really
See Boys, Page A9