Wednesday, January 19, 2022
A9
SPORTS
Nixyaawii
girls team
rolls past
Wallowa
Chieftain staff
MISSION — Saturday, Jan. 15,
was rough for the Wallowa girls bas-
ketball team.
The Cougars were already down
12 at halftime to Nixyaawii, but the
Golden Eagles poured in 52 sec-
ond-half points on their way to a
78-32 home win.
The Cougars got off to a slow start,
but were still in striking distance at the
break, down 26-14. But Nixyaawii hit
seven second-half 3-pointers and shot
around 70% after the break, Wallowa
head coach Greg Oveson said.
“They scored 10 points in 40 sec-
onds at one time. I have been in about
four or five of these types of games
as a coach,” Oveson said. “Not much
you can do about it. Hopefully our
girls are strong enough to forget this
one and get back to work.”
Sophie Moeller led the Cougars in
scoring with 14 points, and Zoe Her-
mens added five points.
Wallowa (8-6 overall, 2-2 Old
Oregon League) visits Griswold Jan.
22.
The Wallowa boys game at Nixy-
aawii was canceled. A reschedule
date has not yet been set. The Cougar
boys visit Griswold on Jan. 22.
The Wallowa boys and girls home
game against Powder Valley Jan. 21
has been canceled.
Outlaws take down Bobcats
Enterprise girls play
a complete game,
topple Union to
earn key BMC win
By RONALD BOND
Wallowa County Chieftain
ENTERPRISE — The Enter-
prise girls basketball team has
admittedly struggled much of the
season to put together four solid
quarters of basketball.
Saturday, Jan. 15, the Outlaws
finally did, and registered their
biggest win in nearly two years,
fending off Union, 47-39, in a key
Blue Mountain Conference show-
down in Enterprise.
“I think we came out a lot
stronger in the second half (than
in other games),” senior Jada Gray
Ronald Bond/Wallowa County Chieftain
said. “We played a lot smarter,
The Enterprise girls basketball team celebrates following its 47-39 home win over Union Saturday, Jan. 15, 2022.
and we played more as a team.”
The win was the first for Enter-
prise over the Bobcats in nearly doomed them in an earlier contest third quarter, the first three min- ond half.
utes, is really important,” senior
What Union was able to do
three years and proved to the Out- against Union.
laws they have the capability to
offensively in the second half was
“This was a game where, this Rilyn Kirkland said.
win the type of games that have team is ranked top 10, and we’re
Kirkland drained a corner severely limited, and even when
gotten away from them this year not,” head coach Mike Crawford 3-pointer 30 seconds into the third the Bobcats did draw close down
— one where a second-half lapse said. “We’re the underdog.”
for a 29-25 lead, and about two the stretch, Enterprise had an
has cost them a victory. The most
Crawford said he preached to minutes later, Madi Wigen scored answer.
Kaelyn Shoemaker’s field goal
recent example of that was just his team the importance of com- inside to extend the lead to six at
at 2:43 in the third to end the scor-
five days earlier, when Enterprise ing out strong to start the second 31-25.
squandered an 11-point halftime half, which is exactly what the
Meanwhile, the Enterprise ing drought was answered by
lead and had just eight points after Outlaws did.
defense stifled Union on the Wigen on the other end. Audrey
“We have been working really opposite end as the Bobcats didn’t
the break in a 41-34 loss to Stan-
field on Jan. 10, but a similar fate hard to finish the game, and the score for the first 5:17 of the sec-
See Outlaws, Page A10
Evans wins
five matches
and takes third
at Orofino
Ronald Bond/
Wallowa County Chieftain
Chieftain staff
OROFINO, Idaho — Tegan
Evans continued a strong run of
recent success on the mat at the
Maniac Wrestling Tournament in
Orofino, Idaho, on Jan. 14 and 15,
going 5-2 to take third place and
lead Enterprise to a ninth-place fin-
ish. Joseph, meanwhile, took 10th.
The tournament consisted almost
entirely of Idaho schools except for
the Outlaws, Eagles and Clarkston,
Washington.
Evans, wrestling at 145 pounds,
opened with a 14-2 major deci-
sion over M-D’s Ethan Sprague,
and pinned Kelton Allman of St.
Maries. His third match was a loss
by fall to Potlatch’s Avery Palmer.
After a win by forfeit, he pinned
Avery Riggs of McCall-Donnelly
and Connor Gomez of St. Maries,
and dropped his final match to
Diego Deaton of Moscow.
Also taking third for Enterprise
was Gunnar McDowell, going 2-2
at 220. After a loss by fall to Andrew
Alvarez of M-D, he pinned Gran-
geville’s Levi Stowell and earned
a 9-0 major decision over Finnigan
Moon of M-D. He dropped a fourth
match by forfeit.
Pearce Schnetzky (138) won his
first match over Anson Hanes-Miller
of Orofino by fall, then dropped his
last six matches, with the closest a
match a loss to M-D’s Ethen Rob-
erts by a 6-4 sudden victory.
Alex Albanez (132) dropped his
first match by fall to Clarkston’s
Geovanny Alba, won by fall over
Lewiston’s Michael Jenko, then
dropped five more matches — one
by fall, and four by injury forfeit.
Cody Fent also had a day
impacted by forfeits. He opened at
See Wrestling, Page A10
Joseph’s Cooper Nave lines
up a free throw Saturday,
Jan. 15, 2022, in Imbler.
Ronald Bond/Wallowa County Chieftain
Enterprise’s Spencer Decker attempts a layup against Union Saturday, Jan. 15, 2022.
Enterprise rally falls short
By RONALD BOND
Wallowa County Chieftain
ENTERPRISE — The Enter-
prise boys basketball team looked
like it was about to get run out of
the building in its Saturday, Jan. 15,
home matchup against Union.
The Outlaws, though, shook
off the slow start and an early dou-
ble-digit deficit to rally and hang
with the Bobcats before falling
in a Blue Mountain Conference
matchup, 46-36.
“The last two games we’ve done
a great job of getting back into the
game,” head coach Kyle Crawford
said. “We just need to figure out how
to finish on top. It definitely feels
like we’re on the cusp of pulling
it off. As a team we’re really start-
ing to work together and recognize
everyone’s worth. Our rebounds are
up, our offense is becoming more
efficient, and our defense contin-
ues to improve, which has us more
excited then ever to get back out
there and compete.”
Union scored the first seven
points of the contest and ended the
first quarter on a 7-0 run to take a
16-3 lead after one.
But Enterprise rallied on mul-
tiple occasions to get back in the
game, and did so almost immedi-
ately. Spencer Decker, Maclane
Melville and Caden Fent all hit
3-pointers during a second-quar-
ter opening 11-0 run to quickly get
within two at 16-14. The teams
traded points before Union went on
a 9-2 run, capped by a Tee Ledbetter
jumper, to go ahead 27-18 late in the
second before Enterprise got within
27-20 at the half.
The Bobcats again threatened to
pull away early in the third as they
opened up a 31-20 lead, but the Out-
laws staged yet another rally — this
time an 8-0 run. Gideon Gray hit a
jumper and had two free throws to
cut the margin to seven. Dylan Jen-
nings then drove for a layup, and
Jackson Decker converted a layup
to make it a three-point game with
3:03 remaining in the third. After
Union scored, another Decker layup
brought Enterprise within 33-30
after three quarters.
Ledbetter and Jackson Decker
exchanged field goals early in the
fourth, and Enterprise had several
opportunities to get even closer
than three before Union put the
game out of reach with a 7-0 run,
going up 42-32 on Bo Ledbetter’s
3-pointer with 3:35 to play. The
Outlaws got no closer than eight
the rest of the way.
Gray and Jackson Decker each
had eight points for the Outlaws, and
Spencer Decker had seven points.
Tee Ledbetter led all scorers with
26 points for Union.
Enterprise (2-12 overall, 0-4
BMC) visits Heppner on Jan. 21
and Stanfield on Jan. 22. Its Jan.
18 game against Pilot Rock was
canceled.
Friday, Jan. 14
Weston-McEwen 63, Enter-
prise 48: On Jan. 14, Enterprise
was in a similar situation, fall-
ing behind early and closing in on
Weston-McEwen before the Tiger-
Scots took control and wrapped up
a 63-48 victory.
The Outlaws trailed 13-4 after
one quarter, but found a rhythm and
scored 16 points in the second to
pull within 26-20 at the break.
The TigerScots doubled the lead
to 12 after three quarters at 48-36,
netting 22 points in the quarter, and
added on in the fourth for the win.
Gideon Gray was the lead-
ing scorer for the Outlaws with 16
points, including 11 in the second
half. Chase Duncan added eight
points and both Jackson Decker and
Caden Fent had seven points.
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Joseph
girls slip
by Imbler
Chieftain staff
IMBLER — The Joseph
girls basketball team spent
most of their Saturday, Jan.
15, contest at Imbler trying
to rally.
But every time the Eagles
closed in, or evened the score
as they did several times in
the second half, the Panthers
responded to regain the lead.
That
trend
finally
changed in the fourth quar-
ter, when the Eagles took the
lead for good with 4:31 to
play and held on for a 32-29
victory over the Panthers in
an Old Oregon League con-
test in Imbler.
“I thought our girls
fought hard to fight back
from the early deficit,” head
coach Lance Homan said.
Twice in the third quar-
ter, Joseph — which trailed
19-15 at halftime — tied the
score, at 19-19 and at 23-23.
Both
times,
Imbler
scored, and was able to go
into the fourth ahead 25-23
before regaining the four-
point margin after a field
goal by Paiten Braseth.
See Joseph, Page A10