SPORTS
Wallowa.com
Wednesday, February 23, 2022
A9
Eagles take down Imbler again
Joseph breaks
game open
in second,
third quarters,
wins 40-28
By RONALD BOND
Wallowa County Chieftain
BAKER CITY — The
Joseph Eagles girls bas-
ketball team moved on to
the semifinals of the Old
Oregon League District
Tournament.
Aimee Meyers scored a
game-high 19 points, Coo-
per Nave added 11, and the
Eagles took control in the
second quarter and cruised
to a 40-28 win over the
Imbler Panthers Thursday,
Feb. 17, in a second-round
game.
Joseph head coach Lance
Homan said a key in the win
was putting pressure on the
Panthers at the top of their
offense. It worked, as the
Eagles forced 27 Imbler
turnovers and collected 15
steals.
“Just trying to pressure
up front,” he said. “It’s eas-
ier to make the pass if you
have all the room in the
Davis Carbaugh/The Observer
Wallowa’s Libby Fisher looks for an open teammate during a
matchup against Elgin in the quarterfinals of the Old Oregon
League district tournament at Baker High School on Thursday,
Feb. 17, 2022. The Cougars defeated the Huskies 28-18 to
advance to the semifinals.
Ronald Bond/Wallowa County Chieftain
Joseph’s Maggie Miller dribbles up-court following an Eagles’ steal during an Old Oregon
League District Tournament game Thursday, Feb. 17, 2022, in Baker City. Joseph defeated
Imbler, 40-28.
world, so we wanted our
guards to pressure harder
up front and allow our kids
underneath to have more
time to get in position. I
thought they did that well.”
Joseph grabbed the lead
for good midway through
the second quarter, with
Meyers scoring 10 of the
team’s 14 points and paving
the way. The sophomore’s
layup put Joseph up 10-8
afternoon. Imbler knocked
the ball away from Joseph
near midcourt in the clos-
ing seconds, but Mey-
ers grabbed the ball, took
a quick peek at the clock,
dribbled once and put up a
running 3 from the top of
the key, which banked in at
the buzzer for a 19-10 lead
at the break.
with 4:22 in the half, and
a 3-point play just 47 sec-
onds later extended the lead
to five.
“That pressure did bother
us more today than I think I
anticipated,” Panthers’ head
coach Darci Sweet said.
Nave buried a 17-foot
jumper that made it 16-10,
and a last-second play
seemed to give an indica-
tion it would be the Eagles’
See Girls, Page A15
Third-quarter barrage boosts Joseph boys past Imbler
a run of 14 straight Joseph
points. After a free throw
from Imbler temporarily
halted the bleeding, Nelson
capped the run with a cor-
ner 3 as the buzzer sounded
for an insurmountable
50-27 advantage.
“That’s what was excit-
ing — that’s the team that
I see in practice,” Fulfer
said. “That’s our potential,
and that’s our best quarter,
and that was the kids finally
trusting each other, play-
ing locked in, and playing
smart and focused.”
The lead reached as
much as 26 points — the
final margin — in the fourth
quarter.
Imbler head coach Tony
Haddock described the third
quarter as an avalanche
with shots starting to fall
for Joseph, the Eagles hav-
ing an energy the Panthers
didn’t match and the shots
Imbler took not falling.
“They’re really good,
once they see the ball go
in a few times they’re even
tougher,” Haddock said,
calling the third quarter
“brutal” for his team. “We
Eagles roll thanks
to strong third
quarter, rout
Panthers 60-34
By RONALD BOND
Wallowa County Chieftain
BAKER CITY — The
Joseph Eagles boys bas-
ketball team was not about
to let having five play-
ers out due to suspen-
sion stop it from reaching
the semifinals of the Old
Oregon League District
Tournament.
The Eagles used a bal-
anced attack, high energy
and a third-quarter offen-
sive onslaught to break
open their contest with
Imbler as they rolled to a
60-34 victory Thursday,
Feb. 17.
“We started crashing the
boards more, closing out,
and started to trust team-
mates and moving the ball,”
head coach Olan Fulfer
said. “They opened things
up.”
Hayden Hite, who had
13 points to lead the Eagles,
caught fire late in the sec-
Ronald Bond/Wallowa County Chieftain
Joseph’s Reece Nelson fires a 3-pointer during an Old Oregon
League District Tournament game Thursday, Feb. 17, 2022,
in Baker City. Joseph defeated Imbler, 60-34
ond quarter and had 10
in the period to help the
Eagles grab the lead, 26-20,
at the end of a back-and-
forth first half.
In the third quarter,
everyone caught fire.
The Eagles were 10-for-
18 in the third quarter and
drained four 3-pointers, and
dominated the last 4:07,
when a 17-1 run turned
what still was a relatively
close game into a rout.
James Burney spotted up
for a 3-pointer, his second
of the quarter, which put
Joseph ahead 36-26. A bas-
ket inside by Javon Besotes
and a 3-pointer from Storm
Lynch — which came after
he saved possession with an
offensive rebound — made
it 41-26. Besotes scored
two more times, with a steal
and layup pushing the lead
to 19, and Reece Nelson’s
runner in the lane capped
See Boys, Page A15
Wallowa girls outlast
Elgin in defensive battle
Cougars open
district tourney
with low-scoring
28-18 win
By DAVIS CARBAUGH
The Observer
BAKER CITY — It
wasn’t pretty, but the Wal-
lowa Cougars girls basket-
ball team gained a hard-
fought win to keep its
season alive.
The Wallowa girls bas-
ketball team defeated Elgin
28-18 in the quarterfinal
round of the Old Oregon
League tournament Thurs-
day, Feb. 17. The Cougars,
who were led by an effi-
cient showing from sopho-
more Zoe Hermens, capital-
ized on a strong second-half
effort to advance to the
semifinal round.
“We finally got into the
second half where we got
comfortable, spread the
floor out,” Wallowa head
coach Greg Oveson said.
“We did quite a bit of free-
lancing off our offense, and
we started getting some
good looks. We were tak-
ing time off the clock. We
went man-to-man in the
second half. I thought we
did a good job playing
man-to-man.”
The first half was incred-
ibly low scoring, as a com-
bination of strong defense
and baskets not falling led
to a neck-and-neck affair.
The Cougars led just 4-2
after the first quarter and
held a narrow 9-5 lead at
halftime.
“First playoff game for
a lot of our girls,” Oveson
said. “I know they were
a little nervous, and it
showed.”
Things started to move
offensively in the second
half, as both young rosters
began to settle in to the flow
of the game. Elgin came
out with a renewed inten-
sity after struggling to score
in the first half — one in
which they had committed
23 turnovers. The Huskies
scored six straight points
to start the second half and
take an 11-9 lead on a Kylee
Bagett putback.
Bagett scored four of her
team-high seven points in
the third quarter as Elgin
crawled back into the game.
Wallowa responded to the
rally, as Hermens scored
four points of her own. Her
steal and layup put Wallowa
back in front 12-11. The
Cougars’ run reached sev-
en-straight points and they
led 16-11 by the end of the
third quarter.
Hermens finished with
a game-high 11 points
and controlled the tempo
throughout the game for
Wallowa. She came close to
a triple-double, adding nine
rebounds and eight steals.
“Zoe can do that from
time to time, and obviously
our girls, it doesn’t mat-
ter who scores. They’re not
picky,” Oveson said. “I’m
just glad to get the win.”
Wallowa extended its
lead in the fourth quarter
and wore Elgin out with a
fast-paced effort. The final
frame was the highest scor-
ing quarter for both teams,
as the Cougars outscored
the Huskies 12-7.
Bagett hit a big 3-pointer
for Elgin to cut the lead to
23-18 with just 1:23 remain-
ing in the fourth, but Wal-
lowa continued to attack the
basket. The Cougars rattled
off five consecutive points
to close out the game.
TUESDAY, FEB. 15
Eagle girls roll past Cove in rematch; Wallowa boys eliminated
By RONALD BOND
Wallowa County Chieftain
JOSEPH — When the
Joseph and Cove girls bas-
ketball teams met earlier this
season, it took a fourth-quar-
ter rally for the Eagles to
escape with a two-point home
victory.
Joseph had no such prob-
lems Tuesday, Feb. 15, in
the rematch in the first round
of the Old Oregon League
Tournament.
Aimee Meyers scored a
game-high 15 points and had
a hand in every Eagle basket
in the first half, and Joseph
never trailed on the way to a
43-25 victory, sending them
to the second round and send-
ing Cove home.
“I think for us its been a
year of growing with all the
young kids, and the young
kids coming off the bench.
You have to be in situations
to grow and learn and figure
things out,” head coach Lance
Homan said of the improved
play in the rematch. “I think
that’s part of it, and I think
they came in (after) play-
ing better this past Saturday.
They wanted to see what they
could do. They were pretty
motivated today.”
Meyers scored nine first-
half points, and also assisted
on four other first-half field
goals — a pair of baskets by
Cooper Nave and 3-pointers
Ronald Bond/
Wallowa County Chieftain
Ronald Bond/Wallowa County Chieftain
Joseph’s Aimee Meyers dribbles up-court after forcing a turnover during the Eagles’ OOL
District Tournament game Tuesday, Feb. 15, 2022. The Eagles defeated Cove 43-25.
from both Sarah and Abby
Orr. Three times in the open-
ing quarter Meyers collected
a steal and went the other
way for a layup as the Eagles
jumped to a 10-2 lead after
one.
“It’s one of those things
where you have a sopho-
more that you’re telling to
do everything, and so that’s
also part of the learning,”
Homan said of Meyers.
“You’re going to have those
ups and downs. But she’s get-
ting it figured out. We’re bet-
ter when she has the ball. She
can create, she can get to the
line — she gets to the line a
lot — and she passes well.
She sees the floor.”
Abby Orr’s banked-in
3-pointer gave the Eagles
a 19-7 lead with 2:20 in the
half, and the lead held at 19-9
at the break.
“I think our attitudes were
a lot different. We were in a
happier place, and we were
looking forward to having a
fun game,” Meyers said.
The Eagles methodi-
cally added to the lead in
the second half, with Nave’s
3-pointer pushing the lead
to 22-11 at the 5:10 mark of
the third. Joseph never led by
fewer than 11 the rest of the
way, and extended the lead
to 32-15 on another Mey-
ers steal and layup late in
the third quarter. The margin
grew to as much as 20 points
in the fourth quarter.
“I think it was just every-
body working hard to get
open. We always do, but
this game everybody really
looked for their open shots
and worked hard for it.”
The combination of stout
Wallowa’s
Willie
Gibbs
attempts a layup during
the Cougars’ OOL District
Tournament game Tuesday,
Feb. 15, 2022. The Cougars
fell to Pine Eagle 66-28.
defense and missed open
looks by Cove resulted in
the Eagles posting their best
defensive performance of the
season.
Nave added nine points
and Sarah Orr scored eight
points, hitting a pair of
3-pointers in the win.
Cougar boys see season
come to an end
WALLOWA — The Pine
Eagle boys went off offen-
sively and advanced to the
second round of the Old Ore-
gon League Tournament,
draining 10 3-pointers and
never trailing in a 66-28 rout
of Wallowa, bringing an end
to the Cougars’ season.
The Spartans opened the
game on a 12-1 run and hit
a pair of 3-pointers in that
opening 4:33 before Wal-
lowa’s Malichi Wilson con-
verted the Cougars’ first field
goal at the 3-minute mark to
make it 12-3. A late 3-pointer
by Caleb Brown, who went
off for 29 points, extended the
lead to 17-5 after one quar-
ter. In the period, The Cou-
gars committed 10 turnovers,
which led to nine of the Spar-
tans’ points.
Two corner 3s by Cole
Morgan helped push the
lead to 25-5. The margin
reached as much as 22 in
the period before the Cou-
gars ended the half on an 8-3
run. Gabe Nobles had six of
his team-high 10 points in
the rally, including a floater
at the buzzer that gave Wal-
lowa some momentum going
into the break, though down
30-13. Pine Eagle hit six
3-pointers in the opening half.
Brown almost singlehand-
edly put an end to any come-
back hopes by Wallowa,
scoring 14 points in the third
quarter alone and hitting two
more 3s to help open up a
57-20 lead after three.
Wilson and Willie Gibbs
both added seven points for
the Cougars in the loss.
Wallowa’s season ends
with a final record of 5-16.