B
S PORTS
Section B
South Lane County Sports and Recreation
Wednesday, December 9, 2015
Contact Sports, 942-3325 or e-mail sports@cgsentinel.com
Lions maul Bulldogs in boys basketball season-opener
With a loaded roster
of returning talent,
Cottage Grove
travels to Creswell to
hit the ground run-
ning in its fi rst game
of the season
BY SAM WRIGHT
The Cottage Grove Sentinel
T
he Cottage Grove Lions’
boys’ basketball team
tipped off its season on Friday,
Dec. 4 against the Creswell
Bulldogs. The Lions defeated
Creswell on their home court
with a brutal fi nal score of 61-
25. The 36-point win was defi -
nitely no fl uke. For the entire
game, Cottage Grove main-
tained its dominance on both of-
fense and defense.
The Lions overall made 23 out
64 shots attempted, and seven of
those were three-point shots (24
three-point attempts were made
overall). Compare that accuracy
of 35 percent to Creswell’s 16
percent (10 shots made out of
55 attempted) and it’s no won-
der the Lions ran away with the
game. But the Lions' success
was prevalent outside of their
shooting. Cottage Grove had
43 rebounds compared to 29 by
Creswell. The Lions had 11 of-
fensive rebounds and 32 defen-
sive rebounds. The Bulldogs had
nine and 20, respectively. Those
11 rebounds on offense resulted
Photo by Sam Wright
Kory Parent sets up for a three-point shot against Creswell on Friday night.
in 10 second-chance points. The
Lions also stole the ball a total
of eight times compared to the
Bulldogs' two times.
The top performers for the
Lions on Saturday were Kory
Parent and Blake Sentman. Par-
ent scored nine out of 17 at-
tempted fi eld goals and made
six of 11 three-point shots. He
fi nished the game with a total of
26 points, three rebounds and
one steal. Parent led the team in
scoring, but it was possible that
Sentman had the biggest impact
in the game. The junior made
seven of 15 fi eld goal attempts
with two out of three free throws
made for a total of 16 points.
Along with his 16 points, how-
ever, Sentman also racked up a
total of nine rebounds (one on
offense and eight on defense).
By the end of the game, Sent-
man had also managed to get in
two assists and one steal.
Sentman’s rebound game
was matched by another Lion.
Chance Hopkins had a more
rounded ratio of four offensive
rebounds and fi ve defensive re-
bounds. He was also three for
three in shooting: while only
racking up three points, Hop-
kins had a 100 percent accuracy
on the night. He also had two
steals.
Other mentionable perfor-
mances came from Jayden
Tucker who had seven rebounds
(two offensive, fi ve defensive)
and two assists. Hunter Gipson
led the team in steals with three
and alongside Tucker Porter, led
the team with three assists.
A dominating performance
such as this one gives Head
Coach Donn Pollard a lot of en-
thusiasm about his team.
“Having no seniors on our
roster last year was possibly an
issue in having experience on
the team,” Pollard said, “but this
year, everyone is a year more
experience and a year more
skilled.”
The Lions played Marshfi eld
on Tuesday, Dec. 8, and will
play their home opener on Fri-
day, Dec. 11.
Girls' basketball starts with two losses
Although the Lions start the season 0-2, the team isn't discouraged by the way they played
in both games this past week
Athlete of the Week
Blake Sentman nears a double-double in
basketball season-opener
The girls’ basketball team
played two nights in a row on
Friday and Saturday, Dec. 4 and
5. The Lions tipped off their sea-
son against Creswell but were
unable to topple the Bulldogs,
losing 44-50.
Cottage Grove hit 19 of 51
fi eld goals and made three of
eight three-point shots that night.
The Lions fi eld goal percentage
of 37 matched Creswell’s per-
centage; however, the Bull Dogs
made 20 of 53. Cottage Grove
found themselves effective in-
side the paint, as they scored
24 of their 44 points inside the
paint, and even with Creswell’s
0 points inside the paint, the Li-
ons were unable to pull off the
victory. While losing the season
opener, Head Coach Kevin Yoss
remains more optimistic.
“It’s important to consider
how much the girls have pro-
gressed,” Yoss said. The fi rst
time the Lions played Creswell
during the summer, they were
shut out in the fi rst half and only
amounted a total of fi ve points
in the entire game. The second
time they played Creswell, the
Lions only scored 12 points to-
tal, and both games were lost by
over 30 points. The Lions “were
scrappy Friday night,” said Yoss,
noting the hustle displayed and
the nine dives his team made
on the ball. In fact, the Lions
showed great energy after be-
ing down 13-4 early in the game
and eventually got within one
point during the second quar-
ter. In the second half, the be-
ginning looked gloomy again,
and the Lions found themselves
down 42-29 early in the fourth
quarter. It was a late 15-8 fourth
quarter run that fell short and
gave the Bulldogs the win in the
end. Cottage Grove seniors Tay-
lor Harsh and Hannah Arnold
led the team in scoring with 19
and 13 points respectively.
Harsh had an impressive 61.54
percent fi eld goal percentage
making eight out of 13. She ac-
companied those statistics with
four rebounds, one assist and
two steals. Arnold had a 46.15
fi eld goal percentage, shooting
6 out of 13 with four rebounds
and two steals.
Please see BASKETBALL, Page 2B
Hannah Arnold drives toward the basket.
Aqua Lions start off season with co-ed relay
The Cottage Grove high school swimming team had its fi rst meet on Friday,
and the Lions were three points away from fi rst place
Against the Bull Dogs, junior Blake Sent-
man racked up 16 points (seven for 15
on fi eld goals and two for three on free
throws) and nine rebounds on Friday. Sent-
man also had two assists and one steal in
the Lions' 61-25 dominating performance.
Friday marked the fi rst com-
petition of this year’s swimming
season, and the Lions' aquatic
abilities proved to be strong. The
team competed in a girls and
boys mixed relay race against
Marist and North Eugene high
schools. Part one of the race saw
a 200 meter medley relay, a 100
meter free relay and a 200 meter
kickboard relay.
Juniors Seth Chambers, So-
phia Edelbute and Clover Ru-
dicel teamed up with freshman
John Witt for the fi rst event,
tackling the 200 meter medley
relay in 2:10 and fi nishing fi rst
for that event. In the same event,
juniors Emma Meyers and Rose
Witt joined with senior Amelia
Phillips and sophomore Ethan
Burleson, fi nishing last in the
heat with a time of 2:21.46.
However, last place still award-
ed them two points that helped
the fi rst-place squad keep up
with Marist, which took second
and third.
Cottage Grove only entered
one relay team in the second
event. The Lions fi nished sec-
ond in the 100-meter free relay
with a time of 1:04.42, just a
second behind Marist that fi n-
ished with 1:03.50
Phillips and Meyers then got
Cottage Grove
Sentinel
back together with junior Mad-
isen Kelty and sophomore Josef
Pifer and completed the 200 me-
ter kickboard relay in 2:52.48,
taking fi rst place again.
Part two of the meet consisted
of three more events: a 25-50-75
free relay, a 200 meter relay, and
a 100 meter back stroke relay.
Please see SWIMMING, Page 2B