B
S PORTS
Section B
South Lane County Sports and Recreation
Wednesday, December 16, 2015
Contact Sports, 942-3325 or e-mail sports@cgsentinel.com
Girls win and boys fall short in
Churchill swim meet
The Aqua Lions showed impressive speed and technique in their fi rst meet against Churchill on Friday
Athlete of the Week
Photo by Sam Wright
Johnny Witt leads the way in his 100-meter butterfl y event.
BY SAM WRIGHT
The Cottage Grove Sentinel
Friday, Dec. 11 marked the
Aqua Lions' fi rst real meet against
Churchill. Though the boys lost
100-67, the girls managed to
pull out a win, beating Churchill
94-72. The meet started off with
the 266 meter medley relay. For
the girls, Emma Meyers, Clover
Rudicel, Amelia Phillips and
Sophia Edelbute raced together
in one lane, fi nishing fi rst with
a time of 3:25.24. Tori Raade,
Karli Isaacs, Madisen Kelty and
Brianna Allen took third place
with a time of 3:38.82.
The boys only had one group
competing which included Seth
Chambers, Ian Dukes, Johnny
Witt and Chris Clure. The boys
took second place in the relay
with a time of 2:49.17.
The girls were consistently
fi rst in every event except two
out of the 11 (100 meter but-
terfl y and 100m backstroke).
Tori Raade and Sophia Edelbute
took fi rst and second respec-
tively in the 200 meter freestyle
race, earning times of 2:20.99
and 2:32.99. Next were Phillips
and Kelty, again placing fi rst
and second in the individual
medley with Phillips fi nishing
with 1:48.56 and Kelty with
2:02.77. Allen and Isaacs then
earned fi rst and third place with
times of 0:49.91 and 0:58.53,
respectively.
Meyers and Phillips were
looking for a higher placing
in the 100 meter butterfl y race
but fell short, as Meyers fi n-
ished third and Phillips fi nished
fourth.
But Edelbute set the Lions
back on track with a fi rst-place
fi nish in the 100-meter free-
style with an impressive time
of 1:10.5, and Isaacs fi nished in
fi fth.
The girl Lions maintained a
comfortable lead throughout the
meet, with the closest separa-
tion being six points (after the
fi rst relay). In the 500 meter
freestyle, Rose Witt captured
fi rst place with 6:35.34 and Ru-
dicel took second with 6:46.42.
Witt, Kelty, Meyers and Raade
then took another fi rst place in
the 266 meter freestyle relay
fi nishing with 3:06.45,
Please see SWIM, Page 2B
Hunter Gipson breaks out in Stayton game
It was a game to remember for Gipson on
Friday, as he racked up 14 points, three steals,
four assists and fi ve rebounds. Gipson had
many clutch displays of athleticism in the
paint during the Lions' thrilling overtime vic-
tory.
Lions win thriller in
OT after hard loss
After losing to Marshfi eld, the Lions
bounced back to beat Stayton in an intense
overtime victory
BY SAM WRIGHT
The Cottage Grove Sentinel
Photo by Sam Wright
Ellie Brown speeds past a defender during Friday's game.
Girls basketball continues to struggle
On Tuesday, Dec. 8, the
boys' basketball team traveled
to Marshfi eld to take on the
Marshfi eld High School Pirates.
The game resulted in the Lions’
fi rst loss of the season, and it
seemed to be heading that way
by the second quarter. At the end
of the fi rst half, Marshfi eld was
already up 42-25 and extended
that lead to 58-32 by the time the
fourth quarter began. However,
the Lions fi nished well by go-
ing on an 11-4 run in the fourth
quarter, but it wasn’t enough
to overcome Marshfi eld’s lead.
Cottage Grove struggled with
a low fi eld goal percentage of
35 percent compared to Marsh-
fi eld’s 58 percent.
Junior Blake Sentman led the
team in points with 15 points
followed by Kory Parent with
11, but the team saw strong
performances by others. Jayden
Tucker had nine points and
made four out of the fi ve shots
he took. Hunter Gipson had six
points but also had fi ve rebounds
and four steals (leading the team
in both of those categories).
It seemed that the loss came
down to one team’s ability to
The Lions start their season 0-4, and a signifi cant injury isn't helping them
BY SAM WRIGHT
The Cottage Grove Sentinel
The girls’ varsity basketball
team has started its season off in
a rough spot. The Lions are now
0-4 after their most recent losses
to Stayton, Marshfi eld and Asto-
ria. The Lions struggled against
Astoria on Saturday, Dec. 5,
with only a 34.8 fi eld goal per-
centage, losing 66-45.
Taylor Harsh led the team
with 14 points that day, fol-
lowed by Ellie Brown with 12
and Della Nichols-Ferguson for
six points. Melissa Thielman
and Dana Caro had three steals
apiece, and Thielman and Caro
had four and three assists re-
spectively.
The Lions were then met with
an even tougher foe on Tuesday,
Dec. 8, when the girls traveled
to Marshfi eld and lost 58-28.
Cottage Grove made only 10
out of 50 shots taken, giving
them a season low of a 20 per-
cent fi eld goal percentage. The
leading scorer for this game was
Caro with seven points. The next
highest scorers were Brown,
Hannah Albrecht and Nichols-
Freguson. On the bright side, the
Lions out-rebounded the Pirates
(something Head Coach Kevin
Yoss has been trying to improve
on all season) 38-36; however,
it wasn’t enough to overcome a
30-point defi cit. Albrecht led the
team in that category with eight
rebounds, followed by Nichols-
Ferguson with seven.
Cottage Grove looked yet
again to bounce back from
a tough start, and hosted the
Stayton girls’ basketball team
right after the boys overtime
victory. The enthusiasm and en-
ergy could be sensed in the air
when the Lions took the court,
but they once again found them-
selves in a 30-point loss 60-30.
Cottage Grove’s fi eld-goal per-
centage was another low with
26.8 percent. Thielman led the
team in scoring this game with
ten points, followed by Taylor
Harsh, who had seven. Brown
only scored two points this
game but led the team with sev-
en rebounds.
Please see GIRLS, Page 2B
Cottage Grove
Sentinel
rebound over the other. Cottage
Grove had 10 total rebounds, but
Marshfi eld had 24, which gave
them 10 second-chance points
while, the Lions had zero.
After the disappointing loss,
the Lions rebounded when they
hosted the Stayton Eagles, win-
ning 63-59 in an overtime thrill-
er. It was an offensive shootout,
with Stayton and Cottage Grove
each only hitting 35 percent of
their fi eld goals. This time, it
was the Lions who found them-
selves winning the rebound
battle with 40 rebounds overall
against Stayton’s 35. Again,
the leading scorers were Parent
with 17 and Sentman with 15,
and also Hunter Gipson with
14. Chance Hopkins had nine
points and led the team in re-
bounds with eight total. Tucker
was also able to add seven
points this game, along with
fi ve steals (most in the game).
In fact, stealing throughout the
entire game was rather one-sid-
ed. Cottage Grove took the ball
away from the Eagles 12 times
while Stayton only managed to
return the favor once.
Please see BOYS, Page 2B