B
S PORTS
Section B
South Lane County Sports and Recreation
Wednesday, January 13, 2016
Contact Sports, 942-3325 or e-mail sports@cgsentinel.com
A turning point for girls' basketball
With two wins in
a row over South
Umpqua and
Philomath, can the
Lions turn around
their season and
come back from a
1-10 start?
BY SAM WRIGHT
The Cottage Grove Sentinel
It’s been a tough season for
the girls’ basketball team and
new Head Coach Kevin Yoss.
After making a close playoff run
last year, the Lions started the
season 0-6 before grabbing their
fi rst win at Siuslaw, beating the
Vikings 47-44 on Dec. 18. Just
as things were looking up, the
Lions went on another losing
streak, dropping four games in
a row. This week, however, Cot-
tage Grove saw new life, as the
team won both games against
South Umpqua and Philomath.
We’ll start with the game
against the South Umpqua
Lancers. This was a game that
conveyed a sense of urgency
within the Lions, and in turn
they dominated the Lancers
throughout the entirety of the
game, winning 45-21. After
losing fi ve games by over 20
points, Cottage Grove was able
to reciprocate with a 24-point
win.
The Lancers were outscored
16-6 in the fi rst half and 29-15 in
the second. The Lions showed a
much-improved fi eld goal-per-
centage of 40 percent, although
they only shot 18.75 percent
from the free-throw line.
Taylor Harsh led the team in
scoring with 14 points (six of
which were from three-point
shots); the senior also had three
steals on the game. Behind
Harsh was sophomore Keara
Murphy with 10 points and two
assists. Other scorers were Han-
nah Arnold (six), Dana Caro,
Carly Sand (three), Kassidy
Whisler, Hannah Albrecht, Si-
erra Blomquist and Ellie Brown
(two), along with Tara Child
(one).
The statistics will tell you that
Photo by Sam Wright
Melissa Thielman came back from an injury on Friday to help her team overcome Philomath 37-33.
a game like this was not a fl uke
nor was it due to a simply poor
performance from the other
team. In fact, the Lions were
missing starting point guard
Melissa Thielman to an injury
and also lost their starting post,
Delia Nichols-Ferguson, to a
concussion early in the third
quarter.
Cottage Grove out-rebounded
South Umpqua 37-32 and had a
whopping 24 defl ections. The
difference in the game was the
Lions defense and their ability
to turn turnovers into points. The
Lions had 20 points off of turn-
overs (compared to the Lancers’
3) and in the end overwhelmed
South Umpqua, emerging with
a decisive victory.
And then it got even bet-
Photo by Sam Wright
Chance Hopkins jumps for two against Philomath.
Winning big
Boys' basketball defeats the numer one
ranked Philomath in overtime, moves up in
OSAA rankings
BY SAM WRIGHT
The Cottage Grove Sentinel
Nearly halfway through the
season and just days before the
beginning of league play, Cot-
tage Grove fi nds itself in a great
position to become a serious
playoff contender. The Lions
(previously ranked eight, now
ranked seven) walked away this
past week making a statement
out of two impressive victories
against Philomath and South
Umpqua.
On Jan. 5, the Lions stormed
into South Umpqua and ran
away with a decisive victory,
dominating the Lancers 76-54.
Cottage Grove was on pace
to score well over 80 if not 90
points in the game had they
not taken their foot off the gas
pedal. Junior Kory Parent didn’t
play for the entire fourth quarter
,and the Lions only scored three
points in the fi nal period. Prior
to that, Cottage Grove was av-
eraging 24.3 points per quarter
in the fi rst three quarters, which
means they could have put up at
least 96 points by the end of the
game.
The Lions were 60 percent
from the fi eld and a season-high
of 53 percent from beyond the
three-point line, sinking eight
out of 15 three-point shots. The
team also combined for a 75
percent free-throw rate, along
with out-rebounding the Lanc-
ers, 28-19.
It was a season-high for Par-
ent, who scored 18 points with
seven assists and two steals on
the night. The junior took no
breaks during the fi rst three
quarters of the game until Head
Coach Donn Pollard benched
him after reaching a comfort-
able 27-point lead. Other top
scorers included junior Blake
Sentman with 13 points, four
rebounds and four assists on the
night. Senior Chance Hopkins
and junior Tucker Porter both
ter. On Friday, Jan. 8, Cottage
Grove hosted and defeated the
Philomath Warriors 37-33, a
victory that did not come as
easy as their previous one.
The Lions were up 13-2 at
the end of the fi rst quarter and
fi nished the fi rst half with a 19-
10 lead. However, in the second
half, that lead diminished to as
little as two points as the Lions
found themselves fi ghting off a
Warrior comeback. Philomath
outscored Cottage Grove 23-18
in the second half, but their sec-
ond-half effort was not enough
to overcome the Lions lead, and
Cottage Grove escaped with a
four-point victory.
“These kids have been work-
ing so hard, it’s just great to see
it fi nally pay off,” said Coach
Yoss directly after the game. Af-
ter starting 0-6, the Lions have
improved their streak by going
3-4 in the last seven games.
The Lions again shot 41.38
percent from the fi eld, a big
improvement from the previous
two weeks.
It was Arnold leading the
way in scoring this time with
11 points, three rebounds and a
steal. Murphy was close behind
with seven points and eleven re-
bounds, the most on the night.
Previously injured Thielman
returned, racking up fi ve points,
three rebounds and three steals.
Albrecht scored two points but
had the most assists of the Lions
on the night with fi ve.
It was another performance
where the Lions won the re-
scored 12 points. Hopkins had
six rebounds and Porter had
four and three assists.
The Lions had 12 turnovers
compared to South Umpqua’s
one, but it didn’t phase Cot-
tage Grove as their ability to put
up points proved far too over-
whelming for the struggling
Lancers team, who shot only 39
percent from the fi eld, 25 per-
cent from three and 47 percent
from the free-throw line.
Cottage Grove dominated
an average 6-6 South Umpqua
team, showing that they are well
above the standard competition
of 4A schools and deserve their
spot in the top 10 of the OSAA
rankings.
But it wasn’t until Friday, Jan.
8 that the Lions found their win
of the season so far. Cottage
Grove hosted Philomath, the
undefeated top-ranked school
in the state (12-0 at the time). It
was a game to remember. Cot-
tage Grove went up early in the
fi rst quarter, leading 13-10, but
the second and third quarters
fell in favor of the Warriors,
who went on a 13-9 and a 16-
12 run. The game went back and
forth with lead change after lead
change, and at one point the
Warriors were up by eight early
in the third quarter, and it looked
like Philomath was about to be-
gin a rally to run away with the
game. But the Lions kept their
poise and found themselves out-
scoring Philomath 15-10 in the
fourth quarter, including a last
second buzzer-beater by Sent-
man to send the game into over-
time.
With 3.7 seconds left in the
game, Kory Parent looked to in-
bound the ball after a timeout.
After a bunch of shuffl ing and
wild attempts to get open, Par-
ent found Sentman open at the
top of the key with no one be-
tween him and the basket. The
junior dribbled twice and laid
the ball into the hoop as time
expired, giving the Lions four
more minutes of play.
Cottage Grove scored two
more buckets early in overtime,
but Philomath answered with
a two-point jump shot. But the
Warriors would not score again,
and it was Sentman again who
put the game out of reach by
sinking two free-throws with
just seconds left.
Sentman had 19 points (the
most by any Lion this season),
eight rebounds, four assists and
one steal on the game. Parent
racked up 15 points and Hop-
kins had 12 points with seven
rebounds. Other scorers on
the night were Porter with fi ve
points and Jayden Tucker and
Hunter Gipson with two points
each.
The Lions and Warriors were
even from the fi eld, shooting 42
percent on fi eld goals. However,
Cottage Grove shot 70 percent
from the free-throw line (14 out
of 20) which ultimately prevent-
ed Philomath from putting the
game out of reach or taking the
lead near the end of the game.
Philomath only fell to the
number two spot in the state,
while the Lions moved up one
spot from eight to seven. As
league play approaches, only
Junction City sits in front of the
Lions from the Sky Em League
at number fi ve. The Lions will
host 15th ranked Elmira, a team
that holds one more win over
the Lions at 9-3 (Cottage Grove
being 8-3).
bound battle (46-34), but a game
where mistakes almost cost them
the game. Cottage Grove had 37
turnovers, and Philomath had a
total of 20 steals. The Warriors
racked up 18 points off of turn-
overs, which helped keep them
in proximity to tie the game
on several occasions. But a 50
percent free-throw percentage
helped the Lions keep the game
out of reach as the girls were
sent to the line frequently in the
fi nal minutes of the game.
Two wins in a row could mark
a turning point for the Cottage
Grove girls’ basketball team as
the Lions move to 3-10 with one
fi nal game left before starting
their Sky Em schedule on Jan.
15.
“We’ve already made lots of
improvements, so I’m excited to
see what we can do when league
starts,” said Nichols-Ferguson.
Their fi rst Sky-Em opponent
will be Elmira (6-6), a team that
is ranked 13 in the state (Cot-
tage Grove ranks 31).
“Our team comes to practice
six days a week, having a pas-
sion to improve our game. We
continually are working harder
and harder each day knowing
it's not about being the best, it’s
about being better than we were
yesterday, and that’s the motiva-
tion we set for ourselves,” said
Blomquist refl ecting on the wins
this past week.
Athlete of the Week
Hannah Arnold contributed immensely to her team this
past week. The senior scored a total of 17 points in
both games and shot 57 percent from the fi eld against
Philomath for a team high of 11 points.
Miller scores 11
strikes in a row
Cottage Mixers bowler seemingly on a roll
It had seemingly gone un-
reported until last week on
Wednesday, Jan. 6, that sec-
retary of the Cottage Mixers
bowling league Barbara Hornick
was informed that on Dec. 23,
2015, Errol Miller from Brad's
Chevy/GMC team had bowled
11 strikes in a row.
"I had already sent in an award
sheet for his 289 game and 702
series for that night, but no one
told me he bowled 11 in a row,"
said Hornick.
Hornick also included in the
award sheet for that night that
he had bowled a 275 game on
the same night.
Brad's Chevy/GMC is ranked
seven out of 12 teams in the
Cottage Mixers league; the team
won round one and aims to do
the same in round two. And with
Miller bowling 11 strikes in a
row, it doesn't seem to be too far
off of a possibility to take round
two.