B
S PORTS
Section B
South Lane County Sports and Recreation
Wednesday, February 3, 2016
Contact Sports, 942-3325 or e-mail sports@cgsentinel.com
Lions' full potential unleashed on Sweet Home
After a fi ve-game losing streak, the girls' basketball team annihilated the Huskies, 52-15
Athlete of the Week
Keara Murphy shoots a perfect game
against Sweet Home
Photo courtesy of Gary Ordway photography
Melissa Thielman drives to the basket against Sutherlin last Tuesday.
BY SAM WRIGHT
The Cottage Grove Sentinel
If you found yourself around
Cottage Grove High School this
weekend, there was an extreme-
ly pleasant scent in the air. The
smell of sweet, sweet redemp-
tion permeated through the high
school’s main gymnasium on
Friday night after the girls’ bas-
ketball team swept up the chaos
that was the Sweet Home Hus-
kies, winning a 52-15 blowout.
But the triumph did not come
without some disappointment.
Before the Sweet Home game,
the Lions racked up their fi fth
loss in a row against Suther-
lin on Tuesday, Jan 26, 57-31.
It was a game that head coach
Kevin Yoss saw as their most
challenging opponent all year.
“Sutherlin was the best team
we’ve played all season by far,”
he said. “We actually played
them a little better than any oth-
er league opponent.” During the
summer league, the girls were
able to score only four points
against Sutherlin, making this
game a huge improvement.
The Lions sank only a quar-
ter of their attempted shots from
the fi eld (10 of 40), making ac-
curacy an issue throughout the
game. The best shooting per-
centages came from sophomore
Keara Murphy, who shot four-
for-eight on fi eld goals, and
Hanna Arnold, shooting two-
for-four and sinking one out
of two free throws, giving her
fi ve points on the night. Mur-
phy missed all three of her free
throws that night but was still a
leading scorer for the Lions, ty-
ing Taylor Harsh at eight points.
Harsh was two-for-10 on the
night, but both of her fi eld goals
were form three-point range,
and she was two-for-two on free
throws. Senior Melissa Thiel-
man fi nished the game with six
points and two steals.
Other contributors were Tara
Child and Delia Nichols-Fergu-
son with two points each.
The defeat brought about their
fi fth loss in a row and the teams
eighth loss by 20 points or more
this season. The losing streak
was second to the longest streak
this year by the Lions, start-
ing off the season 0-6. Cottage
Grove now has losing streaks
of four, fi ve and six games this
year.
But the one thing the team
has shown all season is tenac-
ity. For the love of the game, the
Lions refuse to tone down their
enthusiasm and confi dence be-
fore each game and coming off
of a loss, and this week it fi nally
paid off.
In Cottage Grove's dominant performance against Sweet
Home, the sophomore was four-for-four on fi eld goals
and three-for-three on free throws, giving her 11 points
total. Murphy also had eight rebounds, four defl ections
and a steal on the night. She tied for the leading scorer
in both games this past week.
Boys rise in rank
after two more wins
After taking care of Sutherlin and Sweet
Home this week, the Lions fi nd themselves
ranked No. 4 in the state
Please see BASKETBALL, Page 3B
Girls' bowling takes fi rst place, boys' third
at 'District 4 Championship' tournament
COURTESY STORY
For the Sentinel
Courtesy photo
The girls' show off their trophy at the District 4 Champi-
onship. The girls' roster is as follows: Kim Smith, Olivia
Perkins, Faith Stewart, Melissa Miller, Kayley Davis,
Nikki Allen, Kevin Carver (Head Girls Coach), Vince
Fiattarone (Assistant Coach), Byron Renfrow (Assistant
Coach)
Sunday, Jan. 24 the Oregon
State District 4 Championship
High School Bowling Tourna-
ment was held at Firs Bowling
in Eugene. A total of six girl
high school teams and eight high
school boy teams competed.
The girl teams were from Cot-
tage Grove HS, Springfi eld HS,
Willamette HS, Marshfi eld HS,
North Bend HS and Siuslaw HS.
The boy teams were from Cot-
tage Grove HS, Springfi eld HS,
Willamette HS, Marshfi eld HS,
North Bend HS Siuslaw HS,
Thurston-1 HS and Thurston-2
HS. Each team played a total of
20 preliminary and 10 semifi nal
baker format games. The top
three fi nishing girl teams were,
North Bend , Cottage Grove and
Siuslaw then bowled two head-
to-head games. Siuslaw fi nished
taking third place. North Bend
and Cottage Grove bowled each
other for the District Champi-
onship, with the Cottage Grove
girls winning fi rst place.
Cottage Grove boys won
third place at District; qualify-
ing them to play at the upcom-
ing Oregon State High School
Bowling championship.
Out of a fi eld of 34 girls com-
peting for this years District 4
All Star Honors, Cottage Grove
fi nished with three girls in the
top 10 listing. Faith Stewart won
fi rst place and was awarded this
year's MVP for the girls'. The
top three fi nishing teams from
the girls and boys teams will
compete Feb. 27 and 28 for the
Oregon State Championship be-
ing held in Klamath Falls, OR.
Lincoln Middle School wrestlers take second at regionals
Photo by Gary Ordway
Hunter Gipson jumps for three against Sutherlin.
BY SAM WRIGHT
The Cottage Grove Sentinel
If the OSAA playoffs were
as exclusive as the two-year-old
College Football Playoff sys-
tem, the Lions would still be in
control of their own destiny and
would make the cut at this point
in the season. Cottage Grove
(14-3) defeated Sutherlin 54-40
on Tuesday, Jan. 26 and then
dominated Sweet Home 78-48
on Friday.
Please see RANKINGS, Page 2B
The wrestlers now
look to their district
tournament
BY SAM WRIGHT
The Cottage Grove Sentinel
The Lincoln Middle School
wrestling team is drawing at-
tention to itself from around
the state. Over the weekend,
the wrestlers attended their re-
gional tournament, taking home
second place and only 12 points
away from winning the entire
tournament. Head Coach James
Deatherage explained that there
were some “dark horses” that
emerged from his team, winning
their matches in the fi nals.
Nathan Boxberger, Christian
Aldridge and Chris Nelson all
won their fi nal matches.
“We had a lot of kids make it
to the fi nals,” Deatherage said.
“Some of them we didn’t ex-
pect, so that’s always good.”
Please see MS Regionals, Page 3B
Photo courtesy of Jamie Nelson
The Lincoln Middle School wrestling team gathers around their second-place trophy at the regional tournament.