B
S PORTS
Section B
Wednesday, February 10, 2016
South Lane County Sports and Recreation
Contact Sports, 942-3325 or e-mail sports@cgsentinel.com
Lions drop in rankings after two
straight losses, winning streak ends
BY SAM WRIGHT
The Cottage Grove Sentinel
The saying “all good things
come to an end” rang especial-
ly true for the Cottage Grove
High School boys’ basketball
team when its 10-game winning
streak was brought to an abrupt
end by Marist Catholic on Tues-
day, Feb. 2. The frustrations car-
ried over onto the next game, as
the Lions fell to Elmira three
days later.
The Lions found themselves
up over Marist Catholic at half-
time, 32-29, but the small lead
was shattered when the Spartans
went on a 26-9 run in the third
quarter. Despite the valiant ef-
forts of the Lions for a fourth-
quarter comeback (outscoring
Marist 23-19), Cottage Grove
fell short, losing 74-64.
Part of the trouble came from
starter Kory Parent, who has
been sick for the past week and
reportedly had a fever of 103
degrees at one point.
The illness refl ected Parent’s
performance on the court. The
junior only had 12 points, rela-
tively low for this season, and
only played 24 minutes (al-
though he was benched occa-
sionally for being in foul trouble
with four personal fouls on the
night).
It seemed that Cottage Grove
was outmatched by a team that
wasn’t going to miss a step all
night. Although the Lions shot a
decent 43 percent from the fi eld
(21-for-48), the Spartans shot
55 percent (27-for-49). Even
from the line the Lions scored
72 percent of their free throws,
but Marist was 81 percent.
The Lions were also out-
rebounded 35-12, one of the
widest margins they’ve had all
season. Junior Blake Sentman
was the team’s top rebounder
with only four, while the top
Sentman takes
charge
Photo by Gary Ordway
Tucker Porter leaps for the basket against Sutherlin from last week.
rebounder on the Spartans’ side
had 11.
Sentman took the reigns and
stepped up as the leading scorer
with 22 points. He shot 50 per-
cent from the fi eld (seven-for-
14) with three of those being
three-point shots. Along with
his aforementioned rebounds,
Sentman had one assist and two
steals.
But the one great performance
wasn’t enough. Usually Parent is
able to keep pace if not surpass
Sentman in scoring but because
of foul trouble and being sick,
he wasn’t able to perform to the
best of his abilities.
Parent had 12 points, three re-
bounds and one assist, compar-
ing to previous games this sea-
son, the was the quietest game
yet.
Chance Hopkins also had
trouble. The senior only ac-
counted for two rebounds all
game, a place where he usually
fi nds himself leading in. His 11
points contributed, but after fi ve
personal fouls, he only played
22 minutes.
Despite the loss, the Lions
still remained at No. fi ve in the
OSAA rankings, but that changed
after 32 minutes in Elmira.
Cottage Grove struggled
throughout the entire game and
never held a lead against Elmira.
The Falcons outscored the Lions
13-8 in the fi rst quarter and 19-
12 in the fourth quarter, which
became the deciding parts of the
game as each team scored 20
points in the second and third
quarters. The result was a frus-
trating 52-40, the lowest score
the Lions have been held to all
season.
Lincoln Middle
School takes
second place at
district meet
After a third-quarter blowout, the Lions were able to snag a
come-from-behind win over the top Sky-Em team
The girls’ basketball team
only had one game this week,
but it was a good one for the Lions,
as they came back to beat Elmira
41-38. The win was even more
impressive with the absence of
starting point guard Melissa
Thielman who had a concussion
(the seventh one of the season
for the girls’ program) and start-
ing post Keara Murphy, who
broke her nose in practice.
It was a slow start for Cottage
Grove, which was outscored 8-1
in the fi rst quarter, and the Lions
found themselves in familiar
waters, down 20-12 at halftime.
But the third quarter saw a 16-
3 run by Cottage Grove as they
took the lead and fought hard in
the fourth quarter to maintain
it. They were outscored 15-13
in the fourth quarter but were
able to fi ght off the Falcons and
snagged their second win in a
row.
The Lions shot 33 percent
from the fi eld, sinking 10 shots
compared to Elmira’s 14. How-
ever, Cottage Grove was able to
make 19 of their 38 free throws,
while the Falcons only sank
nine of 22.
The Lions also won the re-
bound battle (39-34), a key as-
pect of the game that head coach
Kevin Yoss has been wanting to
improve since the beginning of
the season.
Cottage Grove was beaten in
the paint due to Elmira’s size,
with only 12 points coming from
inside the paint compared to the
Falcon’s 26. But the Lions' abil-
ity to score from the outside, in-
cluding two clutch three-point-
ers from Hannah Albrecht and
Despite the two losses,
Sentman took charge of
his team as the top scorer
on both games while the
regular leading scorer,
Kory Parent struggled
through his illness this
past week. Sentman had
22 points against Marist
and even managed 13
points against Elmira, a
game where the Lions
were held to the lowest
points scored in a game
all season.
Please see Boys' Basketball, Page 4B
Girls' basketball downs Elmira
BY SAM WRIGHT
The Cottage Grove Sentinel
Athlete of
the Week
Taylor Harsh, kept them in the
game and eventually gave them
the lead.
Hannah Arnold led the team
with a whopping 16 points that
came from 12 free throws and
two fi eld goals. She also led the
team in rebounds with a total of
nine. Albrecht fi nished the night
with a total of eight points, but
her stand-out performance isn’t
seen on the statistics. The junior
defended Elmira’s top player,
Miranda Jensen, all night. Jen-
sen scored 22 points on the Li-
ons during their fi rst encounter
this season, but Albrecht held
her to only three points this time
around.
Freshman Tara Child had her
fi rst start of the season due to
the injuries and played a good
game, according to Yoss. She
12 students place
at Valley League
District Tournament
Please see Girls' Basketball, Page 3B
Photo courtesy of Jamie Nelson
Sam Cruden stands victorious at the Valley League Dis-
trict Tournament Saturday.
Lincoln Middle School al-
ready had a lot of success the
previous weekend at their re-
gional tournament, taking sec-
ond place overall. Head Coach
James Deatherage knew from
past events that his team was
strong and confi dent, and noth-
ing changed going in to the Val-
ley League District tournament
on Saturday.
Lincoln fi nished in second
overall again, with many stu-
dents taking top places in their
respective weights.
Sam Cruden and Trace Nel-
son took fi rst place, followed by
Triston Aldrich, Drew Swenson,
Luke Johns and Nick Naro all
fi nishing in second place. Jayden
Owens fi nished in third. Jacob
Dunn, Nano Giffen, Walker
Humprey, Austin Dempsey and
William VanHoy all took fourth
place.
The second place fi nish has
put Lincoln Middle School on a
roll of success in their wrestling
program.
Lions improve at invitational
after loss to Huskies
After a rough 64-18 loss, Cottage Grove's wrestling team saw
many second-place fi nishes at their invitational
Photo by Gary Ordway
Freshman Tara Child started her fi rst game this year against Elmira.
On Thursday, Feb. 4, the
Sweet Home Huskies came into
to Cottage Grove and took care
of the Lions 64-18 in a dual that
showed a lot of diffi culties for
Cottage Grove.
It started off with Sweet
Home’s Kobe Olson setting
the pace by defeating Cottage
Grove’s Bryce Allen by major
decision, 9-0.
From there, the Lions suf-
fered four pins in a row on Tra-
vis Thomas, Rodney Chamber-
lain, Tyler Woertnik and Rafe
Barkley. Alan Bordeaux was the
fi rst winner for the Lions when
he pinned Oscar Hernandez in
the second period.
Jayson Stalder put up a tough
fi ght, but eventually yielded to
Bryce Coulter in the third pe-
riod.
Andrew Bordeaux, like his
brother, pinned his Sweet Home
opponent, Devin Stafford early,
in the second period. Adam
Lamb was the only other win-
ner from Cottage Grove that
evening, pinning Gavin Baskin
in the fi rst period. After that,
Chance Ralston and Aaron
Boitz were both pinned quickly
in the fi rst round.
Over the weekend, the Lions
hosted the Cottage Grove Invi-
tational, where they saw more
individual success from their
mat men.
Bryce Allen made it to the fi rst-
place match at the 126-pound
weight class after going 4-0 and
Please see Wrestling, Page 3B