B
S PORTS
Section B
South Lane County Sports and Recreation
Wednesday, February 17, 2016
Contact Sports, 942-3325 or e-mail sports@cgsentinel.com
Lions poised to take Sky-Em after thrilling win against JC
After two wins in a row, Cottage Grove is just one win away from claiming the Sky-Em title after knocking down the Tigers twice
BY SAM WRIGHT
The Cottage Grove Sentinel
After two aggravating losses
in a row, the boys’ basketball
squad did not want to end their
season falling short of fi rst place
for the Sky-Em League. The Li-
ons came out fi ercely against
Sisters on Tuesday, Feb. 9, de-
feating the Outlaws 55-35.
It did not start off as explosive
as the score may depict. With a
low score of 17-9 at halftime,
the Lions were looking to fi nd
their rhythm in the second half.
And fi nd it they did. In the third
quarter, the Lions went on a 30-
9 run, all within eight minutes,
putting the game out of reach
for Sisters, despite a 17-8 come-
back attempt by the Outlaws in
the fourth quarter.
Kory Parent led the game in
scoring with 16 points, and se-
nior Chance Hopkins had a dou-
ble-double in his penultimate
home game with the Lions.
Hopkins scored 14 points with
10 rebounds.
But the story of the week and
perhaps the story of the year
came on senior night on Friday,
where the Lions hosted a re-
match with a Junction City team
hungry for revenge. The Tigers
came into the game ranked sixth
in the state and the Lions ranked
fi fth, giving the game more than
just Sky-Em league implica-
tions, but impacted the OSAA
4A rankings statewide.
It wasn’t easy, but Cottage
Grove came out once again as
the victor in a 60-57 game that
came down to the last second.
In a game so close, there were
only two lead changes the entire
game.
Junction City came out strong
in the fi rst quarter, sinking mul-
tiple three-pointers and taking
a 21-12 lead. The nine-point
lead would be the largest of the
game, and the Lions refused to
let the Tigers run away with their
game and potentially their Sky-
Em championship. While Cot-
tage Grove kept within striking
distance of a tie and was down
one point just before half-time,
Junction City denied the Lions
with a half-time lead by forcing
a turnover and hitting a buzzer-
Photo By Gary Ordway
Blake Sentman leans in for two early in the fi rst quarter against Junction City.
beater to go up 31-28.
The second half didn’t start
off exactly as the Lions would
have hoped, but the third quarter
proved to be the most pivotal of
the game. Cottage Grove found
themselves down by three, then
fi ve, then seven until Parent
drove to the basket to get the fi rst
points of the half for the Lions,
and that’s when they found their
rhythm. Nearing the end of the
third quarter, down 41-43, Cot-
tage Grove’s possession turned
into a score with a strong lay-up
by junior Blake Sentman for the
tie. After an error by the Tigers,
the Lions had an opportunity to
inbound the ball from mid-court
with just over three seconds left.
Sentman again scrambled his
way to open space and received
the inbound and just before time
expired, he unleashed a three to
end the third quarter and put the
Lions up 46-43. It was the only
three-point shot made by Cot-
tage Grove all night.
“I wasn’t thinking,” Sentman
said of the shot. “I just saw the
clock and shot it.”
After that, the Lions focused
on holding off any chance of
Junction City to retake the lead.
Cottage Grove had the advan-
tage in the foul game and was
automatically sent to the line
early in the fourth. Near the
end of the game, a pair of free
throws by Jayden Tucker hin-
dered Junction City from tying
the game. In a familiar end-
ing, Parent sunk two more free
throws to put the Lions up by
three. With one last fi nal attempt
by the Tigers, Hayden Martinez
threw up a prayer of a three-
point shot from the corner and
it sailed long. Cottage Grove
recovered and time expired al-
most immediately after.
Parent had a game-high of 26
points accompanied by 16 and
12 from Sentman and Hopkins
respectively.
The win has put Cottage
Grove at 16-5 overall and 7-1
in league play and now have a
two-game advantage over Junc-
tion City for fi rst place, making
their 5-19 season last year a dis-
tant memory.
“I’m really proud of them,
we’ve come a long way,” head
coach Don Pollard said of his
team. “That was a scrap.”
The two wins now put Cot-
tage Grove back in the top four
in the state, while Junction City
fell one spot to seven. With only
two games left in the regular
season, the Lions still can’t just
sit back a relax. Two losses by
the Lions and two wins by the
Tigers would put the teams in a
tie for fi rst place. Cottage Grove
will need one more win to be-
come the undisputed top team in
the Sky-Em League.
“It’s right there, we just have
to go get it Tuesday at Suther-
lin,” Pollard said.
The remaining opponents
however, are ones that Cottage
Grove has handled easily. Their
fi rst win against Sutherlin came
with a confi dent 54-40 score,
and the Lions blew out Sweet
Home 78-48 a few weeks ear-
lier.
Senior night not so successful for girls' basketball
Despite a great win over Sisters, the girls' basketball team wa unable to top a tough Junction City squad
BY SAM WRIGHT
The Cottage Grove Sentinel
It was the last time for six of
Cottage Grove’s girls’ basket-
ball players to step foot on the
Lions’ home court in a basket-
ball uniform on Friday, and the
result wasn’t the best outcome.
The Junction City Tigers came
to town and ran away with the
game on Friday, ending a three-
game winning streak for Cottage
Grove. Three days earlier, the
Lions managed to upset Sisters
with a 31-28 win over the Out-
laws, marking their third win in
a row, the longest win streak all
season.
Despite a 6-16 record, there
were a lot of positives to take
away from the season, which
is still two games away from
being over. Head Coach Kevin
Yoss believes there was (and is)
success still to be found within
this season.
“We started way more behind
than we could hope to catch up
for,” he said, “but we stayed
with the same practice plan all
year and really saw a lot of im-
provement.” The Lions still wait
to play against Sweet Home, a
team they handled with ease
52-15 the last time they played
them. The team will take advan-
tage of the time they still have
in the season to continually im-
prove their game.
Although Cottage Grove will
say goodbye to six out of their
11 players, Yoss is optimistic
about the returning roster next
year.
“We have a lot of good talent
still coming back,” he said.
Freshman Tara Child has
proven to be a quick and scrappy
player on both sides of the ball
and even showed fi nesse with
an in-your-face three-pointer
against Junction City on Friday.
The concern will be the loss
of size when the seniors leave.
Delia Nichols-Ferguson, Me-
lissa Thielman and Hannah
Arnold will be missed on the
rebound game and in-the-paint
points. Taylor Harsh, Dana Caro
and Kassidy Whisler will be
missed in the scoring game and
ball control. However, Sierra
Blomquist and Hannah Albre-
cht have stepped up as potential
leaders in next year’s roster. Ke-
ara Murphy has also shown her
ability to make an impact on the
Aqua Lions take sixth,
fourth at district meet
BY SAM WRIGHT
The Cottage Grove Sentinel
The District Four Swimming
Championships were held in
North Bend over the weekend
where the Cottage Grove ‘Aqua’
Lions placed in sixth place for
the boys and fourth place for the
girls out of a total of 11 compet-
ing schools. The boys fell just
behind St. Mary’s, with Phoe-
nix, North Bend, and Marshfi eld
taking fi rst, second and third
place.
The girls’ team from Cottage
Grove was just outside of the top
three: North Bend, Marshfi eld
and Henley, teams that seemed
to dominate across the board all
weekend.
But the Lions managed to
stay competitive in perhaps
their most challenging meet of
the season yet.
The pace was set when the
girls’ placed fi fth in the prelimi-
nary round of the 200-yard med-
Athlete of the Week
Hopkins impresses at last home games in CG
Junior Hannah Albrecht has made an impact on her
team this year and will be a big returning player for next
season.
court as a young sophomore.
As for the rest of this season,
The team will also be more it would be expected of the Li-
comfortable and in sync with ons to fi nish 7-17 and fi nish
coach Yoss.
either fourth or fi fth in the Sky-
“I think everybody now Em League. But perhaps they
knows my expectations and we could surprise everyone and go
should have a much better sea- out in style with an upset win
son in terms of wins and losses,” over Sutherlin.
he said.
ley relay with a time of 2:19.50
and the boys placed third with
1:52.81. The teams ended in the
exact same placements in the fi -
nals for the same race, only this
time the girls fi nished in 2:21.39
and the boys’ time was 1:54.00.
In the fi nals, Cottage Grove
fi nished with eight state quali-
fi ers. For the boys it was John-
ny Witt, Seth Chambers, Ian
Dukes and Ethan Burleson. For
the girls, Sophia Edelbute, Tori
Raade, Rose Witt and Clover
Rudicel all qualifi ed for the
state meet.
Head Coach Tyson Pilling
said that the team exceeded his
expectations in North Bend.
“Everyone swam really well
and we managed to move up
a spot for the girls’ from last
year,” he said.
Within the state qualifi ers,
Raade placed sixth in the 200-
yard freestyle race, fi nishing
with a time of 2:16.47 just af-
ter Edelbute who fi nished in
2:15.47, however she placed
seventh due to her preliminary
time of 2:18 and Raade’s of
2:09. Dukes placed fourth in the
same race for the boys with a
speedy time of 2:00.21.
Please see SWIMMING, Page 3B
The senior saw his last games in Lion country last week
(pending the playoff picture). Hopkins had a double-
double with 14 points and 10 rebounds against Sisters
and contributed 12 points to help his team win against
Junction City, despite being in foul trouble at one point.