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About Cottage Grove sentinel. (Cottage Grove, Or.) 1909-current | View Entire Issue (Jan. 4, 2017)
B S PORTS Wednesday, January 4, 2017 Section B South Lane County Sports and Recreation Contact Sports, 942-3325 or e-mail sports@cgsentinel.com Lions rain threes on Marist, rout Spartans in 5A matchup Cottage Grove bounced back against Douglas and Marist after losing to Philomath before Christmas with two routs in a row BY SAM WRIGHT The Cottage Grove Sentinel The Cottage Grove Lions responded to a frustrating loss against Philomath over the holiday break by dominant per- formances over Douglas and Marist Catholic. Three days before Christmas, the Lions visited Philomath in a game in which Cottage Grove stayed poised to take the lead and win the game but couldn’t surpass a stubborn Warriors’ team. Cottage Grove and Philomath traded basket for basket in a slow, defensive game. The War- riors went on a small run in the second quarter to give them- selves a small 24-18 lead over the Lions at the end of the fi rst half. The two teams stayed even throughout the third quarter, 14 points per team, and a fi nal surge wasn’t enough for Cot- tage Grove to make a comeback and the Lions took their second loss of the season 41-46. The Lions’ offensive attack was slowed, as Cottage Grove only shot 35 percent (15 of 42) from the fi eld and only 50 per- cent from the free throw line. The Warriors’ offensive per- formance wasn’t much better, however, as Philomath shot 45 percent from the fi eld (19 of 42) and 57 percent from the free throw line. Blake Sentman led the Lions in scoring with 16 points but was only fi ve of 16 from the fi eld. DeJean Alonzo and Hunt- er Gipson followed with eight points each. The Lions had a few days of rest before getting back into the rhythm of things. On Dec. 28, Cottage Grove hosted Douglas. The Lions were the heavy favor- ite and they proved just that by dismantling the now 4-6 Trojans 76-55. The Douglas win was a bounce-back the Lions needed, but Cottage Grove fi nished off 2016 with a staggering perfor- mance over Marist Catholic. Marist, although only a two- win team, is a class 5A team and an annual opponent of the Lions. Last year, Cottage Grove suffered a 10-point loss at the hands of the Marist Spartans. After the fi rst half, there was no doubt that the Lions had turned the tables. From the beginning, Cottage Grove started off hot, sinking multiple three-point shots to gain a comfortable lead. In the second quarter, the Lions out- scored the Spartans 26-11, mak- ing their 46-24 halftime lead seem almost insurmountable The Spartans weren’t going to go away to easily, however. The Marist roster holds threat- ening athletes such as the six- foot-six Jack Courtemanche and guard Spencer Franssen, each of whom had 15 and 14 points, respectively. Marist attempted to crawl its way back into the Please see , Page B Photo by Sam Wright Tucker Porter was one of seven Lions to sink a three-pointer against Marist, Friday. Swimming gets off to the right start Strong performances on both sides bode well for Aqua Lions BY SAM WRIGHT The Cottage Grove Sentinel With many swimmers com- ing from Cottage Grove’s strong water polo team, the Aqua Lion started the swimming season on the right foot, especially on the girls’ side. Cottage Grove opened up the season earlier in December by winning a meet over Junction City and Churchill. Nadia Witt, Clover Rudicel and Tori Raade led the way in the 200-meter medley relay, taking fi rst place with a time of 3:11.53, and they didn’t stop there. Tori Raade took fi rst place in the 200-meter freestyle and teammate Nadia Witt took sec- ond directly behind her. Raade fi nished in 2:16.9 and Witt fi nished with 2:29.65. Emma Meyers took fi rst place in the 366-meter inter-medley with 1:57.33. Meyers also took sec- ond in the 100-meter butterfl y with 1:31.41, behind Churchill’s Steward who fi nished in an in- credible 69 seconds. Freshman Makayla Baird broke out onto the CG swim- ming scene by taking fi rst place in the 66-meter freestyle race in 40.75 seconds. She then won the 100-meter freestyle in 65.41 seconds; Rudicel fi nished sec- ond in 69.35 seconds. Raade took another fi rst-place spot in the 500-meter freestyle in a time of 6:07.44, nearly two minutes faster than the second- place fi nisher. Rudicel also took another fi rst-place win in the 100-me- ter breast stroke in a time of 1:26.81. The girls fi nished the meet by winning the 400-meter relay. Baird, Raade, Witt and Rudicel combined to fi nish the race in 4:31.44. After all the points were tallied, the meet fi nished with Cottage Grove on top with 74 points compared to Churchill’s 66 and Junction City’s 26. Notable Lion victories from Northwest Duels The Cottage Grove Lions’ wrestling team recently com- peted in the Northwest Duels. Although the team only secured one win (over Franklin), there were notable individual victo- ries throughout the duels. In the 126-pound weight class, Aaron Boitz won four matches. In the fi rst one, Boitz pinned his fi rst opponent from Centen- nial in the fi rst round. He then beat Kobe Santoyo by decision, 5-4. Against South Salem, he defeated Brian Bates in the fi rst round, as he did against Vincent Huang of Franklin. In the 160- pound weight class, Nathan Far- rell pinned Centennial’s Bailey Sparks early in the third round. Farrell also had a win over Christopher Serrano of Wood- burn by a 4-3 decision. Against South Salem, Farrell beat Mario Jiminez-Cruz by pinning him in the second round. He capped off his wins with a 5-0 decision victory over Franklin’s Anthony Wilson. Adam Lamb racked up sever- al wins in the 285-pound weight class. Against Centennial, Lamb dropped Adam Bounphisay early in the fi rst round. He then defeated Tate Elliot of Chiawa- na by pinning him in the third round. Lamb got his third pin against Edwin Garcia against Woodburn in the fi rst round. The Lions’ 42-18 victory over Franklin saw other notable wins from wrestlers such as Travis Thomas who won in a 6-3 de- cision in the 145-pound weight class. Kevin Dennis pinned Alec Skelton in the second round. Dennis had another notable vic- tory over David Cruz of Sunset in the 195-pound weight class. The Churchill boys domi- nated the meet on the other side, but not without Ian Dukes tak- ing fi rst place in the 500-meter freestyle (5:36.95) and Seth Chambers winning the 100-me- ter backstroke (65.5 seconds). On Dec. 20, the girls’ team fi nished just two points behind North Eugene in a meet against North Eugene and Junction City. The squad of Witt, Rudicel, Baird and Raade once again took a fi rst-place fi nish in the 200-meter medley relay in 2:15.06, just under 40 seconds faster than North Eugene’s “A” squad. Then, Raade fi nished the 200-meter freestyle in a time of 2:12.89 and another fi rst-place fi nish under her belt, along with the 500-meter freestyle in 5:52.84. Witt and Meyers took fi rst and second, respectively, in the 200-meter inter-medley race in 2:44.57 and 3:00.87. Meyers also won the 100-meter free- style in 1:11.55. The Aqua Lions fi nished by winning the last three events. Witt won the 100-meter back stroke, Rudicel won the breast stroke and the relay team of Baird, Raade, Witt and Rudicel won the 400-meter freestyle re- lay once again. The lack of depth resulted in North Eugene being able to earn more points in each event, which gave them a 122-95 victory over Cottage Grove. Junction City fi nished with 52 points. Similar circumstances re- sulted in the boys being vastly outscored by North Eugene. But Chambers managed a 100-me- ter backstroke victory (1:03.5) and Dukes won the 100-meter breast stroke (1:11.16). “I think we’re doing re- ally good on both sides,” Head Coach Tyson Pilling said of his team. The coach expressed that it will be a competitive season with a stacked girls’ roster. The Cot- tage Grove girls' bas- ketball team put a stop to a four- game skid by taking home a vic- tory against Crook Coun- ty, 43-36. It was the second win the Lions have earned this sea- son, but Head Coach Kevin Yoss believes the team is getting better with each game. This week Cottage Grove will host South Umpqua and then travel to Stayton on Friday. Athlete of the Week Sentman leads Lions on two offensive tirades against Marist and Douglas responding strongly to a close Philomath loss Senior Blake Sentman and the Lions were stumped in a close but extremely low-scoring game against the Philomath Warriors, but the Cottage Grove Li- ons came back after the Holidays to fi nish off 2016 with a strong statement. The Lions beat routed Douglas 76-55 and then racked up a whopping 89 points on Friday against Marist Catholic. Sentman fi nished with 30 points against Douglas and 21 points against Marist. Sentman was a combined fi ve for seven from be- yond the three-point line.
