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.