B
S PORTS
Wednesday, January 18, 2017
Section B
South Lane County Sports and Recreation
Contact Sports, 942-3325 or e-mail sports@cgsentinel.com
Sky-Em time: What the Lions need to
improve on and what they are doing well
Cottage Grove's loss
to Elmira on Friday
has given the team
insight on what it
needs to improve on,
but also what it is
effective at
BY SAM WRIGHT
sports@cgsentinel.com
The girls’ basketball team
started off on the wrong foot in
league play with a loss to the El-
mira Falcons on Friday evening.
The Falcons put the Lions away
50-34 in a game where shooting
was ultimately the deciding fac-
tor.
Elmira shot profi ciently
throughout the game, especially
from beyond the three-line and
at the free throw line. In fact, it
was the outside shooting game
that beat the Lions.
Cottage Grove outscored El-
mira 24-0 in the paint, but the
Falcons shot nearly 30 percent
from the three-point line (fi ve of
17), while the Lions sank only
one of six. The Lions were also
only seven of 27 from the free
throw line (26 percent) while
the Falcons sank 17 of 30 free
throws (56.6 percent).
Turnovers were once again
a big issue for Cottage Grove.
The Lions turned the ball over
19 times while the Falcons only
gave it up 10 times.
The game was slow for the
Lions from the start, managing
only six points in the fi rst quar-
ter. A little life was sparked in
the second quarter, and Cottage
Grove increased their score to
20 just before the half ended.
But Elmira still managed to
score 11 points in the fi rst quar-
ter and a painful 19 points in the
second quarter for a 10-point
lead to start the third quarter.
The start of the second half
was even slower than the start
of the fi rst half for the Lions,
but they did manage to slow
down Elmira for a little while.
The two teams combined for
Photo by Sam Wright
Hannah Albrecht defl ects a pass from South Umpqua's point guard. The Lions have used this effective three-quarter-court press to stuff offenses.
only nine points total in the
third quarter, but it was the
Falcons who scored eight and
the Lions who scored one. The
Lions did eventually outscore
Elmira in the fourth quarter, 13-
12, but the game was far too out
of reach and a comeback didn’t
seem feasible.
Head Coach Kevin Yoss stat-
ed that shooting was defi nitely
the issue.
“We just weren’t hitting
shots,” he said. Yoss added,
however, that the fi eld goal is-
sue was more or less an isolated
incident, and fi eld goal percent-
Lions end two-game
losing streak with
powerful win over
Elmira Friday
BY SAM WRIGHT
sports@cgsentinel.com
Boys’ basketball fans need no
longer worry, for the Lions have
ended a two-game losing streak
by simply dismantling Elmira in
a 59-41 rout of the Falcons on
Friday evening.
Cottage Grove had just come
off of two losses: a close over-
time loss to South Umpqua at
home and then a road loss to
Stayton three days later.
The Lions were scheduled to
face Gladstone last Thursday,
but Portland weather had dif-
ferent plans, and the game was
cancelled. That moved the El-
mira game up a few days to play
on Friday instead of the follow-
ing Tuesday, which was fortu-
nate for the Falcons as it was
probably best to get this game
over with as soon as possible.
It took Cottage Grove a while
to really break away, but the
lead was never truly threatened
all game. The Lions went up
13-7 in the fi rst quarter and then
outscored the Falcons again 15-
10 to take a 28-17 lead at half-
time. The Falcons showed a bit
of life by outscoring the Lions
16-14 in the third quarter, and
making it a nine-point game go-
ing into the fourth.
Cottage Grove had lost its
last two games by allowing
fourth-quarter surges by the oth-
er team, but it didn’t seem like it
was going to happen this time.
With DeJean Alonzo, Blake
Sentman and Kory Parent lead-
ing the way, Cottage Grove had
their own fourth-quarter surge
with 17 points and keeping the
Falcons to only eight points.
The 18-point win is the largest
win margin Cottage Grove has
had all season. In the 15-point
win over Marist Catholic, the
Lions led by nearly 30 points at
one point in the game, but a late
run by Marist brought its defi -
cit to only 15 by the end of the
game.
Cottage Grove shot 44 per-
cent from the fi eld and allowed
Elmira to shoot only 31 percent.
The Lions were barely out-
rebounded (30-31) by the Fal-
cons, but Cottage Grove forced
more turnover, capitalizing on
those turnovers along with sec-
ond-chance opportunities.
Alonzo led his team with 14
points on the night, shooting
an accurate 71 percent from
the fi eld and was one-for-one
from beyond the three-point
line. Sentman followed Alonzo
with 13 points, shooting fi ve-
of-nine from the fi eld (two-for-
four from three. But the two
top-scorers were both only 50
percent from the free throw line.
Parent fi nished with 11 points
with only two shots from the
fi eld (one of them being a
three-pointer), but was perfect
on his six free throws.
The Lions proved once again
that a balanced team that works
together is a successful one. No
single player (except on a few
occasions) blatantly outscores
his teammates. Alonzo usually
fi nds himself among the top-
three scorers, but does not usu-
ally lead the team. With Hunter
Gipson adding eight points to
the effort, Cottage Grove’s top
four scorers were all within 6
points of each other. Compare
that to Elmira, whose leading
scorer was seven points ahead
of the next player.
ages have been much better in
earlier games.
What remains a consistent
issue, according to Yoss, is the
free throw shooting.
“Games could’ve turned out
much differently if we did bet-
ter at the free throw line,” Yoss
said. And the numbers don’t lie.
The Lions lost by 16 points
against Elmira, but they missed
20 free throws. Had Cottage
Grove shot free throws as well
as the Falcons, the game could
have been 41-50, a much more
manageable defi cit to come
back from in the last minutes
of the game. The Lions most
accurate shooting on the night
was Ema Gardner, who shot 57
percent from the fi eld (four of
seven) but missed all four of her
free throws. High scorer Reilly
Kelty came away with 11 points
but was only 35.7 percent (fi ve
of 14) from the line.
But what the Lions are doing
very well is rebounding. Cot-
tage Grove out-rebounded El-
mira 43-31.
“We have a goal to have 12
or more rebounds more than the
opponent each game, and Fri-
day we reached that goal,” Yoss
Athlete of
the Week
DeJean Alonzo brings Lions out of losing
skid in Sky-Em opener
Photo by Sam Wright
DeJean Alonzo led the Cottage Grove Lions in scoring
on Friday in their Sky-Em debut against the Elmira Fal-
cons. Alonzo is the second highest scorer this season
with 105 points.
Cottage Grove’s next games City that held the number one
against Sisters and Sweet Home spot as league play began, and
will be diffi cult. Sisters current- the Lions beat them twice. It
ly holds the number one spot will be interesting to see how
in the Sky-Em and is ranked this year’s Cottage Grove team
fourth overall in the state. But takes on the Sky-Em league.
the Outlaws have the same 9-4
record as the Lions.
Last year, it was Junction
said.
In their loss against Stay-
ton, the Lions won the rebound
battle 37-23 and in their win
against South Umpqua, they
had a whopping 55 rebounds
(32 offensive, which accounted
for 22 second-chance points)
against 36 rebounds. Kelty and
Gardner accounted for 11 each
against Elmira.
Furthermore, the Lions have
proven to be very annoying de-
fensively. Cottage Grove dis-
played a 3-2 three-quarter-court
press defense that has given
them takeaways and a lot of
points off of turnovers.
Moving forward, Yoss says
the team will focus on ball han-
dling to reduce turnovers and
free throw shooting.
“We’re smart enough to make
the right decisions, but we have
to make sure we are passing the
ball physically well,” Yoss said,
adding emphasis that passing
the ball comes from the physical
effort of both players involved
in the pass.
This week, the Lions take on
Sisters and Sweet Home at Cot-
tage Grove High School.
Matmen fall to
Falcons in Sky-Em dual
See results on pg. 3B
Report hunt results by Jan. 31
$25 penalty for not reporting
deer and elk tags
Any hunter who purchased
2016 big game or turkey tags
needs to report their hunt results
by the deadline, which is Jan.
31, 2017 for most tags.
Hunters are required to re-
port on each deer, elk, cougar,
bear, pronghorn and turkey tag
purchased—even if they were
not successful or did not hunt.
Sports Pac license holders need
to report on each big game or
turkey tag issued.
Hunters have two ways to re-
port:
Online via www.odfw.com
or reportmyhunt.com either at
home or by visiting an ODFW
offi ce with a computer available
for Hunter Reporting (ODFW
fi eld or regional offi ces in Adair
Village/Corvallis, Bend, Clack-
amas, La Grande, Portland-Sau-
vie Island, Roseburg, Salem
Headquarters, Springfi eld, Til-
lamook.)
By telephone: Call 1-866-
947-6339 to talk to a customer
service representative from 6
a.m. to 10:00 p.m. PT, seven
days a week.
Reporting deadlines are:
Jan. 31, 2017 for all 2016
hunts that ended by Dec. 31,
2016
April 15, 2017 for all 2016
hunts that end between Jan. 1-
March 31, 2017
Hunters need the following
pieces of information to report,
which takes just a couple of
minutes:
Hunter/Angler ID number
(located on ODFW licenses,
tags and applications; this is a
permanent number that stays
the same from year-to-year)
The two digit Wildlife Man-
agement Unit (WMU) number
of the Unit you hunted in most
and the Unit you harvested an
animal in if successful.
The total number of days
hunted (including mentoring
youth), the number of days hunt-
ed in the WMU hunted most,
and the number of days hunted
in the WMU you harvested an
animal in if successful.
$25 penalty for not reporting
deer and elk tags
Hunters who fail to report
2016 deer or elk tags on time
will be penalized $25 when
they purchase a 2018 hunting
license. This penalty is assessed
once, regardless of the number
of unreported tags.
As of Jan. 10, 2017, about 53
percent of elk tags and 51 per-
cent of deer tags have been re-
ported for hunts with a Jan. 31
reporting deadline. ODFW will
be sending reminder postcards
to hunters who haven’t reported
yet later this month.
“The information hunters
provide is needed to evaluate
hunting seasons and tag num-
bers,” said ODFW Game Pro-
gram Manager Tom Thornton.
“We really appreciate hunters
taking a few minutes of their
time to complete the report.”
The funds generated by pen-
alty fees are being used to in-
crease Oregon State Police pa-
trol and enforcement of winter
range closures in Oregon. These
closures help deer, elk and oth-
er wildlife survive the winter
by limiting disturbances from
people.