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About Cottage Grove sentinel. (Cottage Grove, Or.) 1909-current | View Entire Issue (Feb. 8, 2017)
B S PORTS WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 8, 2017 Section B South Lane County Sports and Recreation Contact Sports, 942-3325 or e-mail sports@cgsentinel.com Fans go wild as Lions down Elmira with last-second free throws; Cottage Grove now on fi ve-game winning streak Hudson Weybright's foul shots left Elmira coaches, players and fans in a loud uproar as Cottage Grove comes away with a thrilling victory BY SAM WRIGHT sports@cgsentinel.com If fans thought the Lady Lions couldn’t put on a more uproari- ous performance than the up- set at Sutherlin, they would be wrong as of Thursday evening when Cottage Grove hosted and defeated Elmira, 39-37, a game that had fans and parents from both sides relentlessly yelling, cheering and booing. Cottage Grove got off to a strong start, and the momentum from winning four games in a row seemed to be carrying over. Elmira’s game plan was to take a lot of shots from the outside, which worked to the advantage of Cottage Grove as they were able to make a lot of defensive rebounds. Elmira shot a total of 23 three-pointers (compared to Cottage Grove’s fi ve) and only managed to make three. But the Falcons made the three-pointers when they were needed. The Lions had managed to gain a 21-17 lead at halftime but couldn’t hold it through the third quarter. Cottage Grove had a 27-24 lead as time was running out at the end of the quarter. The Falcons took a last-second shot from just over the half-court line for a buzzer-beater three and a tied game heading into the fi nal period. Cottage Grove’s Sierra Blom- quist started off the fourth quar- ter with a well-poised three- point shot in response to the last Photo by Sam Wright Senior Hannah Albrech reaches to put in a layup to help maintain the Lions' fi rst-half lead. points of the third quarter. But Elmira wasn’t going anywhere. The fourth quarter was anoth- er blow-for-blow quarter. Trad- ing basket for basket, neither team was able to gain the edge on the other. That’s when senior Hudson Weybright stepped into the spotlight. Weybright is a starter and one of the much more experienced players on the team. Howev- er, she stays relatively quiet in terms of scoring. That’s because she’s busy directing traffi c as a point guard. Not to mention, her aggressive defensive play results in a lot of turnovers for the opposing teams. But when the game was dead- locked at 37-37, it was Wey- bright who had the ball with seconds left. After the Lions inbounded the ball, Weybright took it to the right corner of the free-throw line near the top of the key and put up a prayer to avoid overtime. She was fouled as she shot and the clock ran out. This was supposed to be the fi nal play, and all Weybright had to do was make one of three free throws and the game would be over. That’s when the term “up- roarious” came into play. There Boys roll past Falcons Rout of the Falcons still leaves Sky-Em League in three-way deadlock was already a lot of yelling from both sides on what fans believed to be bad calls, and this was the fi nal straw. Falcon’s head coach Ken Best attempted to protest the ruling. Weybright hit her fi rst free throw, making it 38-37, and the offi cials called the game over. Elmira fans roared in protest and Best argued his side that the whistle had to have been blown before the buzzer went off and the ball arrived at the rim. The offi cials gave in to Best’s de- mands and half of a second was put back on the clock. “Apparently they can [do that],” said Head Coach Kev- in Yoss on the rule change. However, Yoss wasn’t too con- cerned about the ruling and said Please see GIRLS' TRIUMPH, Page 3B Athlete of the Week Weybright's leadership and poise give Lions a nail-biting win over Falcons BY SAM WRIGHT sports@cgsentinel.com The Lions entered their sec- ond round of league play with a strong and dominating perfor- mance against Elmira on Thurs- day. Throughout the game, players were padding stats and adding style points to their per- formance. But by no means was it boastful. A fl urry of fast breaks called for trick passes and high-jumping layups. Cottage Grove started off hot from the beginning, outscor- ing the Falcons 23-9 in the fi rst and second quarters (Falcons collapsing seems to be a motif this week). At a 46-18 halftime score, the game was all but over. Elmira managed to wake up offensively, putting up 20 points in the third quarter. But that Please see BOYS' WIN, Page 3B Photo by Sam Wright Tucker Porter leaps for a layup on a fast-break against Elmira on Thursday. Cottage Grove wrestlers host CG Invitational, look to district tournament BY SAM WRIGHT sports@cgsentinel.com The Cottage Grove wrestling team made several impressive individual presentations last weekend as they hosted their annual Cottage Grove Invita- tional. Starting things off, junior Ed- man Nicolas-Gaspar fell just shy of a bronze medal in the 106-pound weight class. Nico- las-Gaspar started off by receiv- ing a bye, but then lost a close match up against Alexander Gardner of Grants Pass in the second championship round. The loss put him in the con- solation rounds, where Nico- las-Gaspar won three in a row. First, he won by a 10-7 de- cision over Menkaure Sevil- la-Bazan of Crescent Valley, and then he pinned Justin Curp of Lowell in the second round. Nicolas-Gaspar then defeated Dylan Edwards by pinning him in 1:49. That pin sent him to the consolation semifi nal match up where he won via medical forfeit over Brock Bresser of Henley. That sent him to the third-place match where he was pinned by Gage Dill early in the match. Nicolas-Gaspar fi nished in fourth place in his weight class and awarded the Lions 18 team points. In the 120-pound weight class, Aaron Boitz pinned two opponents in a row to send him to the quarterfi nals. Boitz fi rst pinned Landen Timeus of Gold Beach in just 42 seconds, and then he pinned Bailey Wentz in the second round. Legend Lamer, undefeated this season out of Crescent Val- ley, pinned Boitz, sending him to the consolation rounds. Boitz won by major decision over Gabe Syverson (9-0 de- cision) and then won again by decision of Kody Grossman of Henley. In the consolation semi- fi nal, Boitz lost to Cole Waldron of Douglas, but then defeated Kent McIntosh of Lowell for the fi fth-place match. The fi fth place fi nish gave the Lions an- other 18 team points. Boitz was the last Lion wres- tler to place, but not the last one to earn points for a team that has faced diffi culties throughout the season. Luke Johns managed to pin Jason Dardis of Willamette in just 42 seconds, earning the Li- ons four more team points. Though the team is missing players such as the Bordeaux brothers this season, there are still wrestlers (such as Boitz) who well perform well at the district meet. The Special Dis- trict 2 meet for 4A schools will take place on Feb. 10 and Feb. 11 at Philomath High School. Senior Hudson Weybright only had two points against Elmira, but she kept her team in the game with strong defense and effective passing. The two points came when she was sent to the free-throw line with 0.5 sec- onds left in the game and gave Cottage Grove the lead. Cottage Grove cheerleading is heading to the OSAA State Finals! Wish the team luck at their send off on Friday, Feb. 10 at 12:15 at CGHS and down Main Street