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