B
S PORTS
Section B
WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 22, 2017
South Lane County Sports and Recreation
Contact Sports, 942-3325 or e-mail sports@cgsentinel.com
Lions in deadlock for Sky-Em title, tiebreaker to come
Cottage Grove and
Sisters fi nish with
the same league and
overall records, the
Outlaws and Lions
play this week to
decide a winner
By Sam Wright
sports@cgsentinel.com
After losing to Sisters earli-
er in February, Cottage Grove
was no longer in control of its
own destiny in terms of winning
the Sky-Em League. The Lions
now had to count on Sisters los-
ing once more while they had to
focus on winning the fi nal three
games.
Cottage Grove managed to
win its last three games, and
Sutherlin’s upset of Sisters gave
the Lions and Outlaws the same
league record. But Cottage
Grove could not have fi nished
its last three games any better,
and the team beat its fi nal three
opponents by 13 points or more.
Sutherlin derailed Cottage
Grove’s league run in a 43-37
upset over the Lions, but the Li-
ons were determined not to re-
peat their mistakes in round two
during senior night at Cottage
Grove last Tuesday.
The Lions came out swing-
ing and outscored the Bulldogs
21-6 in the fi rst quarter. Suther-
lin managed to shrink its defi cit
to nine at halftime, but Cottage
Grove never relinquished con-
trol of the game and beat the
Bulldogs 50-37.
Senior Blake Sentman led the
game in scoring with 30 points,
tying his second-highest scor-
ing game this season behind the
37-point game against Monte-
sano.
Sentman was seven-of-12
from the fi eld, hitting three
three-pointers in the process
Blake Sentman pushes for a layup against Junction City on Friday night.
and sank 13 of 15 free throws.
Tucker Porter fi nished with 10
points and Kory Parent fol-
lowed with fi ve.
Cottage Grove fi nished shoot-
ing 48 percent from the fi eld
and 50 percent from beyond
the three-point line. The Lions
made 18 of 25 free throws (72
percent).
Despite being out-rebounded
by the Bulldogs, the game came
down to who could shoot the
ball more accurately. Sutherlin
was only 13 of 33 (39 percent),
Athletes of the Week
OHSET rocks district meet
By Shannon Witty
For the Sentinel
On Friday, Feb. 3, the Cot-
tage Grove OHSET (Oregon
High School Equestrian Team)
team began their run toward
a medium school district title.
The 2017 team is composed of
senior Sara Witty, junior Shel-
by Glaspie, sophomores Bella
Gray and Kira Fountain, and
Freshmen Allison Ladd, Sam-
my Wood, Madison Latham and
Hannah Alvarez. Friday is Cow
Day at the OHSET Meet and
Cottage Grove athletes came
ready to play. In steer daubing,
Cottage Grove athletes took 4
of the top 5 spots with Glaspie
in second, Ladd in third, Wood
in fourth and Latham in fi fth.
Then the Cottage Grove A team,
comprised of Witty, Glaspie and
Gray penned three steer in their
fi nal go to take fi rst place in
team penning. Fountain round-
ed out the scoring for CG with
a sixth-place fi nish in Working
Rancher.
Saturday saw great perfor-
mances in working pairs with
the teams of Witty and Ladd,
and Fountain and Wood tying
for second place. Latham add-
ed a second place in Saddle
Seat Equitation, Fountain took
fourth in reining, and Wood tied
for fi fth in reining. Then the
night ended with a stellar victo-
ry in Freestyle 6 Plus Drill for
the Cottage Grove team of Wit-
ty, Glaspie, Fountain, Woods,
Ladd and Latham, outscoring
the second place team by 150
points.
Speed was the name of the
game on Sunday with Gaming
Day. Placing in the top six in
gaming events were: Latham
and Gray (sixth in birangle),
Glaspie (third in barrels), and
Witty (second in Keyhole,
fourth in Figure-8). With all
athletes scoring points in the
meet, Cottage Grove fi nished
in second place for medium
school with 391 points. The
next OHSET Meet is March 3-5
at the Oregon Horse Center in
Eugene.
only 12 percent from the three-
point line and 58 percent on free
throws.
The next and fi nal game of
the season was even better
for the Lions. On the road and
against Junction City (a team
that gave the Lions a scare in
their fi rst game), Cottage Grove
blew away the Tigers in a 73-48
victory.
The Lions started out hot in
the fi rst quarter and then fi n-
ished hot in the fourth quarter.
Cottage Grove took a 21-10 lead
after the fi rst period, and then
each team was able to rack up
18 points on the other. Cottage
Grove was ahead at halftime 39-
28. A 14-9 run by Junction City
in the third quarter brought the
game within six points at 48-42.
But the Lions went off in the
fourth quarter and put the game
out of the Tigers’ reach with a
25-6 fi nal period.
Parent and Sentman put up
50 points together with Parent
scoring 28 points and Sentman
scoring 22.
The Lions were able to make
it rain with three-pointers again,
totaling nine on the night and
shooting 50 percent from be-
yond the arc. Parent individu-
ally made 11 of 17 fi eld goals
(three of six from three-point
range). Sentman made eight of
his 18 attempted fi eld goals but
made fi ve of his 11 three-point
shots. He also fi nished with
four assists, four steals and one
block.
The Lions totaled a whopping
20 assists on the night, seven of
which came from Hunter Gip-
son, who also had fi ve steals
and three blocks to go with his
four points.
The fi nal wins put Cottage
Grove right up there with Sisters
at 16-6 overall and 8-2 in league
play. Sutherlin is currently sixth
in the OSAA rankings while the
Lions sit at 12th. Cottage Grove
now takes on Sisters this week
to determine who gets the fi rst
and second seed playoff spots.
The game will take place on
neutral ground in Sweet Home.
Lady Lions take second in Sky-Em,
play-in match to be announced
By Sam Wright
sports@cgsentinel.com
The Cottage Grove Lady Li-
ons were a basket away from
taking down Sutherlin for a sec-
ond upset. Combining that with
the Junction City win on Friday,
Cottage Grove could have been
the Sky-Em champs after start-
ing the season 3-9. But Suther-
lin was able to hold off an eager
and aggressive Lion team and
was able to take the Sky-Em
crown.
The Lions started off strong
and took a 12-7 lead in the fi rst
period. But a 14-3 second-quar-
ter run by the Bulldogs put Cot-
tage Grove down by six at half
time.
It seemed that the three-time
defending state champions fi -
nally had things going their
way, but the Lions refused to
let Sutherlin pull away on the
scoreboard.
Reilly Kelty helped lead her
team on a comeback. After the
two teams exchanged a few
blows, the Lions were able to
shrink their six-point defi cit to
two points entering the fourth
quarter.
“I challenged the team to
compete and give ourselves a
chance to win it in the fourth
quarter,” Head Coach Kevin
Yoss explained. Only down
by two, Cottage Grove was in
striking distance of taking the
lead. But Sutherlin responded
to the Lions’ rally by putting up
six points in the fourth quarter,
barely giving them the lead.
At 32-31 with a few seconds
left, Cottage Grove had an op-
portunity to inbound the ball
and get one fi nal shot off for
the lead and hopefully the win.
Despite creating enough space
to get the shot off, a last second
attempt didn’t fall for the Lions
PHOTO BY SAM WRIGHT
Hannah Albrecht fi ghts for space against Junction City on Friday night. The Lions fi nished the season with a league
record of 8-2, making their overall record 11-11 after starting the fi rst half of the season at 3-9.
and time expired.
“I was very proud of their ef-
fort, even though the last shot
didn’t fall,” Yoss said.
Despite the loss, Cottage
Grove held Sutherlin to just 25
percent (11 of 44) in shooting
from the fi eld, while the Lions
were at 39 percent. But even
though the Bulldogs only sank
11 shots from the fi eld, fi ve of
those shots were three-point
shots, which were much needed
for Sutherlin, as they were out-
scored 22-6 inside the paint by
the Lions. Cottage Grove also
out-rebounded Sutherlin 39-24.
Not only were the Lions able
to hold Sutherlin to 25 percent
from the fi eld, but they also
managed to get fi ve steals and
two blocks. Although the Bull-
dogs only had one steal for the
whole night, the Lions commit-
ted 24 turnovers compared to
Sutherlin’s 12.
Kelty led the team in scor-
ing with 16 points, followed by
Ema Gardner with eight.
Though the loss was heart-
breaking, the Lions were still
eager to fi ght for second place,
and only Junction City stood in
the way.
The Tigers may have brought
the game within two points on
occasion, Cottage Grove main-
tained its lead and controlled
three of the four quarters. Junc-
tion City managed a few stops
in the second quarter to creep
close to the Lions, but Kelty en-
sured the lead the entire game,
and Cottage Grove walked
away with a 38-29 victory.
The freshman had a whopping
23 points on the night, shooting
61 percent from the fi eld. The
next highest scorer was Gardner
with seven points.
The second-place fi nish
gives the Lions an opportunity
for a play-in match against a
third-place team of a different
league. The game has yet to be
announced but will most likely
land on Friday, Feb. 24 or Sat-
urday, Feb. 25.
With the conclusion of the
regular season, the All-League
selections are also made.
Sutherlind’s Taylor Strickland
won Player of the Year. How-
ever, Coach of the Year—which
usually goes to the coach of the
fi rst-place team—was award to
Yoss.
Kelty was the only one from
Cottage Grove that got a spot on
First Team All-League roster,
but Gardner and Keara Mur-
phy earned Second Team All-
League spots.
Cottage Grove had a remark-
able fi nish to its regular season.
The Lions turned a 3-9 record
into an 11-11 record. Look for
updates on Facebook and Twit-
ter for the announcement of the
next game.