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About Cottage Grove sentinel. (Cottage Grove, Or.) 1909-current | View Entire Issue (March 8, 2017)
B S PORTS Section B WEDNESDAY, MARCH 8, 2017 South Lane County Sports and Recreation Contact Sports, 942-3325 or e-mail sports@cgsentinel.com Lions can't hold on against Braves Hunter Gipson jumps for a layup after a fastbreak. Kory Parent pulls up for a jump shot. Despite a second-half comeback, Cottage Grove was unable to maintain its lead as Banks hit a money shot in the fi nal seconds of the game By Sam Wright sports@cgsentinel.com Cottage Grove couldn’t hold on to a late comeback on Fri- day night, as the Lions fell to the Banks Braves in a game that came down to the wire. Senior Blake Sentman from the Lions drove to the basket to take a 35-34 lead with about one minute left in the game. But a lot can happen in 60 seconds of basketball, and Banks retook the lead about 10 seconds later. Senior Jake Evans from Banks was fed the ball at the top of the key and sank a three-pointer that would lead to the Braves’ victory and a chance for their fi rst state title in 32 years. Neither team led by more than fi ve points throughout the entire game, and at any moment, any team could take the game. Just as Cottage Grove had regained momentum, Banks took it right back, and in the last 50 seconds, the Lions weren’t able to sink anything. In fact, that was the case all game, as Cottage Grove was only 12 of 36 from the fi eld (33 percent). Banks had the same percentage from beyond the three-point line. The Braves managed a 42 percent shooting rate from the fi eld and also won the battle at the free-throw line. Cottage Grove shot just 57 percent (eight of 14) from the free-throw line, while Banks shot a solid 80 percent (12 of 15). But shooting was the only aspect of the game that Cottage Grove struggled in. The Lions out-rebounded the Braves 21- 14, despite the Braves having six-foot-seven Blake Gobel (soph.) and six-foot-six Dalton Renne (junior). The Lions had three more steals (four to one). The Braves also had six turn- overs on the night while Cottage Grove only had four. “We played hard, it was just that we didn’t make enough shots,” Head Coach Donn Pol- lard said. The Lions took an early lead with a pair of three-point shots by Sentman, who was the high scorer of the game for both sides. By the end of the fi rst quarter, Cottage Grove held a four-point lead. But the Braves outscored the Lions 14-7 in the second quarter, and held a 23- 20 lead over Cottage Grove at halftime. In the seconds before the sec- ond half ended, Sentman drove down the court and pulled up to hit a miraculous three-pointer as the buzzer went off, but it was Girls' basketball season comes to a close The girls' basketball team fi nished its season in the fi rst round of the playoffs, falling to Cascade 26-51. It was only the second loss in the last 11 games for Cottage Grove. The Lions went on a seven-game winning streak during league play, and fought their way back into a second-place fi nish in the Sky-Em League. Cottage Grove began its season at 3-11 and fi nished the regular season at 11-11. Cottage Grove improved to 12-11 after beating Madras in an exciting play-in game, giving the Lions the last available spot in the playoffs. The departing seniors this year are Hudson Weybright, Carly Sand, Kaitlyn Brooks and Hannah Albrecht. All-League honors for CGHS chess player The Cottage Grove High School Lions’ varsity chess team had a tough season this year, fi n- ishing at the bottom of the Mid- western League. Team Captain Christopher Glesmann did earn a second-team All-League tro- phy. Other Lions players, all of whom won a few games in the 10-match league competition, were Spencer Falk, Alexander Reismann, Justin Long, Zeak Bray, and Taylor Henry, with Lincoln Middle School’s Maia Wilhour contributing some JV wins. The league’s varsity champion team was Pleasant Hill, followed by South Eugene and Junction City. In junior var- sity competition Junction City took fi rst place, with Pleasant Hill and Willamette next, and the Lions in fourth place. This year Cottage Grove did not attend the annual Oregon High School Chess Team State Championships at Hillsboro High School. There a new team from Catlin Gabel, a 3A private school playing in their fi rst state tournament, won the varsity ti- tle, beating the perennial Port- land 6A powerhouses Lincoln, Jesuit and Wilson. Catlin Ga- bel’s Seth Talyansky is current- ly the top scholastic player in Oregon and has earned the title of National Master through the United States Chess Federation. In the Junior Varsity section Catlin Gabel also dominated, becoming co-champions with Wilson High School and Happy Valley Middle School. The Oregon High School Chess Team Association (OHSCTA) is hoping to draw more schools to the 2018 cham- pionships to be held at Roseburg High School late next winter. Lions Team Captain Christopher Glesmann enjoys his second-team All- League trophy. ruled that he didn’t get the shot off in time, and the basket didn’t count. Cottage Grove had tied the game up by the time the teams entered the fourth quarter. Then the Lions went cold again, and the ball refused to go into the basket. Sentman led the game with 21 points on the night and shot a solid eight of 17, including two three-pointers. Parent fol- lowed with nine points, and the only other player from Cottage Grove to score was Hunter Gip- son with fi ve points. While Sentman shot a solid 47 percent from the fi eld, he only made three out of his eight free throws (37.5 percent). Par- ent was only two for 11 from the fi eld (18 percent, one of eight from three-point range), but the senior hit all four of his free throws. DeJean Alonzo led the team in rebounds with six, but just behind him was Tucker Porter with fi ve and Gipson with four. The loss marks the end of the season for Cottage Grove, which was fi ve points away from going to the state tourna- ment for the third time in four years. Responsible shed hunting critical with harsh winter As weather breaks and snow begins melting at lower eleva- tions, more hunters are expected to take to Oregon’s outdoors— not for the chance to harvest a deer or elk but to look for their shed antlers. (Oregon’s buck deer shed their antlers from late December through March and bull elk shed them from late February through early April.) But one prominent member of the sport is recommending shed hunters delay their search awhile longer. “I’ve lived here in central Oregon for almost 20 years. We’ve had some big snow years but this is the longest time I’ve seen snow consistently on the ground—since Thanksgiving,” says Rob Tanner, co-founder of Oregon Shed Hunters, an orga- nization devoted to education about ethical shed hunting. “It’s making it diffi cult for wildlife to get around, especially deer.” Tanner admits it’s tempting to go out now, especially because severe winters can congregate deer and elk and make for prime shed hunting. “It’s easy to think since there is not a lot of snow now that the critters are fi ne, but that’s not necessarily the case,” he added. “They are still burn- ing winter reserves and aren’t ready for people to be pushing them around.” Tanner recommends delay- ing shed hunting until later in spring. The organization has even pushed its annual Group Shed Hunt back a few weeks until late March. “If we want to preserve our shed hunting ways we need to make every effort possible to be ethical,” says Tanner. “Utah has closed the entire state to shed hunting this year because of the hard winter. If we don’t want regulations like that for Oregon, it’s import- ant that we all practice ethical shed hunting.” While Oregon has no specif- ic season for shed hunting, the state has closures and motor ve- hicle restrictions in parts of the state known to serve as winter range for deer and elk. The full list can be found in the current Oregon Big Game Regulations (and below). Oregon State Police are ex- pecting to see an increase in shed hunting activity as snow melts and areas become more accessible. Troopers have been conducting saturation patrols of the state’s winter ranges to pro- tect deer and elk from poachers and other illegal activity, in- cluding violating road closures. OSP and ODFW also want to remind shed hunters of a few other regulations. Remember it is only legal to pick up naturally shed antlers in the wild, not ant- lers with skulls attached. Oregon Big Game Regula- tions (page 29) state that “No person shall possess or trans- port any game mammal or part thereof which has been illegal- ly killed, found or killed for humane reasons, except shed antlers, unless they have noti- fi ed and received permission from personnel of the Oregon State Police or ODFW prior to transporting.” (Note that such permission is rarely given and it’s usually only for situations where skull/antlers will be used for education purposes.) People are allowed to sell or exchange shed antlers, but cer- tain rules apply. Only naturally shed antlers, antlers detached from the skull, or a skull split apart can be sold or exchanged. For antlers detached from the skull or skulls split apart, the seller must have legally tak- en the game part (e.g. on a big game tag or after receiving per- mission from OSP or ODFW to remove skull and antlers from the wild in the fi rst place.) Past poaching problems led to the regulations. Skulls that are split have less value and are not eligible for record books. These regulations reduce the incentive for someone to kill animals on winter range or out of season, hide the skull, and go back months later and “fi nd it”. A Hide/Antler Dealer permit ($34) is needed to purchase ant- lers for use in the manufacture of handcrafted items.