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.