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About Cottage Grove sentinel. (Cottage Grove, Or.) 1909-current | View Entire Issue (Dec. 27, 2017)
B S PORTS Section B Lions migrate North Wednesday, December 27, 2017 South Lane County Sports and Recreation Contact Sports, 942-3325 or e-mail zsilva@cgsentinel.com Lions struggle to score, Warriors walk away with win Cottage Grove boys basketball team heads to Alaska for tournament By Zach Silva A group of 13 basketball play- ers and four coaches from the Cottage Grove boys basketball team are headed to Alaska to take part in the 51st Annual Joe Floyd Basketball Tournament. First year Cottage Grove head coach Nick Finley coached in Alaska for the last three years and brought his team from Ninilchik to the tournament last year. When a spot opened up in the tournament this year, the Kodiak High School athletic di- rector called Finley and asked if he would be interested in play- ing. “[It’s] a pretty big deal to fi ll a spot at the last minute when you’re on an island so you have to fl y people in and out,” said Finley at the December school board meeting. “[The athletic director] actually said it was cheaper to fl y us from here then to fl y one of the smaller schools from one of the villages there.” The Kodiak School Board pledged to assist with fl ight pay- ments through donated fl ight miles from community mem- bers and companion fares. The amount of money that Cottage Grove High School paid for the trip has not been disclosed. At the school board meeting Finley reported that addition- al costs will be coming from a basketball fund and athletic di- rector Gary Roberts said that no money will be coming from the athletic or general school fund. For the students who will be going on the trip, half have nev- er been on a plane before. “There are some kids on the team that might not have the opportunity to travel. It just doesn’t work into their family's budget or they don’t have time for it so we think this is a really good way to get some of those kids to do something that might only happen once, or very few times, in their life,” said Gabe Glenn, a senior on the basket- ball team, at the school board meeting. The team was scheduled to leave Cottage Grove at 4 a.m. yesterday and head to Portland for a direct fl ight to Anchor- age. From Anchorage, the team planned to take a fl ight to Ko- diak Island. The team will be staying at Kodiak High School athletic director's house. The tournament will be providing all lunch and dinner meals for the team which includes a seafood banquet tomorrow. The Lions will have one game today, tomorrow and Friday. In that time they will play Kodiak (0-2), Nikiski (1-1) and Lathrop High School (0-4). The schools have enrollment sizes of 664, 221 and 960 respectively. After the tournament is over, the team will have a day in Ko- diak to explore the island and will then fl y back on the 31st. Check back next week to seee how the Lions fared at the tournament PHOTOS BY CG SENTINEL/ZACH SILVA Cottage Grove's Keara Murphy drives by a Philomath defender at home on Wednesday night. Cottage Grove girls basketball team falls to another top team By Zach Silva zsilva@cgsentinel.com In a game that the Lions were never able to get into an offensive rhythm, it was Philomath that was able to capitalize and get a road victory Wednesday night in Cottage Grove. For Cottage Grove, the team was playing their sec- ond game in as many days. Head coach Kevin Yoss noted that after their away loss at Madras on Tuesday night he did not get home until 3 a.m. “We had a tough game last night… And [Philomath is] a good team. They’re much improved from last year but we can’t use excuses though, either. We’ve got to play with what’s in front of us and we’ve got to do a better job,” said Yoss. From the start, it was both teams struggling to get their offense going. Philomath took the lead from the free throw lines and didn’t score from the fi eld until a three halfway through the quarter that put them up 8-2 in the early goings. But down 18-8 in the second quarter, Cottage Grove was able to respond. Through intensifi ed defensive pressure, especially from point guard Tara Child, the Lions created turnovers and put together a 10-1 run to get within one point late in the second quarter. Before the Lions could close out the quarter on a high note it was the Warriors stepping up and hitting a pair of threes to go up 25-19 at the half. From the start of the second half the Lions looked to get the ball to their one offensive bright spot in post Reilly Kelty. As Kelty worked for position on the block, often double-teamed, the Lions worked the ball around the perimeter but struggled to fi nd their intend- ed target, Kelty, and turned the ball over on multiple possessions. Kelty fi nished the game with a game-high 18 points. “Until we can get it so we bend our knees, recog- nize that we can dribble – we’re allowed to dribble and attack the rim sometimes – then we’ll be better off. But until we get that mentality that we can dribble and attack the rim we’re going to struggle to score. And I think that’s a little of what you saw tonight,” said Yoss. In the early minutes of the fourth quarter the Lions cut the lead to nine but were never able to get any clos- er. The Warriors continued to get to the free throw line and fi nd ways to score as they closed the game. Reiley Reichhuber led Philomath with 14 points. Of the Lions four losses to teams from Oregon (their other loss is to a team from Washington that they played at the Seaside Tournament), all four are cur- rently ranked in the top 10 of the 4A rankings. The team now has a break in their schedule and will Cottage Grove's Reilly Kelty powers past the defense for a bucket. not have another game until January 2 when they trav- el to South Umpqua. Wickman guides Eagles to win Behind Ted Wickman's triple- double, Yoncalla defeats Rogue River By Zach Silva zsilva@cgsentinel.com With poise and ease, it was Yoncalla’s Ted Wickman who secured a triple-double Tuesday night and led the Yoncalla's Ted Wickman comes up with a block in the second half on Tuesday. Eagles to a 71-59 victory over winless Rouge River. Wickman fi nished the game with 28 points, 14 re- at the block. 14 of Lopez’s 16 points came in the fi rst Wickman who took over the game scoring 15 points bounds, 11 assists and six blocks – including two that half. including three three-pointers. The Eagles continued were hit against the backboard – for good measure. “Laaron had a really good game. You know, we’re to build their lead but after a two-minute stretch in the “I was just trying to get everyone involved early,” going to have to depend on him with his size like that. fourth quarter with no points scored, the Chieftains said Wickman. Ted was more of a facilitator tonight and I think he rallied back and cut the lead to nine points before Yon- “Just getting everyone involved opens it up for me.” could have defi nitely went off but that’s the type of calla could close the door on a win. A 6’4” guard, Wickman, whose game straddles the dude Ted is, he realized the matchup with Laaron and “I’ve never been caught up with blowing teams out, line between appearing disengaged and ready to rip the that just worked,” said Yoncalla head coach Jarred [winning by] one or 40, it’s a win. Yeah, a little close heart out of an opponent at any given time, is the en- Eakin. for comfort but I’d rather get the bodies in and get gine that gets the Eagles going. From fast break outlet After trailing 31-28 In the middle of the second ready for conference because through our conference passes that are reminiscent of his quarterback play on quarter it was Yoncalla’s Elijah Allen off the bench it’s going to take every single one of them,” said Eakin. the gridiron to directing teammates where to be on the who hit three three-pointers on consecutive trips down “That to me is more valuable to me than keeping our court, as he goes, so too, does the team. the fl oor to give the Eagles a lead that they would nev- fi ve on and get it up to 30, 40 points. That doesn’t real- In the early going, it was Wickman in the role as er relinquish. ly accomplish anything for me and for us.” distributor as he found his 6’4” big man Laaron Lopez With a lead heading into the second half, it was Athlete of the Week This week's athlete of the week is North Douglas' Abby Whipple. Whipple, who is averaging 9.8 points per game this season, had 15 points, 10 steals and seven assists last Tuesday in a win on the road at Crosshill Christian. Abby Whipple runs the fast break in a practice earlier this season. CYAN MAGENTA YELLOW BLACK zsilva@cgsentinel.com
