Sports & recreation
Cottage Grove Sentinel
Wednesday, January 30, 2019
South Lane County Sports and Recreation
Eagles
earn pair
of victories
Section B
Contact Sports, 942-3325 or e-mail zsilva@cgsentinel.com
Lions score overtime win against Spartans
Yoncalla goes 2-1
on the week with
wins over New
Hope Christian and
Elkton
By Zach Silva
zsilva@cgsentinel.com
Early in the second quar-
ter against Yoncalla, New
Hope Christian cut their
deficit to six points. But in-
stead of the game turning
into a close contest, it was
the Eagles (8-12, 3-6 Sky-
line) going on a 40-10 run
from the middle of the sec-
ond quarter to middle of
the third quarter to defeat
the Warriors (3-14, 1-7)
77-41 last Tuesday at home.
“I talked to the team
about being more energetic
with their feet and denying
the basketball playing man
to man defense. And then
we decided to go to a zone
and anticipate the passing
lane on their ball reversals
and look for the steals,” said
Yoncalla head coach Dar-
win Terry. “I actually told
them look for the steals,
have some energy and that
paid off as far as anticipa-
tion of steals and scoring a
lot of points on transition.”
During their explosive
scoring stretch, nine differ-
ent Yoncalla players scored.
The easy offense that re-
sembled the team’s pre-
game lay-up line was gen-
erated by a full-court press
that plagued the New Hope
Christian guards and creat-
ed turnover after turnover.
“I was not worried about
the scoreboard, obviously I
wanted the game to be un-
der control. Getting up by
that many points you want
to start subbing in and out,
slowing down things,” said
Terry. “But the focus to-
night was to execute, try
to play clean basketball,
reduce our turnovers and
play every quarter. I told
them, because we’ve had
trouble, not playing a com-
plete four quarters and I
felt tonight we played a
complete four quarters.”
To start the game, it
was Yoncalla’s Trace Gra-
ham who found a scoring
rhythm as he scored the
team’s first 10 points of the
game.
“Well, I had a smaller guy
on me and I knew I could
take him down in the post.
I just kept calling for the
ball and my point guards,
thankful to them … they
just got me the ball,” said
Graham who finished with
a team high 16 points.
A testament to the team’s
balanced attack in this
game, no one else on Yon-
calla finished with dou-
ble-figure scoring. Bro-
dy Best, Elijah Allen and
Athoususs Gilbert – who
scored all his points in
the fourth quarter – each
finished with nine points.
New Hope Christian’s Thad
Hamilton finished with 21
points.
In the final quarter of
play, Yoncalla was able to
put their JV players into
the game.
“What was exciting
about that was New Hope
was still playing hard and
our guys that got in the
game that don’t get many
minutes actually played
with a lot of energy and a
lot of positive attitudes to-
wards it,” said Terry.
Friday night on the road
EAGLES
see B4
Cottage Grove’s Reilly Kelty (41) celebrates after coming up with a defensive stop on the last play of regulation to force overtime. Kelty’s 20 points helped guide the
Lions to a 52-47 road victory over Marist.
Cottage Grove gets big
Sky-Em win as they
head into second half
of league play
By Zach Silva
zsilva@cgsentinel.com
The Cottage Grove girls came
to play.
Against a Marist side (11-6,
3-1 Sky-Em) that entered the
game undefeated in league play,
the Lions (11-8, 3-2) handed the
Spartans an overtime loss Fri-
day night on the road in a thrill-
ing 52-47 victory.
“Well, probably because of the
magnitude of the game the girls
came to play with their best ef-
fort tonight,” said Cottage Grove
head coach Steve Eastburn who
was previously an assistant
coach at Marist. “You know, you
do that against the good teams.
Or you should and the girls re-
ally stepped it up tonight.”
Having an up and down sea-
son in a league with three teams
ranked in the OSAA top 10, the
13th ranked Lions utilized their
height against the eighth ranked
Spartans. Led by junior Reilly
Kelty with 20 points, Cottage
Grove’s scoring came from their
core four frontcourt players –
Kelty, sophomore Matty Ladd
12 points, freshman Gracie Ar-
nold nine points, senior Ema
Gardner eight points – who
combined for 49 of the team’s 52
points.
Aided by a 15-5 first quarter
advantage, Cottage Grove con-
trolled the game early and went
to halftime up five.
“The first half, we weren’t
ready to play and give them
credit, they didn’t let us come
back,” said Marist head coach
Britton Reeser. “You know,
[Cottage Grove] did a lot of
good things. They really did,
they play hard and they have a
good coaching staff and they ex-
ecuted. And we didn’t. We had
many opportunities to get ahead
but we just never capitalized.”
Early in the fourth quarter,
Marist’s looming run came
into fruition and the Spartans
took the lead. There were five
lead changes in the quarter and
with just over a minute to play,
Marist led 42-40. It was their
biggest lead of the game.
In Cottage Grove's final offen-
sive possession, the Lions called
a pair of timeouts, grabbed three
offensive rebounds and had a
diving save from Kelty to keep
the possession alive. It all led to
Gardner being fouled with 15
seconds to play. She hit a pair of
free throws and tied the game.
“It was very nerve-wracking
and my anxiety was through
the rough,” said Gardner. “We
all used our anxiety and pushed
together and we leaned on each
other.”
On the ensuing Marist pos-
session, it was lockdown de-
fense from Kelty and Ladd that
stymied the Spartans and forced
overtime.
In overtime, Ladd’s early
three-point play was met with a
three-pointer from Marist. But
it was the Cottage Grove defense
getting stops when it mattered
most, including an emphatic
block from Gardner, to set up
the offense. After missed Cot-
tage Grove free throws and a
Marist make, the Lions’ lead was
down to two with 13 seconds to
play.
LIONS see B4
Point guard Mikaela Blomquist dishes out a pass on Friday night.
Finding success during senior year
With relatively little
basketball experience
entering the season, a
pair of Cottage Grove
big men have made
their presence felt on
the court
By Zach Silva
zsilva@cgsentinel.com
C
Always working in tandem, Jasper Nichols-Ferguson (left) fires
a pass as Creed Lufkin (right) cuts through the lane on Friday
night against Marist. The pair of posts have worked their way
from the end of the bench to the starting lineup.
Athletes of
the Week
reed was tall and Jas-
per was even taller.
They were both ath-
letic and neither played a winter
sport. So why not see what they
can do with a basketball?
This was the thinking for for-
mer Cottage Grove High School
basketball coach Nick Finley
who, upon seeing Jasper Nich-
ols-Ferguson at six foot six and
Creed Lufkin at six four and a
half, was determined to get the
pair of basketball novices on his
team.
This week’s athletes of the week
are the wrestlers of Lincoln
Middle School. Last Saturday
a group of 15 wrestlers capped
a successful season by taking
fourth place at the Valley
League District Tournament.
To read more, turn to B4.
“One thing I’ve always done
coaching is always encourage
kids to participate,” said Finley
in a phone call from Alaska.
“Just having kids being part of
a team is very important for
high school.” Finley, a Creswell
native who previously coached
high school basketball in Alas-
ka, coached at CGHS during
the 2017-18 season before re-
turning back to Alaska for a job
opportunity. During his one
season at CGHS he helped get
Nichols-Ferguson and Lufkin to
join the team.
As juniors, the pair primari-
ly sat the bench on varsity and
were happy with any amount
of playing time they received.
But now as seniors, Lufkin and
Nichols-Ferguson have not only
both worked their way into the
starting lineup as essential parts
of the team but have become
a dynamic duo making their
presence felt across the Sky-Em
league.
N
ick Finley enjoys get-
ting people to play
basketball. Whether
coaching his daughter’s kinder-
garten team or an eventual all-
state player, he like the process.
While coaching in Alaska at
Ninilchik High School, Finley’s
wife was working as a dentist
when she met a 6-foot-4 eighth
grader by the name of Austin
White. Upon learning White
had never played basketball, she
sent him to her husband.
White went to a team meeting
that night, joined the team and
in his junior and senior year led
the team to back-to-back state
titles and was named Alaska’s
Gatorade Player of the Year, the
first time the award had been
given to a player from the small-
est classification. White is now
on the University of Alaska An-
SUCCESS
see B3
The wrestlers
of Lincoln
Middle
School
celebrate a
successful
season.
PHOTO C/O BEN
DEATHERAGE