Cottage Grove Sentinel
Sports & Recreation
SOUTH LANE COUNTY SPORTS AND RECREATION
Calendar
Dec. 19
• CGHS wrestling @
Sutherlin, 5 p.m.
• CGHS bball @
Seaside Holiday
Tourn. (boys vs.
Madras @ 2:30 p.m.,
girls vs. Newport @
1p.m. and vs.
Washougal @ 4
p.m.)
• YHS boys bball @
Regis Tourn.
• YHS girls bball vs.
Sutherlin JV @ 6
p.m.
Dec. 20
• CGHS swimming,
double dual vs.
Churchill/Henley @
4:30 p.m.
• CGHS bball @
Seaside Holiday
Tourn. (boys and
girls games both
TBD)
• NDHS bball @
Lowell (girls @ 6
p.m., boys @ 7:30
p.m.)
• YHS boys bball @
Regis Tourn.
•
•
THURSDAY | DECEMBER 19, 2019
B1
CONTACT SPORTS REPORTER NICK SNYDER AT
942-3325 OR NSNYDER@CGSENTINEL.COM
Strong start continues for Yoncalla
After recent years of
struggle, the Eagles are
getting back on track
By Nick Snyder
nsnyder@cgsentinel.com
Through the first six games of last
year’s basketball season, the Yoncalla
boys’ and girls’ teams stumbled out to
a combined 3-9 record. The first six
games for each team of the 2019-20 sea-
son, however, have been the complete
inverse.
On Thursday, Dec. 12 the two Eagles’
squads continued their turnarounds
with both teams earning wins against
visiting Mapleton.
In the early game, the girls (5-1) de-
feated the Sailors in a wire-to-wire dom-
inant performance, never allowing more
than four points in a single quarter,
ending in a 53-10 final score. The boys
(4-2) faced slightly stiffer competition,
but also got the victory in a 52-32 game
where the final margin belies the effort
it took for the Eagles to come away suc-
cessful.
Despite the 20-point victory, the boys
trailed 19-20 at halftime. Mapleton
brought size that clogged the paint, forc-
ing Yoncalla into jump shots and, in the
first half, the shots simply weren’t fall-
ing.
“Every now and then, just like every-
body, they have their moments,” said
coach Lourie Hall after the game about
her team’s cold-shooting first half. “And
unfortunately the [North Clackamas]
game, the one game we lost, everybody
got it at once.”
Thursday evening was more of the
same until the beginning of the sec-
ond half. The Eagles, who in past years
may have found those early struggles
too frustrating to overcome, refocused,
found their resiliency and the shots be-
See EAGLES 2B
PHOTO BY NICK SNYDER/CG SENTINEL
Yoncalla’s lone senior, Elijah Allen, drives
to the hoop against Mapleton’s Nate Neece.
Basketball is back at CGHS
Dec. 21
• CGHS wrestling @
Liberty Tourn., TBD
• CGHS bball @
Seaside Holiday
Tourn. (boys and
girls games both
TBD)
• NDHS bball @
Crosshill Christ.
(girls @ 4:30 p.m.,
boys @ 6 p.m.)
• YHS boys bball @
Regis Tourn.
ODFW R ECREACTION R EPORT
H IGHLIGHTS
www.dfw.state.or.us/RR
2020 licenses now on sale:
Hunters and anglers can now buy
their 2020 licenses online, at a license
agent and at ODFW offices that sell
licenses.
Winter trout and steelhead are best
bets for winter fishing:
• Anglers are starting to catch
winter steelhead in mid- and north
coast rivers. Fish low in the systems
until there’s some rain to get the fish
moving.
• Late fall/early winter can be a
good time to target native redband
trout in rivers like the lower De-
schutes, Fall, Metolius, Crooked and
Blitzen. The fishing is a little slower,
but sharing the river with fewer
people can make up for it.
• Trout anglers also should con-
sider the upper Willamette between
Albany and Harrisburg. It’s open for
trout year-round and fishing can be
very good when flows are cooper-
ating.
Big game hunting classes in Tuala-
tin:
Come learn the basics of big game
hunting in one of four classes ODFW
is offering in December in Tualatin.
Each two-hour class will cover what
and where to hunt, what licenses and
tags you need, and how to select the
right weapons and other gear.
PHOTO BY NICK SNYDER/CG SENTINEL
(Top left) CG’s Ty Kishen (so.) battles North
Valley’s Tylin Blaich (jr.) for a rebound. (Bottom
left) Landon Colburn (so.) attacks the rim.
(Bottom right) Matty Ladd (jr.) defends on the
perimeter. (Above) Mikaela Blomquist leads the
fast break against the Knights.
CGHS started the year mostly on the road, but both Lions’ teams returned home last Friday
By Nick Snyder
nsnyder@cgsentinel.com
After a stretch of away games
to start the season, both Lions’
basketball teams finally re-
turned to their dens at Cottage
Grove High School on Friday,
Dec. 13.
The girls’ and boys’ squads
took on the visiting North Val-
ley Knights in a non-league con-
test. Despite coming out of the
gates strong, keeping the game
tied at 11 early in the first half,
the boys (0-4) couldn’t come
away with a win against a long
and strong Knights team, losing
66-48. The girls (2-2) bounced
back from back-to-back losses
to Gladstone and Hidden Val-
ley, trouncing the visitors 65-33
to even their season record.
The year is still young, with
only four games played for each
team, and competition will
ramp up once the league sched-
ule begins, but girls’ head coach
Steve Eastburn is pleased with
his team’s performance thus far.
“We’re working through some
things,” Eastburn said after the
game. “But obviously tonight
we made some small steps in
getting better. We’ve faced some
really good teams up to tonight
and North Valley played real-
ly hard, but obviously we were
better athletically and our skills
were a little bit better.”
On Friday night, those skills
were showcased by a trio of Li-
See LIONS 3B
Elkton, North Douglas girls remain undefeated
By Nick Snyder
nsnyder@cgsentinel.com
Considering the season began just two
weeks ago, the Elkton and North Douglas
basketball programs have seen a lot of each
other already. However, they won’t actual-
ly play a head-to-head game for another
month.
After hosting the Elkton Tip-off Classic
two weekends ago, the Elks made the short
Athlete of
the Week
trip west to Drain to participate in the two-
day North Douglas Winter Invitational on
Fri. and Sat., Dec. 13 and 14 along with the
host school, Lowell and Reedsport.
As they follow each other around Doug-
las County, the results follow in kind with
both the Elks and the Warriors going 3-1
combined in the tournament, two wins and
zero losses each for the girls’ teams and a
win and a loss apiece for the boys.
Th is week’s athlete of
the week is Cottage
Grove sophomore post
player Gracie Arnold
who scored 21 points
to lead the Lions to
victory against North
Valley.
The Elkton girls (6-0) made easy work of
their two opponents, beating Reedsport 66-
25 on Friday and Lowell 44-27 on Saturday.
The Elks started off the second game in
a small shooting slump and, despite their
full-court press forcing Lowell into repeat-
ed turnovers, held a narrow 19-13 halftime
lead.
“Sometimes that just happens and there’s
See INVITATIONAL 3B
Arnold
(22) looks
for the
inbounds
pass in the
second half
against the
Knights.
PHOTO BY NICK SNY-
DER/CG SENTINEL