Cottage Grove Sentinel
Sports & Leisure
B1
THURSDAY | JUNE 17, 2021
Boys hoops seeks to finish strong
By Jerry Thompson
for The Sentinel
Last week the Cottage
Grove boys beat Elmira for
the second time this spring,
earning their second win
of the season. Then the 2-7
Lions had to face the 10-1
Junction City Tigers in the
Lions’ Den at CGHS last
Thursday night.
In their previous meet-
ing, the Tigers’ stifling de-
fense and potent offense
dominated the Lions from
the start in a 53-42 victo-
ry. It was much the same in
their rematch.
Senior Ben Heitz (21
points) and junior Chris
Ohman (18 points) scored
half of the Tigers’ points in
the 78-54 win.
“You look back on the
beginning of that game,
and the keys that we point-
ed out coming into this
game that was going to
make us successful were
rebounding the basketball
and taking care of the bas-
ketball,” said Cottage Grove
head coach Seth Hutchi-
son. “They started out 10-2,
and they had two or three
shots every possession. We
didn’t execute our keys of
rebounding and getting
stops so we could run in
transition.”
The poor start on the
boards wasn’t for a lack
of height with the Lions’
starting lineup of 6-0 guard
Jayden Cameron, 6-3 guard
Ty Kishen, 6-4 forwards
Brennen Murphy and Evan
Snauer, and 6-5 center Car-
ter Bascue being almost
exactly the same size as the
Tigers.
“They (Junction City)
have good senior leader-
ship that really likes to be
aggressive, be physical, and
they did that tonight com-
ing out early,” Hutchison
said.
Despite falling behind 17
to 5 after the first quarter,
the Lions played as well as
they have played all year in
the second quarter, almost
playing even with the Ti-
gers.
The Lions scored 22
points with Kishen hitting
two three-pointers, Snauer
scoring twice in the paint,
and Isaac Steer, playing for
the varsity for the first time
this season, sparking the
Grovers with a convention-
al three-point play as well
as one beyond the arc.
“We started hitting some
shots from the outside, and
when you can do that it cov-
ers up a lot of other flaws,”
said Hutchison. “When we
do that, we can compete
with the Junction Cities,
Marists, and Marshfields.
Until we learn to shoot the
ball consistently like that,
we’re not going to compete
with these teams yet.”
The 14-point halftime
deficit was about as close at
the Lions could get the rest
of the game. Two poor calls
by the officials resulted in
two questionable technical
fouls on Hutchison.
The Tigers made all four
free throws to extend their
lead and never looked back.
The leading scorers for the
Grovers were Kishen with
PJERRY THOMPSON/FOR THE SENTINEL
see BOYS on B2
Junior Carter Bascue drove aggressively to the hoop to score two of his eight
points against Junction City last Thursday.
Lady Lions happy to be playing again
By Jerry Thompson
for The Sentinel
The Cottage Grove girls’ varsity
experienced an emotional roller
coaster from Saturday, June 5 un-
til Tuesday, June 7 with the pos-
sibility that their successful 5-0
Sky-Em season could come to an
end.
The reason was due to a few
positive COVID-19 tests by
“swing” players, i.e. players who
play both on the junior varsity
and varsity. The situation resulted
in a forfeit on Saturday to Marsh-
field as well as a potential forfeit
of the rest of their games through
June 19.
It would have dropped them
out of state playoffs. It was a stark
reminder of traveling to Forest
Grove last year for the first round
of the playoffs, and then having
the playoffs canceled.
“I think that was the hardest
part, remembering where we were
last year, and then to possibly
have that taken away again, kind
of re-broke hearts again,” said Li-
ons head coach Erin Royse. “So,
it was challenging to go through
that again, like a second scare, but
to be given another chance has
been absolutely eye-opening, and
I don’t think the players are tak-
ing it for granted. We speak every
day about how lucky we are to be
given a second chance, and that
nothing is guaranteed during the
weird time. We can look at every-
thing as a blessing.”
Royse found out the good news
Tuesday morning (June 8). She
recalled:
“My principal came walking
into my room and he said, ‘Can
I speak to you for a minute in
the hallway?’ And I thought, oh,
what did I do now? He said he
had heard back from the Lane
County Health Organization, and
they were treating it like two dif-
ferent cohorts (groups which can
be tracked). I think I hugged him.
I probably body slammed him is
more the term. I was so relieved,
especially for those players who
are seniors. The chance that they
might not be able to walk and
graduate. We were thinking, what
are we going to do? Drive them
in, in a truck. We’ll bring a zip
line in, and all different kinds of
alternatives.”
Even though the news came on
Tuesday, the Lions’ game at Elmi-
ra was postponed until Monday,
June 14.
Fortunately, the regularly
scheduled game at CGHS against
Junction City was played Thurs-
day night.
Both teams got off to a slow
start with the Grovers’ only lead-
ing 7-5 after the first quarter. Gra-
cie Arnold scored 10 of the Lions’
15 first half points, and the Lions
held a narrow lead at the half.
In the second half the CG
girls lengthened their lead and
finished strong led by Arnold’s
eight points, Mikaela Blomquist’s
nine points and Matty Ladd’s six
points in a 41-32 victory.
The game may have proved
costly as near the end of the game
junior forward Halle DeGarlais
suffered a left knee injury.
She was fouled, but was not
even able to shoot her foul shots.
It looks unlikely that she will be
able to play the rest of this week.
J.C.’s Cienna Hartle led Junc-
tion City with 14 points which
included four three-pointers.
In fact it was three-point-
ers which kept the Tigers in the
game as 24 of the Tigers’ total
of 32 points came on their eight
three-pointers.
Concerning the Junction City
team, coach Royse said, “they
are a bunch of work horses. They
are tireless. The came out with a
great game plan. They were in-
tense from the start until the last
buzzer, and up in us defensively.
I think our players felt the pres-
sure, but there was no panic. I
think our players responded re-
ally well.”
Royse said most teams are try-
ing to double-team both Matty
Ladd and/or Gracie Arnold, but
the Lions have adjusted well to
that.
“Fortunately for us, if they
come out and stop Matty or Gra-
cie, we have Halle (DeGarlais),
we have Mikaela (Blomquist), we
have Kennedy and Lex (Riggs),”
JERRY THOMPSON/FOR THE SENTINEL
see LIONS on A2
Athlete of
the Week
Senior Matty Ladd brought in 20 points against the Falcons on Monday for a decisive win.
This week’s athlete of
the week is Ty Kishen.
A 6-3 junior guard for
the Lions, Kishen scored
16 points in Cottage
Grove’s win over Elmira
and 13 in the Lions’ loss
against Junction City
last week.
Ty Kishen
lines up for a
shot against
Junction
City in last
week’s
game.
PHOTO BY JERRY
THOMPSON/FOR THE
SENTINEL