Cottage Grove Sentinel
Sports & Recreation
B1
WEDNESDAY | NOVEMBER 24, 2021
Lion Boys will lean on returners
By Kendrick Murphy
kmurphy@cgsentinel.com
ODFW R ECREATION AND F ISHING
R EPORT
myodfw.com/recreation-report
Updated November 24, 2021
Report your 2020 hunt
It’s not too early if all that’s left of your
2021 hunt are the memories, there’s still
one last thing to do. You need to report
your hunt and why wait until the last
minute? You can report online at odfw.
huntfishoregon.com/login or with an
ODFW license agent. ODFW offices
remain closed to walk-in traffic.
Free Fishing Days
#optoutside for Black Friday. The
Friday and Saturday after Thanksgiving
are Free Fishing Days in Oregon. That
means you can fish, crab or clam for free
– no license, tag or endorsement required.
Some restrictions apply, as in all current
closures, bag limits and other regulations
still apply. If you’re looking for a place to
take the family, we’ve got 101 suggestions.
And if you live near Portland, Bend,
Medford, Roseburg, Lane County or on
the south coast, there are lots of nearby
options.
Winter whale watching
Gray whales will soon be making their
migration south from Alaska to Mexico.
The peak time to see these interesting
animals along the Oregon coast is during
the winter holidays. Many state parks
make good spots for whale watching.
More information about gray whales is
available at orwhalewatch.org/
Sports Calendar
Dec. 1
• CG Basketball
@ Hidden Valley
Girls: 6 p.m.
Boys: 7:30 p.m.
• North Douglas
Basketball @
Pleasant Hill
Girls: 6 p.m.
Boys: 7:30 p.m.
Dec. 2
• Creswell
Basketball home
vs. Douglas
Girls: 5:30 p.m.
Boys: 7 p.m.
Dec. 3
• Yoncalla
Basketball @
Waldport
Girls: 5:30 p.m.
Boys: 7 p.m.
• Elkton
Basketball home
vs. Mapleton
Girls: 6 p.m.
Boys: 7:30 p.m.
Athlete of
the Week
The Cottage Grove Lion boys
basketball team started to put ev-
erything together at the end of the
shortened season last year. The Li-
ons played a talented Marist team all
the way to the end coming up just
short of a victory but were able to
earn a big win in their final contest
over Siuslaw.
“I wish they would have had an-
other 11 games last season, I think
things were starting to click, and
they were starting to figure it out,”
said Head Coach Seth Hutchison.
“That opportunity we had with
Marist and Siuslaw we got around
through league and were starting
to finish up our second part of the
league. And I think that experience,
and that understanding of what
works for us and kind of just our
scheme, they started to understand
and anticipate a little bit more. So,
I’m just excited about our experi-
ence coming back.”
COURTESY PHOTO
See
LIONS B2
Senior Jayden Cameron will be a key component for the CG Boys basketball team this year.
Creswell Girls look to
grow from last year
By Kendrick Murphy
kmurphy@cgsentinel.com
KENDRICK MURPHY/CG SENTINEL
Caroline Spriggs will be a returning player for Creswell girls
basketball this season.
Near the end of the shortened
season last year, the Creswell girls
basketball team really started to
click winning their last three out
of four games. In those three vic-
tories, Creswell scored just over
50 points per game while holding
their opponents to 20 points per
game.
The good news is, everyone for
Creswell is returning for this sea-
son in 2021/22 and has fifth-year
Head Coach Tyler Hollingsworth
excited to keep building on what
the team started to put together at
the end of last year.
“The positive for us is we didn’t
lose anybody,” said Hollingsworth.
“So, we were almost just using that
time to build, and hopefully, that
would transition and we would
See
VICTORY B2
Bulldog Boys excited
for a full season
By Kendrick Murphy
kmurphy@cgsentinel.com
Two years ago, Creswell boys
basketball was able to finish out
their state tournament as they fin-
ished third just before all athletes
were shut down due to COVID-19.
The team from that season was
predominantly seniors and didn’t
include virtually anyone on this
current roster. Last year, the Bull-
dogs had two seniors for the short-
ened season with the majority of
the group being sophomores.
Like other schools in the state,
Creswell had to pause their season
due to a positive COVID test with-
in the program forcing an already
condensed schedule to become
KENDRICK MURPHY/CG SENTINEL
See
SEASON B2
This Creswell player attacks the basket off the dribble.
Lady Lions building on past success
By Kendrick Murphy
kmurphy@cgsentinel.com
COURTESY PHOTO
Senior Gracie Arnold will see her role increase this season
for the Lady Lions.
This week’s athletes of
the week are the Cottage
Grove middle school
u14 SVA fall soccer
league winners Glasses
of Water. The team
rallied together at the
end of the season to win
the championship.
Over the past two seasons,
the Cottage Grove girls basket-
ball program has been dominant
over the Sky-Em league losing
one league game over that span
and earning two league titles.
But despite the success in
league, the girls have a chip on
their shoulder heading into this
season wanting more success in
the postseason after their play-
offs were cut short because of
COVID-19 in 2020 and losing to
Valley Catholic last season.
“I think our players kind of
The u14
Glasses of
Water mid-
dle school
soccer team
were all ex-
cited to play
this season
and played
hard every
game.
have this uneasy feeling like we’re
about to unleash the beast and
they have a chip on two shoul-
ders,” said second-year Head
Coach Erin Royse. “We really
want to be out there and play,
have fun, and have a chance of
getting back to where we were.
It’s gonna be a lot different this
year there are other teams in our
league that are going to be really
tough to compete against. And
you know, Marist and JC return
a lot of kids that have a lot of bas-
ketball experience. It’s gonna be
tough this year in our league all
the way across the board.”
Despite losing seniors Matty
Ladd, Mikaela Bloomquist, and
Alexia Riggs coach Royse still
feels very confident in her play-
ers returning along with her new
offensive game plan.
“We’re going to be chang-
ing kind of style of play more
up-tempo, just to kind of go
along with the type of players we
have we don’t have a lot of bigs
anymore,” said Royse. “We just
have Gracie (Arnold) and she
has the versatility to allow us
COURTESY PHOTO
See
SUCCESS B2