Cottage Grove Sentinel
Sports & Recreation
B1
THURSDAY | DECEMBER 30, 2021
What the OSAA league changes
mean for local teams
ODFW R ECREATION AND F ISHING
R EPORT
myodfw.com/recreation-report
By Kendrick Murphy
kmurphy@cgsentinel.com
Updated December 30, 2021
Report your hunt
Just a reminder that all big game and
turkey hunters who bought a tag need
to report their hunt, even if they didn’t
hunt or take an animal. Also a reminder
that reporting early will help you avoid
the last minute crush of procrastinators.
Learn more about how to report by vis-
iting myodfw.com/articles/report-your-
hunt.
Winter steelhead tips
The first winter steelhead of the year
are being caught in several coastal riv-
ers. If you’re hoping for a successful
steelhead season, we’ve got some win-
ter steelhead fishing tips that just might
help at myodfw.com/articles/10-tips-
catch-more-winter-steelhead.
Best bets for weekend fishing:
While the Alsea is currently the best
spot on the mid-coast to target early
winter steelhead, the Siletz and Siuslaw
should also be seeing their first steelhead
soon – if they haven’t already. Steelhead
anglers are catching hatchery steelhead
in the East Fork and West Fork Millico-
ma rivers in the Coos Basin even with
high muddy water. Nehalem hatchery
released 60 surplus winter steelhead into
Coffenbury Lake recently and another
150 into Vernonia Pond last week.
Starting in the fall of 2022
the Sky-Em league where
Cottage Grove currently
plays and the Mountain Val-
ley Conference that Creswell
is a part of will look a little
differently for the next four
years going into 2026. Cot-
PHOTOS BY KENDRICK MURPHY/CG SENTINEL
tage Grove has been a part of
(Left) The Sky-Em league will lose two members and pick up one new one with the new the Sky-Em league since the
league changes. (Below) The Mountain Valley conference will look very different heading
into the fall of 2022.
See OSAA B4
Creswell girls back on winning side against Toledo
Sports Calendar
Dec. 30
• Cottage Grove
Boys Basketball @
Sisters (Sisters
Holiday Shootout)
7 p.m.
• Cottage Grove
Girls Basketball @
Stayton (SCTC
Holiday Classic)
7 p.m.
• North Douglas
Boys Basketball @
Toledo (Toledo
Holiday Tournament)
7 p.m.
• North Douglas
Girls Basketball @
Toledo (Toledo
Holiday Tournament)
7 p.m.
PHOTOS BY KENDRICK MURPHY/CG SENTINEL
(Left) Emma Maness gets ready for a pair of free throws in the 69-28 win over Toledo. (Right) Kendyl Whitson makes the jump-
er against Toledo.
By Kendrick Murphy
kmurphy@cgsentinel.com
In each of their previous
three wins, the Creswell girls
basketball team scored 54 or
55 points against their op-
ponents. But against Toledo,
the Bulldogs well exceeded
that number scoring nearly
70 and getting the 69-28 win
over the visiting Boomers se-
curing a winning record (4-3)
before their next game on Jan.
4 against Junction City.
“Winning always makes you
feel better,” said Head Coach
Tyler Hollingsworth. “So it
was good to go into Christ-
mas break on a positive note
and let our team enjoy it. But
now that they have come back
and we have some work to do
to take the next step.”
The Bulldogs totaled 29
See GIRLS B3
Bulldog
boys wallop
Toledo
By Kendrick Murphy
kmurphy@cgsentinel.com
KENDRICK MURPHY/CG SENTINEL
Caleb Lee fights through contact from the Toledo defense for the bucket.
Athlete of
the Week
steals in their win, Samairah
Quinones made her presence
felt in the paint grabbing 15
rebounds and tying her team-
mate Emme Whitson with 18
points. Whitson also added 8
This week’s athlete of
the week is Creswell
girls basketball player
Samairah Quinones.
Quinones had 18 points
and 18 rebounds in the
Bulldogs 69-28 win over
Toledo.
Quinones
had a big
day for the
Creswell
girls team
recording a
double-dou-
ble against
while
shooting
53% on FGs.
PHOTO BY KENDRICK
MURPHY/CG SENTINEL
The Bulldog boys basketball team is
going to see their winning streak contin-
ue into the new year after they picked up
another win in dominant fashion over a
good Toledo program 72-42. Creswell
outscored the Boomers in every quar-
ter of the game and are now averaging
over 71 points per game during their
win streak and holding their opponents
to just under 40 points.
“They’ve come a long way and they’ve
bought into how we want them to play,”
said Head Coach Jesse Thomas. “And
honestly, I think the adjustment and the
buy into the playstyle that we think fits
best with this group. It’s made all the
difference in the world and, you know
we’ve been challenged a little bit. But
we’ve played pretty darn well in most of
these games.”
Max Velarde now has four games with
a double-double on the season, scoring
23 points and grabbing 11 rebounds
against Toledo. Caleb Lee made four of
six three to also score 23 points, while
Connor Hanson added 12 points.
“Our defense has been key,” said Cre-
swell Forward Max Velarde. “Offensively
our team is shooting the ball really good
from deep. And some of our guys like
See BOYS B2