Polk County Itemizer-Observer • February 25, 2015 11A
Polk County Sports
WESTERN OREGON ROUNDUP
Western Oregon clinches conference title
Nichols scores 34 points as Wolves hold off Simon Fraser 93-91 on Saturday night
LUKAS EGGEN/Itemizer-Observer
Senior Lewis Thomas finishes a dunk against Simon
Fraser on Saturday. Thomas scored 11 points.
Itemizer-Observer staff report
MONMOUTH — From
the moment the season
started, Western Oregon’s
men’s basketball team had
its eyes set on one goal.
“On our board, we had
Great Northwest Athletic
Conference championship
written,” junior guard Julian
Nichols said. “It’s been there
since we started training
camp. That was our mindset
from the start.”
After a 93-91 win over
Simon Fraser on Saturday,
the Wolves clinched their
first-ever regular season
title.
Jordan Wiley scored 17
points in the first half, while
Nichols added 24 in the sec-
ond half to finish with a
game-high 34 points.
“I want to get my team-
m a t e s i n v o l v e d f i r s t ,”
Nichols said. “They took that
away (in the second half), so
I could be more aggressive
and I found some open
shots.”
The Wolves had little trou-
ble playing at Simon Fraser’s
tempo on offense.
“The key against Simon
Fraser is to not let the tempo
get the best of you,” WOU
coach Brady Bergeson said.
“I thought we did a really
good job in terms of our shot
selection, and we made just
enough stops on defense.”
Western Oregon (22-4
overall, 14-2 GNAC)
bounced back after a 73-50
loss to Western Washington
on Thursday that saw the
Wolves shoot 18 percent
from the field in the second
half.
Junior forward Andy Avgi
missed both games because
of a non-lifethreatening
medical condition. He is ex-
pected to return prior to the
GNAC Championship Tour-
nament.
WOU closes out its regu-
lar season at Alaska Anchor-
age on Thursday and at Alas-
ka Fairbanks on Saturday.
Despite clinching a first-
round bye in the GNAC tour-
nament, the Wolves won’t be
taking their foot off the gas.
“You’ve got to be smart
with rest, but we’re not going
to call off any dogs,” Berge-
son said. “Our mindset will
be exactly the same.”
WOMEN’S BASKETBALL
WINS THRILLER: Senior Dana
Goularte and sophomore Jor-
dan Mottershaw carried the
Western Oregon women’s bas-
ketball team to a 71-69 win
over Mon-
tana State
Billings on
Thursday.
Goularte
scored a
game -high
24 points
and Motter-
shaw added
Mottershaw a h i c g a h r e e 2 r 3 -
points, including a game-win-
ning running jumper with 12
seconds remaining. The Wolves
(7-17 overall, 4-12 Great North-
west Athletic Conference) near-
ly upset 15th-ranked Seattle
Pacific, falling 69-64 on Satur-
day. WOU trailed 52-38 with
10:31 left in the game, only to
see a late rally fall short.
Goularte scored 22 points in
the loss. The Wolves host Cen-
tral Washington Thursday at 7
p.m. and Northwest Nazarene
Saturday at 5:15 p.m. Goularte
was named the GNAC’s co-
Player of the Week for her ef-
forts.
SOFTBALL EARNS SPLIT:
Junior pitcher Alyson Boytz
threw a complete game as
Western Oregon’s softball team
defeated Oregon Tech 5-1 be-
fore falling to Concordia 9-2 on
Friday. Boytz gave up six hits
and no earned runs, and senior
Amanda Evola recorded three
hits and two RBIs during the
victory. The Wolves (3-11) open
Great Northwest Athletic Con-
ference play with a pair of dou-
bleheaders at Nor thwest
Nazarene on March 6-7.
BASEBALL PREPS FOR
LEAGUE: Western Oregon
earned a split against the
NAIA’s No. 2-ranked team,
falling 11-0 on Friday, winning
6-4 before losing 8-4 in a dou-
bleheader on Saturday and
earning a 5-0 victory on Sun-
day. Senior outfielder Matt Tay-
lor recorded seven hits and six
RBIs during the series to lead
the Wolves (4-12 overall). West-
ern Oregon opens Great North-
west Athletic Conference play
at Saint Martin’s with double-
headers on Saturday and Sun-
day.
PREP BOYS BASKETBALL ROUNDUP
CLASS 5A PREP BOYS BASKETBALL
Fleming makes
return to lineup
Dragons extend win streak
Panthers split league games
By Lukas Eggen
Itemizer-Observer staff report
INDEPENDENCE — Cen-
tral may have lost to the
Mid-Willamette Confer-
ence’s top team, but the Pan-
thers received a big boost on
Friday.
Senior Kyler Fleming re-
turned from a left-hand in-
jury to score 12 points dur-
ing the Panthers’ 57-54 over-
time loss to Silverton. Kaj
Bansen led Central with 17
points, while Josh Smith
added 16 points.
The Panthers led by three
with 30 seconds left in regu-
lation, but an offensive foul
by Fleming gave the Silver
Foxes one last chance. Silver-
ton tied it at 46 with five sec-
onds left and Fleming
missed a potential game-
winner from half court.
In overtime, Alec Barba
had a chance to send the
game into a second extra pe-
riod, but his shot came up
short.
Fleming missed the previ-
ous 10 games. Central went
4-6 during that stretch, los-
ing six of their final eight.
The Panthers (6-6 MWC)
opened their week with a 49-
39 win over Lebanon on Feb.
17 as Kevin Cable scored 18
points.
Central entered Tuesday’s
game at Corvallis in fifth
place in the MWC, one game
behind Crescent Valley and
one game ahead of Lebanon.
The third- through sixth-
place teams will participate
in the OSAA play-in round
against a Midwestern
League opponent on Tues-
day.
The MWC’s third- and
fourth-place teams will host
play-in round games.
The MWC’s fifth- and
CORVALLIS — In the mo-
ments after a 53-27 loss to
Silverton on Feb. 4, the Dal-
las boys basketball team’s
season appeared to be on
the brink of collapse.
The Dragons had lost
their third game in a row
after suffering home set-
backs to Lebanon and
Crescent Valley, and fell to
3-4 at the midway point of
Mid-Willamette Confer-
ence play.
The Silverton loss also
marked the third time in
four games that Dallas had
allowed more than 50
points.
“After the Silverton game,
(assistant coach) Matt Jack-
son just sat down with us,”
senior guard Isaak Tichenor
recalled. “He said some-
times the shots don’t go in
and you have to take care of
what you can control, and
that’s defense and rebound-
ing.”
The players took that
message to heart.
“It made us realize that
we want to get that No. 2
spot in league and we need
to kick it into high gear,”
junior guard Everett Mina-
han said.
Dallas has answered the
call.
The Dragons defeated
Corvallis 61-44 on Feb. 17
and Crescent Valley 49-41
on Friday. Dallas enters the
final week of the regular
season riding a five-game
win streak and in a tie for
second place in the MWC
with the Spartans, a team
the Dragons have swept and
hold league tiebreaker ad-
vantage over.
It’s been the defense that
has reignited the Dragons.
Playoff Push
What: OSAA Class 5A
boys basketball play-in
round.
When: Tuesday, TBA.
What’s at stake: The
Mid-Willamette
Confer-
ence’s third-, fourth-, fifth-
and sixth-place teams will
face a Midwestern League
opponent. Winners advance
to the Class 5A state play-
offs. Central and Dallas en-
tered the week in fifth and
second place in the MWC.
Of note: Watch for play-
in updates, locations and
times at www.polkio.com,
www.twitter.com/polkiosp
orts and the I-O’s Facebook
page.
sixth-place teams play on
the road.
PIRATES’ SEASON ENDS:
Perrydale’s boys basketball
team came up short in its bid
to advance to the state play-
offs. Central Linn defeated the
Pirates 54-49
in the sec-
ond round
of the Tri-
River Confer-
ence play-
offs on Feb.
18. Chad
Price scored
18 points,
while Troy
Trembly
Trembly
added 12 points and Haylen
Janesofsky finished with 11. “It
was our best game against
Central Linn,” Perrydale coach
Mike Lowry said. “This season,
Central Linn had our number
and just caused us a number of
fits.” The Pirates finished 10-14
overall, but Lowry said he saw
potential. “The end of the year
showed me that next season
has the potential to be just as
great, if not better,” he said.
Dallas closes regular season against Silverton
The Itemizer-Observer
LUKAS EGGEN/Itemizer-Observer
Dallas guard Everett Minahan looks to get past Crescent Valley’s Philip Whitney on
Friday night. Minahan scored a game-high 16 points against the Raiders.
Dallas held Corvallis to 14
points below its season av-
erage of 58 points per game
and held the Raiders to 13
points below their average
of 54 points, while limiting
Crescent Valley to 23 per-
cent shooting.
“There’s been a renewed
focus on defense,” Dallas
coach Trent Schwartz said.
“We’re limiting teams to one
shot and grabbing re-
bounds. It’s keeping us in
games when we’re not
shooting well. Now, over the
last few games, we are start-
ing to shoot well and we’re
gaining confidence.”
For the season, Dallas is
third among all Class 5A
teams in scoring defense, al-
lowing 40.5 points per game.
More importantly to the
players, the Dragons
knocked Crescent Valley
out of a three-way tie for
second entering Tuesday’s
matchup against
Lebanon.
Earning the MWC’s sec-
ond seed means an auto-
matic berth into the 16-
team state playoff bracket.
Failure to capture the sec-
ond spot means taking part
in the play-in round on
Tuesday.
“This is what the whole
second half of the league
season has been about,”
Tichenor said. “We’re com-
ing together as a team and
we’re realizing our goals are
attainable.”
Dallas’ regular season fi-
nale could be its toughest
hurdle. The Dragons host
league-leading Silverton
Friday at 7 p.m. in what will
likely be a defensive strug-
gle.
The Silver Foxes boast
Class 5A’s second-best scor-
ing defense. But this is a dif-
ferent Dallas team than the
one that faced Silverton ear-
lier this year. This time,
Schwartz said they’ll be
ready for the challenge.
“To get the second seed,
we’ve had to play with ur-
gency; the playoffs really
started for us already and
it’s been that way for a
while,” Schwartz said.
“We’re hitting our stride at
the right time and it’s all
coming together.”
History: Mountaineers face Portland Lutheran
Continued from Page 10A
“(Reaching state) has
meant ever ything,”
Reynolds said. “I’ve been re-
ally emotional about the
whole thing. Basketball has
been something I’ve loved
since I was a little girl. I can
take out my anger and ag-
gression. Not knowing if I’m
going to play again after
high school is scary. I’m glad
we’re making it last as long
as we can this year. We start-
ed out as strangers, but we’re
walking out with friend-
ships. I love this team and
we are awesome together.”
Falls City’s players may
have been ecstatic after the
win, but it was the following
day that the ramifications
of their accomplishment set
in.
“It’s indescribable,” Alli-
son Kidd said. “I don’t even
have the words. I’m just so
proud of the girls. It’s been
crazy with everyone at
school congratulating us. It’s
just crazy.”
The Mountaineers will
face Portland Lutheran
Wednesday (today) at 7 p.m.
in the first round of the state
playoffs. The winner ad-
vances to the second round
on Saturday.
The Blue Jays finished 15-
10 overall and were 10-2 in
The Valley
10 League.
Falls City
lost to
Portland
Lutheran
50-41 on
Dec. 31.
“ W e
Kidd
hang our
hat on the defensive end of
the floor,” Micke Kidd said.
“They have a couple of really
good scorers that we’ll look
to defend better than the
first time we played.”
Regardless of whether
the Mountaineers advance,
this season is a watershed
moment for the program,
Kidd said.
“It feels like we’re moving
in the right direction,” he
said. “Every year you want to
improve and be a little more
successful. We have a lot of
girls coming up in the mid-
dle school program. We’ve
had some consistency with
coaches. We’re moving for-
ward. I’ve told them this for
years that somewhere in the
stands is a little girl who
wants to be like you. We
have to hold ourselves to a
higher standard and this is
part of that.”
The Mountaineers enter
the state playoffs as the
Casco League’s lowest seed.
Falls City By The Numbers
1972
7
8
The year the Falls
City Mountaineers
began offering
girls basketball at
the high school
level.
Total number of
players the Moun-
taineers have on
their roster, in-
cluding two fresh-
men.
The number of
wins Falls City had
after Jan. 1. The
Mountaineers
started the season
2-10 overall.
But if there’s one thing play-
ers have learned, it’s to never
count them out.
“When we beat
Willamette Valley Christian
the first time, I thought we
can do this,” Allison Kidd
said. “We’ve been underdogs
for a while, but I hope peo-
ple see that you can accom-
plish things, no matter what
the circumstance.”