Polk County Sports
12A Polk County Itemizer-Observer • March 16, 2016
2015-16 ITEMIZER-OBSERVER ALL-REGION PREP GIRLS BASKETBALL TEAM
GUARD
Kylie Nash
Central
The 5-foot-6 senior
guard and 2014-15
Itemizer-Observer
Player of the Year
Nash
proved once again
why she was a
force to be reckoned with. Nash did it
all for the Panthers. She averaged a
team-high 16 points per game,
good for more than a third of
Central’s total points per game
(46.7). Nash also passed 1,000
points during her high school
career — a testament to just
how successful she has been
throughout her four years
with the Panthers. The
senior guard could score
from anywhere on the
court,
shooting 39 per-
cent from beyond
the arc, but Nash
was more than
just a scorer.
She also aver-
aged 3.5 assists,
4.0 rebounds
and 3.0 steals
per game.
Nash, who
earned
first team
all-Mid-
Willamette Conference honors for her
performance, played a key role in
Central’s success, helping the Pan-
thers advance to the first round of the
state playoffs.
POST
Tristin
Savage
Dallas
The 6-foot-5
sophomore
Savage
p o s t
showed the
Dragons could have the be-
ginnings of a dominant inside
player for years to come. In a
season that saw Dallas deal
with a high number of
injuries, Savage rose to
the occasion and be-
came a leader. She av-
eraged nearly a dou-
ble-double, scoring
10.3 points and grab-
bing 9.3 rebounds per
game. She was also a
defensive force in the
paint, making it diffi-
cult for opponents to
drive to the hoop, averaging
6.7 blocks per game. Savage
earned second team all-MWC
recognition for her efforts and
was a big reason why the
Dragons advanced to the first
round of the 5A state playoffs.
Savage should only get better in
the years to come and could become
one of the league’s best.
GUARD
Elizabeth Chavez
Central
Nash
The 5-foot-5 freshman guard didn’t
have the benefit of easing into varsity
basketball, but she thrived and
showed she is one
of the Panthers’
most promising
players. Chavez av-
eraged 8.5 points,
two assists and
two steals per
game — all im-
pressive numbers
considering she
Chavez
was coming off
the bench. Just because she was a
guard didn’t mean she was afraid to
get physical, as Chavez also grabbed
four rebounds per game. Chavez
earned all-league honorable mention
for her efforts during the 2015-16
season. She will likely see an expand-
ed role as a sophomore. If this season
is any indication, she could become
one of the Panthers’ key players.
FORWARD
Telaney
Newton
Perrydale
The 5-foot-11 sen-
ior post was criti-
cal for Perrydale’s
Newton
success during the
2015-16 season. Without her, it’s like-
ly the Pirates would have struggled
mightily. The Itemizer-Observer’s Play-
er of the Year averaged 14 points, 12
rebounds and four blocks per game
— all team highs. Her points-per-
game average was good for nearly
half of the team’s total scoring (30.8
points per game) during the season
and, as one of only two returning
players with any significant experi-
ence, she was partly responsible for
teaching her teammates along the
way. Newton earned first team all-
Casco League honors and showed
that the Pirates should not be under-
estimated, helping Perrydale ad-
vance to the second round of the 1A
state playoffs and a second-place fin-
ish in the Casco League.
FORWARD
Krista
Omlid
Central
The 5-foot-10 post
built on an impres-
sive freshman
Omlid
campaign with a
stellar sophomore season. Omlid got
her chance to step into a starting
role and took advantage of it. Omlid
provided a solid offensive option in
the paint, averaging 7.5 points per
game. She also grabbed five re-
bounds and had three blocks per
game, proving she could be effective
on both ends of the court. Omlid av-
eraged two assists per game, show-
ing she’s a multi-dimensional player
who can hurt opponents in a variety
of ways. Omlid earned an all-league
honorable mention for her perform-
ance during the 2015-16 season and
figures to be a bigger part of the
Panthers’ success over her final two
years at Central.
Brautigam didn’t let injuries derail
Dallas’ season. Instead, the Dragons
placed fourth in the MWC, defeated
Churchill in the play-in round and ad-
vanced to the first round of the state
playoffs, where Dallas led second-
seeded Springfield in the second half.
It would have been easy to give up
during the Dragons’ injury-riddled
season. Instead, Brautigam helped
Dallas compete in a tough league and
advance to the state playoffs.
—
The 2015-16 Itemizer-Observer all-region
girls basketball team was selected by
Sports Editor Lukas Eggen, along with
heavy input from area coaches.
Savage
COACH
David Brautigam
Dallas
In perhaps the toughest challenge of
his coaching career with the Dragons,
Brautigam had to
guide his team de-
spite a rash of in-
juries, including
having nine differ-
ent starting line-
ups in the first 16
games. Among the
players who
missed significant
time due to in-
Brautigam
juries included
starting point guard Olivia Nelson,
starting guard Sarah Zwicker and jun-
i o r g u a rd S t e f a n i Ta l l o n . B u t
Captain: Newton to continue playing in college
Continued from Page 11A
Leader
Since she began taking
basketball more seriously in
middle school, Newton’s
love of the game has grown
from a passing interest to
borderline obsession.
“If you ask anyone at Per-
rydale about me, they’ll say
‘oh yeah, she’s the basketball
player,’” Newton said. “I’m
always in the gym or at
some tournament on a club
team. I can’t imagine not
being involved in basket-
ball.”
Throughout her high
school career, Newton has
been a key part of the Pi-
rates, but she never had to
worry about becoming the
team’s leader.
“Last year, with the class
LUKAS EGGEN/ Itemizer-Observer file
Perrydale senior Telaney Newton averaged 14 points per
game, nearly half of the Pirates’ total points per game.
ahead of me, there was al-
ways someone there to be
the leader of the team,”
Newton said. “It’s been like
that since I was a freshman.”
That all changed this year.
As one of only two returning
seniors with any significant
playing experience, Newton
had to step up.
“It was up to me,” Newton
said. “It was on my shoul-
ders.”
Things didn’t get off to
such a good start. The Pi-
rates dropped their season-
opener to 3A school Willam-
ina 75-14.
“That was a bit nerve-
racking,” Newton said. “It
wasn’t a pretty game. In the
locker room, I sat down with
Anna (McGill) and we talked
about how it was just the
first game. We had freshmen
who were terrified and didn’t
even know a lot of our sys-
tem yet. It was a little bit of a
worry, but I knew that at our
level, we would be competi-
tive and progress.”
Newton knew she could
no longer be passive. She
would have to teach and
help her teammates grow.
That meant showing team-
mates where to be on the
court and giving compli-
ments, even when mistakes
were made.
It wasn’t an easy transi-
tion.
“Sometimes I struggled,”
Newton said. “I had a hard
time finding the words to tell
the girls because I’m used to
someone else saying it. Hav-
ing patience (was difficult).
We had a lot of young girls.
You get frustrated because
you go over with them, and
LUKAS EGGEN/ Itemizer-Observer file
Perrydale’s girls basketball team took second in the Casco League and advanced to the
second round of the OSAA Class 1A state playoffs.
they do the opposite. I re-
membered when I was a
freshman and I did the oppo-
site when older girls would
go over things with me. They
never lost patience with me,
so I learned how to be calm.”
Newton grew into a vocal
leader for the Pirates — one
who helped her younger
teammates feel welcome
and helped her team devel-
op from the one that lost by
61 points in its season open-
er to one that advanced to
the state playoffs.
“We started to set our
lineup in the middle of the
season,” Newton said. “Be-
fore, our lineup changed al-
most every game. We started
to do well and won more
games than we lost.”
The Pirates began to settle
on a starting lineup and rota-
tion. One thing remained un-
changed — Newton played a
central role on offense.
She was not only the
team’s leading scorer, she
was a facilitator and the
player opposing coaches
had to plan around.
“I don’t know another
player who was more impor-
tant to her team’s success
this year,” Pirates coach and
father Terry Newton said.
Telaney was a dominant
force on the boards, and the
key to making Perrydale’s of-
fense go.
But she wasn’t worried
about padding her stats.
“It never really seemed to
affect me as a player,”
Telaney said. “It was just the
way the team flowed.”
Telaney’s basketball career
won’t end with high school.
She plans to continue play-
ing at the collegiate level
after graduating this spring,
though she hasn’t made a
final decision on where.
“I just want to keep play-
ing the game I love,” Telaney
said. “I couldn’t imagine not
playing basketball for at
least a couple more years.”
Newton’s final season
with the Pirates was a mem-
orable one.
“It meant the world,”
Telaney said. “People as-
sumed we wouldn’t make it
out of our league or make it
as far as we did in the play-
offs. To make it to the final
16, it was an incredible expe-
rience. It was so much fun to
spend time with these girls.”
Fans: WOU Players took notice of fan support
LUKAS EGGEN/ Itemizer-Observer
Western Oregon fans came out in levels not seen before this season on Friday night.
Continued from Page 11A
This felt like what makes
college athletics so addicting
to see live.
It was electric. And fans
weren’t the only ones who
noticed.
“It was very exciting,”
guard Janvier Alaby said
after Friday’s win. “That was
huge. (The fans) kept us
going throughout the whole
game.”
Yes, the players heard the
fans loud, and clear and it
affected them in critical mo-
ments.
“It really pushed us in cer-
tain parts to get that stop or
get that loose ball,” guard Ju-
lian Nichols said.
The crowd, at its loudest
moments, was close to deaf-
ening. And it was glorious.
It’s moments like those
that remind me why I love
college athletics. To see a
group of players banding to-
gether is something special.
Add in the energy of a
group of fans taking such
pride in their team — it’s a
rush you can’t find anywhere
else. Players spark excite-
ment among the fans. The
fans’ energy wills the players
to perform better. It’s a rela-
tionship that, at its best, is
something you’ll never for-
get.
At any university, mo-
ments like these don’t come
along very often. At the Divi-
sion II level, those moments
are even more rare.
Western Oregon may not
be an athletic haven for
sports fans. But for at least
one weekend, it showed how
powerful sports can be.