Polk County
Sports
PREP BOYS BASKETBALL
SCHEDULE
WEDNESDAY, DEC. 28
Boys basketball: Centu-
ry/Hillsboro Tournament:
Central vs. Tigard (at Centu-
ry), 8:15 p.m. Dallas at
Pendleton, noon. Falls City
vs. Firm Foundation (at
Southwest Christian), 4:30
p.m.
Girls basketball: Nike
Interstate Shootout: Dallas
vs. TBA, TBA. Valley 10 Tour-
nament: Falls City vs. Camas
Valley (at Southwest Chris-
tian), 3 p.m.
Polk County Itemizer-Observer • December 28, 2016 10A
Richey fires up Dragons
Senior expands game to become a more complete leader
By Lukas Eggen
The Itemizer-Observer
DALLAS — Senior Jason
Richey showed flashes of of-
fensive brilliance for Dallas’
boys basketball team.
“Over the course of last
year, he developed the abili-
ty to score in a number of
ways,” coach Trent Schwartz
said.
Richey could shoot the
long ball, loft a floater, and
get to the basket, and carved
out a clear role on varsity.
“He was a good spark
coming off the bench,”
Schwartz said.
Coming off the bench is
no longer the case for
Richey.
He has upped his game in
every facet and has seen it
evolve in new ways.
Pe r h a p s t h e b i g g e s t
change in his offensive game
is his passing. Forced to play
point guard earlier this sea-
son when Aaron White
missed time due to illness,
Richey showed off his skills
THURSDAY, DEC. 29
Boys basketball: Centu-
ry/Hillsboro Tournament:
Central vs. TBA, TBA. Falls
City at Portland Waldorf,
3:30 p.m. Mapleton at Per-
rydale, 5:30 p.m.
Girls basketball: Nike
Interstate Shootout: Dallas
vs. TBA, TBA. Valley 10 Tour-
nament: Falls City at Port-
land Waldorf, 2 p.m. Maple-
ton at Perrydale, 4 p.m.
Men’s basketball: Cen-
tral Washington at Western
Oregon, 7 p.m.
Women’s basketball:
Western Oregon at Simon
Fraser, 7:30 p.m.
Wrestling: Central, Dal-
las at Northwest Duals, 9
a.m.
FRIDAY, DEC. 30
Boys basketball: Centu-
ry/Hillsboro Tournament:
Central vs. TBA, TBA.
Girls basketball: Nike
Interstate Shootout: Dallas
vs. TBA, TBA.
Wrestling: Central, Dal-
las at Northwest Duals, 9
a.m.
Basketball
• Dallas’ boys basketball team competed at the Rebel Basket-
ball Classic.
• The Dragons defeated Redmond 61-50 on Dec. 21 and
North Eugene 44-40 on Thursday.
• Jason Richey had 18 points against North Eugene. Carter
Weisensee added nine points, while Aaron White scored five
points, grabbed four rebounds and had three steals.
• Dallas (3-3 overall) played Hermiston Tuesday after press
time. The Dragons close out nonleague play at Pendleton
Wednesday (today) at noon.
SATURDAY, DEC. 31
M e n ’s b a s k e t b a l l :
Northwest Nazarene at
Western Oregon, 2 p.m.
Women’s basketball:
Western Oregon at Western
Washington, 4:30 p.m.
MONDAY, JAN. 2
Girls basketball: Central
at West Albany, 7 p.m.
TUESDAY, JAN. 3
Boys basketball: Put-
nam vs. Central, 7 p.m. Falls
City at Oregon School for
the Deaf, 7 p.m. Willamette
Valley Christian at Perry-
dale, 7 p.m.
Girls basketball: Put-
nam at Dallas, 7 p.m. Falls
City at Oregon School for
the D eaf, 5:30 p.m.
Willamette Valley Christian
at Perrydale, 5:30 p.m.
WEDNESDAY, JAN. 4
Wrestling: Central at 4-
way league duals (at Wood-
burn), 4 p.m. Dallas at 4-
Way league duals (at
Lebanon), 4 p.m.
—
Schedules Subject to Change
QUICK HITS
Central boys
lose to Churchill
EUGENE — Central’s boys
basketball team lost to
Churchill 73-49 on Dec. 21.
Churchill led 37-33 at
the half before using a
third-quarter surge to pull
away for the victory.
The Panthers (2-3 over-
all) will compete at the
Century/Hillsboro Tourna-
ment Wednesday (today)
through Friday before
hosting Putnam Tuesday at
7 p.m.
Dallas girls
defeat Hillsboro
HILLSBORO — Dallas’
girls basketball team de-
feated Hillsboro 46-43 on
Dec. 21.
Olivia
Nelson
scored
1
2
points
to lead
t h e
Drag-
o n s .
Ronco
Becca
Ronco
added 10 points, and Ste-
fani Tallon scored nine
points.
The Dragons trailed 29-
28 entering the fourth
quarter.
Dallas played Sherwood
Tuesday after press time.
The Dragons will com-
pete at the Nike Interstate
S h o o t o u t We d n e s d a y
(today) through Friday be-
fore hosting Putnam Tues-
day at 7 p.m.
www.polkio.com
as a distributor.
“I would say I’m a better
passer (than last season),”
Richey said. “It gives me
more confidence to drive to
the basket knowing I can
pass it out if I get stuck.”
Add in his ability to hit
shots from all over the court,
and Richey has become one
of the Dragons’ most diffi-
cult players to stop.
“It makes them respect
your shot,” Richey said.
“Once you hit a few outside
shots, your inside game
opens up and vice versa. It
helps both ways.”
Richey scored a team-
high 18 points during a 44-
40 win over North Eugene
on Thursday; 16 points dur-
ing a 61-50 victory over
Redmond on Dec. 21; and
11 points during a 59-54
loss to North Salem on Dec.
20.
But his biggest improve-
ments have little to do with
putting the ball in the bas-
ket.
See RICHEY, Page 11A
LUKAS EGGEN/ Itemizer-Observer
Dallas senior Jason Richey scored 16 points during the Dragons 61-50 victory over Red-
mond on Dec. 21. Richey scored 18 points against North Eugene on Thursday.
PREP SWIMMING
Holstad displays talent, confidence
By Lukas Eggen
The Itemizer-Observer
INDEPENDENCE — Central freshman swimmer Grace
Holstad doesn’t like to lose.
Whether she’s swimming the butterfly during a meet
or swimming against teammates during a practice, Hol-
stad has a singular goal in mind: Finish before anyone
else.
“I’m a super-competitive person,” Holstad said. “I always
want to be first.”
Holstad has her sights set on making her presence felt in
the world of swimming.
—
Swimming is in the DNA of the Holstad family.
Holstad’s mother swam the freestyle at the Junior
Olympics, and there was little doubt that Grace would follow
suit and grow to love the water.
Turns out Grace, who began swimming competitively at
the age of 7, loved the thrill of victory.
“I’ve been swimming as long as I can remember,” she said.
“I love it. I love the competitive feeling. I love when there’s
someone neck-in-neck with me. There’s nothing else that
compares to it.”
Grace quickly settled into a stroke that gives many swim-
mers great difficulty — the butterfly.
“I don’t remember if it was hard for me at the beginning,
but I just knew I liked it and had fun working at it,” Holstad
said. “It is a difficult stroke. I like how it challenges me. It’s
LUKAS EGGEN/ Itemizer-Observer
just fun.”
Central
freshman
swimmer
Grace
Holstad
hopes
to
make
state
in the butterfly.
See HOLSTAD, Page 11A
PERRYDALE BASKETBALL
Boys, girls fall in close contests
Itemizer-Observer staff report
BANDON — For the first
time this season, Perrydale’s
boys basketball team was
truly tested. The Pirates de-
feated Yoncalla 53-44 in the
first round of the Bandon
Dunes Invitational before
falling to Pacific 50-49 on
Dec. 21.
Perrydale’s game against
Yoncalla was a tight contest
throughout, coach Brian
Domes said.
“We had our first taste of
adversity,” Domes said. “It
was good to see them tested.
We figured we were going to
get a win, but we thought it’d
be easier. It was a tough
game.”
The Pirates raced out to a
21-6 lead over Pacific, but
Pacific fought back. In the
f o u r t h
q u a r t e r,
the lead
changed
multiple
times, and
Pe r r yd a l e
fell just
short of a
Domes
victory.
“I have
to give (Pa-
cific) cred-
it,” Domes
said. “They
dug in and
stayed with
it.”
Haylen
Janesofsky,
Janesofsky
D a n i e l
Domes and Cooper Butler
all performed well, Brian
Domes said. The team is
searching
for consis-
tency from
its other
contribu-
tors.
“I think
we needed
t h i s , ”
Butler
D o m e s
said. “I think you can learn
more from being on the los-
ing side. With some of our
less-experienced players, we
want them to understand
the importance of where we
need to be defensively.”
Perrydale hosts Mapleton
Thursday at 5:30 p.m. and
Willamette Valley Christian
Tuesday at 7 p.m.
GIRLS SPLIT GAMES AT IN-
VITATIONAL: Perrydale’s girls
basketball team found itself in
a pair of
tightly con-
t e s t e d
games at
the Bandon
Dunes Invi-
tational. The
Pirates de-
feated Yon-
calla 24-20
Starr
on Dec. 20,
but lost to Pacific 36-32 on Dec.
21.
“I was really happy (with
what I saw),” coach Terry New-
ton said. “We had one practice
in the last 10 days, and the first
game – we struggled a bit, but
did what we had to do to win
the game. Against Pacific, we
played really hard and battled.”
Senior Sierra Starr suffered
an injury during the Pacific
game and did not return, but
the Pirates continued to com-
pete well, Newton said.
www.facebook.com/pages/Polk-County-Itemizer-Observer/205062686252209
“It was a challenge for us,” he
said. “They made a lot of mis-
takes. That’s part of being
young, but they also forced a
lot of mistakes.”
The invitational served as a
good lesson for the Pirates,
Newton said.
“I hope they learn to under-
stand to play more patiently,”
he said. “They tend to want to
try to get everything real
quick.”
Perrydale hosts Mapleton
Th u r s d ay a t 4 p. m . a n d
Willamette Valley Christian
Tuesday at 5:30 p.m.
As the Pirates continue to
learn on the fly, Newton is ex-
cited to see how quickly this
team can develop.
“I think a month from now
we’ll be a totally different
team,” he said. “They’re playing
fairly well as a young core right
now.”
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