Polk County Sports 12A Polk County Itemizer-Observer • February 15, 2017 PREP BOYS BASKETBALL Barba, Central earn crucial victory By Lukas Eggen The Itemizer-Observer INDEPENDENCE — Headed into Friday’s game against South Albany, Cen- tral’s boys basketball team was looking for a kick start. The Panthers had lost three of its past four games — including a 58-46 loss to South Albany on Feb. 3 and a blown 11-point lead against Crescent Valley on Feb. 7. For senior Alec Barba, the path to victory was simple. “We need to come out and punch them in the face,” Barba said. “When we come out with energy, I like our chances.” The Panthers threw the first punch and never looked back, defeating South Al- bany 76-46 on Friday. Barba scored a game-high 17 points as Central outscored the Rebels by 26 in the sec- ond half. Barba is doing everything he can to help the Panthers enter the postseason in peak form — he hopes his sense of urgency infects his team- mates. “You try and show the younger guys that urgency,” Barba said. “Knowing it’s my last year, each practice is one less that I have. It makes me want to work harder.” — Barba doesn’t like to win — he needs to — whether playing basketball for the Panthers or one-on-one with his younger brother. “On or off the court, I have to win,” Barba said. That need has driven him to become an all-around threat who can affect a game in a number of ways. Since coming up to varsity as a sophomore, Barba quickly emerged as a sharp shooter. “Alec is our first really true shooter to come through since Kaj Bansen,” coach Tim Kreta said. Since then, he’s trans- formed from a gifted scorer to someone who can do al- most anything on the court. “As teams have eyed in on him and taking him away from scoring, he’s still a big contributor,” Kreta said. “He can grab rebounds, set solid screens, get some assists. He’s a true competitor.” Barba also wanted to have a big impact on defense and not merely adequate. “It’s been my goal to be a top defender on the team,” Barba said. That’s not an easy task. At Basketball • Central’s boys basket- ball team defeated South Albany 76-46 on Friday. • Alec Barba scored a game-high 17 points. • Brandan Lesmeister and Peter Mason scored 12 points each. Isaiah Abra- ham and Andrew Barry added 10 points each. • Central plays at Dallas Friday at 7 p.m. 6-foot-3, Barba is taller than most of the guards he’s as- signed to defend, but that comes with a drawback. “Alec is a taller kid in a guard’s body,” Kreta said. “Other players might be a little quicker than he is, so he has to find those niches. He has to play what we call old-man defense. How can old men keep younger play- ers in front of them? You learn the nuances of playing defense.” That means watching film and understanding where his strengths and weakness- es as a defender lay so oppo- nents can’t exploit them, Kreta said. As Barba rounds into peak form, he hopes his team- mates are ready for a sprint to the finish. — The Panthers, which played Lebanon Tuesday after press time, entered the week with a 6-4 record in Mid-Willamette Conference play, trailing Crescent Valley (8-2 MWC), South Albany and Corvallis (7-3 MWC) in the league standings with three league games left. There’s a lot still to be de- cided. The top two seeds in the league automatically qualify for the first round of the state playoffs. The third and fourth seeds will host a play-in game. The fifth- and sixth-place teams in the league go on the road for a play-in game. Central closes the regular season at Dallas Friday at 7 p.m. and hosts Corvallis Tuesday at 7 p.m. and Wood- burn on Feb. 24 at 7 p.m. “Getting a bye is doable, but it’s going to take a hell of a lot of work,” Kreta said. More important is making sure the Panthers enter the postseason with momen- tum. If Friday’s game was any indication, that message was heard loud and clear. “I want to go out with a bang,” Barba said. “I want us to make a big push in the playoffs. I know what this team is capable of.” LUKAS EGGEN/ Itemizer-Observer Central senior Alec Barba drives to the hoop against South Albany on Friday night. Ford: Senior seeded third, fifth at state meet Continued from Page 11A Ford is seeded fifth in the 50 freestyle and third in the 100 freestyle at the swim- ming state championships on Friday and Saturday at Mt. Hood Community Col- lege Aquatic Center in Gre- sham. “I don’t really know if I have any expectations,” Ford said. “I’m really excited to see what will come of it.” Ford is no stranger to the sprint distances in the freestyle but required a dif- ferent kind of preparation than the distance events. “In a sprint, if you mess up, you don’t have the time to make that up,” Ford said. “You have to be a little more focused on what you’re doing and when you’re doing it.” D allas coach D avid Morelli said with little time separating the state quali- fiers, anyone can win. The devil will be in the details. “Unlike the longer dis- tances, the qualifying times State Meet What: OSAA Class 5A State Swimming Championships. When: Friday preliminaries, 9 a.m.; Saturday finals, 8:15 a.m. Where: Mt. Hood Community College Aquatic Center, Gre- sham. Admission: Adults, $8; students, $5. Dallas Qualifiers: GIRLS: Jolie-Rae Ford, sr. (50 freestyle, 100 freestyle). in sprints are within tenths of a second of each other,” Morelli said. “Anything can happen. This makes the start and turn important. In dis- tance, the focus was on pace. In sprints, the starts and turns have to be perfect.” Ford was the Dragons’ lone state qualifier, but Morelli was pleased with the effort from all his swimmers. Senior Ryan Kennedy fin- ished fifth in the boys 500 freestyle and seventh in the 200 freestyle. “It was a good finish for him and a successful high school career,” Morelli said. Freshman Gabe Apple- gate took seventh in the boys 100 butterfly, and freshman Isaiah Dressel made the consolation finals to take 15th in the 50 freestyle. Tyler Boggs took 13th in the 50 and 100 freestyle, and freshman Christopher Cam- pione took 15th in the 100 backstroke. “I think all the new swim- mers returning have a greater understanding on what it takes to be success- ful in swimming,” Morelli said. “They worked hard and their dedication paid off with their best times at dis- tricts.” WESTERN OREGON ROUNDUP Track and field sets new school mark Itemizer-Observer staff report SEATTLE — Western Oregon’s track and field team set a new school record at the Husky Invite on Friday and Sa t u rd a y. T h e women’s distance medley relay team of Suzanne Va n De G r i f t , Megan Rose, Olivia Woods and Kennedy Rufener broke its own Ribich school mark by 15 seconds with a time of 11 min- utes, 50.03 seconds. David Ribich and Josh Dempsey finished first and second in their heat of the men’s 800-meter run on Saturday. Ribich finished with a time of 1:50.49, the ninth fastest time at the Division II level and an NCAA provisional qualifying time. Van De Grift also posted a provi- sional qualifying mark in the women’s 800 with a time of 2:12.87. Western Oregon will compete at the Great Northwest Athletic Con- ference Indoor Championships Friday and Saturday in Nampa, Idaho. MEN’S BASKETBALL DROPS TWO: Western Oregon’s men’s basketball team fell to Western Washington 73-63 on Thursday and Simon Fraser 68-63 on Saturday. Ali Faruq-Bey led WOU against West- ern Washington with 20 points, five rebounds, four as- sists and three s t e a l s . Ta n n e r Omlid added 19 points and four re- bounds. The Wolves saw Omlid a five-point half- time lead evaporate against Simon Fraser. Omlid led WOU with 13 points and 11 rebounds. Faruq-Bey scored a team-high 16 points, and Bryan Berg added 10 points. Western Oregon returns home to host Alaska Fairbanks on Thursday and Alaska Anchorage on Saturday. Both games are scheduled to start at 7:30 p.m. The Wolves play at Concordia Tuesday at 7 p.m. WOMEN’S BASKETBALL FALLS AT HOME: Western Oregon’s women’s basketball team lost to Concordia 69- 56 on Feb. 7 and Montana State Billings 64-60 on Thursday. Kaylie Boschma scored a game-high 16 points against Concordia. She also grabbed eight re- bounds. Sydney Azorr added 15 points and three re- bounds. Jasmine Miller led WOU against Montana State Billings with 15 Boschma points. The Wolves led by 12 in the fourth quarter against the Yellowjack- ets, but were outscored 26-10 over the final 8:41 of the game. Th e Wo l ve s h o s t N o r t hwe s t Nazarene on Thursday and Central Washington on Saturday. Both games will start at 5:15 p.m. BASEBALL SPLITS OPENING GAMES: Western Oregon’s baseball team split a doubleheader against Fresno Pacific to open the 2017 season on Thursday. The Wolves earned a 7-5 win in the opening game before falling 7-0 in the second game. Jacob Martinez, Tony Fonzo and Koty Fallon each had two hits in the opening game as the Wolves racked up 10 hits and seven RBIs in its season- opening vic tor y. Pitcher Fallon Connor McCord earned the victory on the mound. A second doubleheader at Fresno Pacific was canceled on Saturday due to weather. The Wolves play at the Uni- versity of California, San Diego Friday at 6 p.m., a doubleheader Saturday at 1 and 4 p.m., and Sunday at noon. SOFTBALL GOES 2-3: Western Ore- gon’s softball team went 2-3 at the Desert Stinger Classic in Las Vegas. The PREP SWIMMING Wolves opened the Classic with a 3-1 loss to Azusa Pacif- ic and a 7-4 setback to Chico State on Friday. The Wolves defeated M inot State 5-4 before falling to Cal State San Bernardino 5-4 Huffman on Saturday, and ended the Classic with a 1-0 win over Cal State Monterey Bay on Sunday. Ryanne Huffman and Ku’ulei Siolo each had two hits. Ashlee Lynch hit a solo home run against Minot State. Zoe Clark hit an RBI groundout in the top of the fifth to score the winning run. Pitchers Sammi Cadwallader and Chandler Bishop combined to throw a four-hit shutout over Cal State Mon- terey Bay. Kelsie Gardner and Huffman led the game off with bunt singles, and a line out by Ashley Doyle scored Gardner. WOU plays doubleheaders at Cham- inade Wednesday (today), at BYU Hawaii on Friday and at the College of Idaho on Saturday and Sunday. DALLAS ROUNDUP Central’s season ends Girls defeat Crescent Valley Itemizer-Observer staff report CORVALLIS — Central’s swim team saw its season come to an end at the Mid- Willamette Conference Dis- trict Swimming Champi- onships on Friday and Sat- urday, but the future looks bright for the Panthers. Junior Daniel Glade and freshman Grace Holstad came close to qualifying for state as wild card entries. Glade finished second in the 50-yard freestyle in 23.51 seconds. The final qualifying time for state clocked in at 23.47. Holstad took second in the girls 100 butterfly with a time of 1:08.31. The final qualifying time for state was 1:08.19. “We had a great sea- son,” coach Jennifer Tress said. “In the end, we were lit- erally out- Glade touched. To miss going to state by so little really makes the heartache sting that much more be- cause I know Daniel and Grace worked so hard all sea- son. I think this will make them even hungrier for a trip to state going into next sea- son.” Central’s boys and girls team placed sixth in the team standings. Though the Panthers failed to qualify a swimmer to state, Tress was happy with each swimmer’s effort. And for those coming back, she is confident this experi- ence will make them stronger and more danger- ous next season. “My pride for the team is not measured by their ability to qualify for state, but by the effort they put in each race,” Tress said. “I asked the team to swim with 100 per- cent effort and leave every- thing they have in the pool. I wanted them to be able to tell me that they left every- thing in the water and every single swimmer did that last weekend.” Itemizer-Observer staff report DALLAS — Dallas’ girls basketball team defeated Crescent Valley 64-48 on Fri- day. The Dragons opened the week with a 69-39 loss to Corvallis on Feb. 8. Olivia Nelson led the Dragons against Crescent Valley with 20 points, four assists and four rebounds. Stefani Tallon recorded 11 points and nine rebounds. Jordan Dippel added 10 points, five rebounds and two steals. The Dragons host Silver- ton Wednesday (today) at 7 p.m., Central Friday at 5:30 p.m., and Woodburn Tues- day at 7 p.m. Dallas ends the regular season by hosting South Albany on Feb. 24. The Dragons (11-8 over- all, 6-4 Mid-Willamette Conference) entered the week in third place in the league standings, three games behind Corvallis and Silverton and one g a m e ahead of Central. The third a n d fourth p l a c e Tallon teams in the MWC will host a state play-in game. BOYS BASKETBALL BREAKS LOSING STREAK: Dallas’ boys basketball team defeated Milwaukie 45-40 on Feb. 8 before falling to Crescent Valley 60-55 on Friday. The Dragons opened the week with a 61-57 loss to Corvallis on Feb. 7. Dallas’ win over Crescent Valley snapped a six-game los- ing streak. Carter Weisensee scored a team-high 17 points against Milwaukie. Jason Richey added 14 points. Dallas played Silverton Tues- day after press time. The Drag- ons host Central Friday at 7 p.m. before playing at Wood- burn Tuesday at 7 p.m. Dallas closes out the regular season at South Albany on Feb. 24. Dallas entered the week in eighth place in the MWC with a 2-8 mark in league play. Woodburn and Lebanon entered the week with a 3-7 mark, while Silverton had a 4-6 record. The top six teams from the league ad- vance to the postseason.