Polk County
Sports
Polk County Itemizer-Observer • December 13, 2017 13A
CENTRAL ATHLETICS
SCHEDULE
THURSDAY, DEC. 14
Boys basketball: Abby’s
Pizza Holiday Classic (at
North Marion): Central vs.
Banks, 6:30 p.m. C.S. Lewis
a t Fa l l s C i t y, 7 p . m .
Willamette Valley Christian
at Perrydale, 7 p.m.
Girls basketball: Abby’s
Pizza Holiday Classic (at
North Marion): Central vs.
Molalla, 8 p.m. C.S. Lewis at
Fa l l s C i t y, 5 : 3 0 p . m .
Willamette Valley Christian
at Perrydale, 5:30 p.m.
Men’s basketball: Pern
Oregon, 7 p.m.
Panthers announce hiring of three coaches
By Lukas Eggen
The Itemizer-Observer
INDEPENDENCE – Cen-
tral High School’s athletic
department announced the
hiring of three new coaches
for spring sports.
Joel Everett will coach the
golf team; Patty Nevue will
coach the girls tennis squad;
and Tom Roberts will coach
the baseball team.
“Tom is highly organized
and has a great passion for
the game of baseball and
managing student-athletes,”
athletic director Shane
Hedrick said. “Joel too brings
a great passion to the sport of
golf. Patty is well-connected
to the Independence-Mon-
mouth communities as a vol-
unteer to many organiza-
tions. She will be a great asset
to the tennis program.”
Everett served as an assis-
tant coach for the golf squad
last spring and has been a
football coach at Central for
the past seven seasons.
“After being an assistant
coach in the program, I de-
cided I was ready to apply
for the head job and contin-
ue the growth that the pro-
gram has been having,”
Everett said. “We had a great
season last year for both
boys and girls. Our goal is to
send our teams to the re-
gional tournament in May.”
Nevue has coached
women’s tennis at Oregon
State University and given
tennis lessons in Oregon,
Alaska, Mexico and Mary-
land.
She was also a two-time
Oregon high school doubles
champion and played tennis
at OSU. She has also served
as an assistant at Central for
three years.
See COACHES, Page 14A
FRIDAY, DEC. 15
Boys basketball: Abby’s
Pizza Holiday Classic (at
North Marion): Central vs.
TBA, TBA. Dallas at Hills-
boro, 7:15 p.m. Ranger Tour-
nament (at Dufur): Perry-
dale vs. Klickitat (Wash.),
4:30 p.m.
Girls basketball: Abby’s
Pizza Holiday Classic (at
North Marion): Central vs.
TBA, 7 p.m. Dallas at Hills-
boro, 5:45 p.m. Ranger Tour-
nament (at Dufur): Perry-
dale vs. Klickitat (Wash.), 3
p.m.
Wrestling: Central at
Panther Invitational, 4 p.m.
SATURDAY, DEC. 16
Boys basketball: Abby’s
Pizza Holiday Classic (at
North Marion): Central vs.
TBA, TBA. Ranger Tourna-
ment (at Dufur): Perrydale
vs. TBA, TBA.
Girls basketball: Abby’s
Pizza Holiday Classic (at
North Marion): Central vs.
TBA, 8 a.m. Ranger Tourna-
ment (at Dufur): Perrydale
vs. TBA, TBA.
Wrestling: Dallas at Lib-
erty Tournament, 9 a.m.
MONDAY, DEC. 17
Men’s basketball: Alas-
ka Anchorage at Western
Oregon, 5 p.m.
MONDAY, DEC. 18
Boys basketball: Central
at Cascade, 7 p.m. Triangle
Lake at Falls City, 7 p.m.
Girls basketball: Trian-
gle Lake at Falls City, 5:30
p.m.
TUESDAY, DEC. 19
Boys basketball: Coun-
try Christian at Perrydale.
7:30 p.m.
Girls basketball: McKay
at Dallas, 7 p.m. Country
Christian at Perrydale, 6
p.m.
Men’s basketball: Alas-
ka Fairbanks at Western
Oregon, 7 p.m.
Women’s basketball:
Western Oregon at Central
Washington, 2 p.m.
WEDNESDAY, DEC. 20
Girls basketball: Central
at Stayton, 7 p.m.
—
Schedules Subject to Change
QUICK HITS
Perrydale girls
ranked eighth
PERRYDALE — Perry-
dale’s girls basketball team
is ranked eighth in the 1A
coaches poll released on
Monday.
The Pirates received 47
votes.
Nixyaawii was ranked in
the top spot.
WOU softball
signs seven
MONMOUTH — Western
Oregon softball coach
Lonny Sargeant an-
nounced the signing of
seven student-athletes to
National Letters of Intent
on Thursday.
The signed players are
Madeline Brandner (Ken-
newick, Wash.), Alexi Bre-
haut (Pendleton), Macy
Christianson (Kennewick),
Madison Mayer (Mil-
waukie), Nalani Muranaka
(Salem), Zoie Recolan (Ewa
Beach, Hawaii), and
Katherine Tidwell (Marana,
Ariz.).
Players will be eligible to
play beginning the fall of
2018.
Western Oregon fin-
ished the 2017 season with
a 29-24 record overall and
a 14-14 mark in Great
Northwest Athletic Confer-
ence play. WOU advanced
to the title round of the
GNAC Championship be-
fore falling to Western
Washington.
www.polkio.com
LUKAS EGGEN/Itemizer-Observer file
Devon Alexander will get a chance to play for the Vancouver Knights.
A second chance
WOU alumni to play basketball for a Canadian basketball squad
By Lukas Eggen
The Itemizer-Observer
MONMOUTH — From the mo-
ment he finished his senior season
at Western Oregon in 2016, Devon
Alexander has had his sight set on
playing professional basketball —
no matter where in the world it
would take him.
He’ll get his chance later this
month in Canada.
Alexander is headed across the
border to start training camp on
Dec. 27 after signing with the Van-
couver Knights, part of the North
American Premier Basketball league.
“All 17 years of playing basketball
was supposed to be towards this,” he
said. “The fact that it’s finally hap-
pening is amazing.”
It’s been far from easy.
—
When Alexander started this
process, he was realistic, but hope-
ful.
He took part in numerous camps
and combines in the U.S., Germany
and Canada, kept up on his personal
training and patiently waited for his
opportunity.
It appeared he was beginning to
gather serious interest to play over-
seas, Alexander said, when a left
wrist injury last fall put his playing
future in question.
There were positives. Alexander
earned his bachelor’s degree, began
working for a sports marketing com-
pany and started training young
basketball players.
But Alexander began to wonder if
his playing days were over.
“Doubt creeps into your mind,”
Alexander said. “You’re out for two
months, you get out of shape quick
and you start to question whether
it’s worth it to keep going.”
The commissioner of the NAPB,
which has eight teams, invited
Devon to a combine in September.
By this point, Alexander had es-
tablished himself with a client base
that he enjoyed training.
Ultimately, the allure of chasing
his dream one more time was too
much to ignore.
See DEVON, Page 14A
LUKAS EGGEN/Itemizer-Observer file
Former Western Oregon men’s basketball player Devon Alexander will
travel to play basketball in Canada later this month.
PREP BOYS BASKETBALL
Dragons look to toughen up
By Lukas Eggen
Caleb Kiner drives to the
hoop against Churchill on
Friday night.
The Dragons lost 65-40 to
fall to 0-5 overall on the
season.
LUKAS EGGEN/Itemizer-Observer
The Itemizer-Observer
Basketball
DALLAS — Dallas’ boys
basketball coach Trent
Schwartz had one message
for his players: It’s time to
get tough.
“We were a little soft in
our first four games,”
Schwartz said. “We have to
be a tough basketball team
and (on Friday), I thought
we played tough at times.
We were outsized, but we
put a butt on people and
took two charges. We have
to get a little nasty.”
The Dragons lost to
Churchill 65-40, but Dallas
showed flashes of the
toughness Schwar tz is
looking for. The Dragons
trailed 23-13 at the half be-
fore rallying within seven.
The Lancers answered and
• Dallas’ boys basketball
team lost to Churchill 65-40
on Friday.
• The Dragons played
Glencoe Tuesday after press
time and travel to face Hills-
boro on Friday.
www.facebook.com/pages/Polk-County-Itemizer-Observer/205062686252209
pulled away.
“I saw a lot of intensity,”
senior Jack Anderson said.
“We were really playing as a
team for stretches and get-
ting after it.”
Dalton Woolner and An-
derson helped spark a Dal-
las rally in the second half,
thanks to some long dis-
tance shots. But the Drag-
ons couldn’t make them
with enough consistency to
sustain the rally.
See DALLAS, Page 14A
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