6A — BAKER CITY HERALD
THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 6, 2020
POWDER VALLEY BOYS BASKETBALL
Badgers come up
short in shootout
POWDER VALLEY GIRLS BASKETBALL
By Ronald Bond
The (La Grande) Observer
Powder holds off Nixyaawii rally
By Ronald Bond
The (La Grande) Observer
NORTH POWDER — The
Powder Valley girls basket-
ball team found a rhythm of-
fensively after a low-scoring
fi rst half Tuesday and held
off a late rally by Nixyaawii
to earn an important Old
Oregon League home win.
Belle Blair scored all 17 of
her points in the second half
and had six points during a
key game-closing 10-3 run
as the Badgers got by the
Golden Eagles, 45-36.
“We just really got through
our minds that we weren’t
going to lose that game,”
Blair said. “That’s what re-
ally pulled us through.”
Blair, who had eight points
in the fourth, had a layup
39 seconds into the period
for a 31-21 lead, but the
Golden Eagles caught fi re
from 3-point range, getting
as close as 35-33 with 2:47
to play after Trista Melton
hit her second trey of the
quarter.
Blair followed with a pair
of key baskets in the next
Ronald Bond /The (La Grande) Observer
Powder Valley junior Belle Blair, right, scored all 17 of her
points in the second half to help the Badgers to a 45-36
win over Nixyaawii on Tuesday night.
two minutes to put the game
away.
Blair did a little bit of ev-
erything to help Powder Val-
ley, adding eight rebounds,
four steals, two assists and
a block.
“She played really well,
but I hate to single out any-
body in the game. That was
a fun defensive game,” head
coach Allen Bingham said.
“Our man defense was re-
ally tough. I don’t think (the
Golden Eagles) were used to
that. Made them earn it.”
Offensively, Blair helped
spark the Badgers in the
third quarter after a fi rst
half that saw the teams com-
bine for 20 points. The junior
banked in a 3-pointer six
seconds into the third to give
Powder Valley a 15-8 lead,
then had a steal and a layup
for a 22-12 edge with 4:30 to
play in the third. A second
banked-in 3-pointer — this
one from Dallee Jo Bingham
— gave the Badgers their
largest lead at 25-14 just
over a minute later.
“I just think we loosened
up and shot the ball a little
bit, and we scored in transi-
tion a few times and kind
of got things going,” Allen
Bingham said.
Both teams struggled to
get a fl ow on offense in a
fi rst half that saw the teams
shoot a combined 7-for-41
and commit 24 turnovers.
Powder Valley, which never
trailed, led by as much as
four points in the opening
half, including at 12-8 going
into the break when Keanna
Bingham scored following a
steal with 1:55 to play in the
half.
Krieger and Keanna Bing-
ham both added nine points
for Powder Valley.
The Badgers (11-8 overall,
7-2 OOL) hosts La Grande
Saturday.
NORTH POWDER — Fans got their money’s worth
during Tuesday’s Old Oregon League showdown
between two teams that were not only undefeated in
league play, but happened to be the top two scoring
teams in 1A boys basketball.
Nixyaawii’s dynamic guards, though, powered the
defending champion Golden Eagles past the high-fl ying
Badgers.
Tyasin Burns poured in 38 points, Mick Schimmel
added 24, and the defending state champions used a key
second half run to distance themselves on the way to an
83-72 win in North Powder.
“I know they’re a good team, and they’ve always been
a good team,” Powder Valley head coach Kyle Dixon said.
“They came out and had a good game against us. I don’t
think we responded well.”
The contest seesawed back and forth most of the fi rst
half, with Nixyaawii often pulling ahead by eight or nine
points before Powder Valley blitzed its way back into the
game.
Even early in the third, when the Golden Eagles
opened up what was at the time their largest lead at 50-
38 on Burns’ 3-point play, the Badgers responded. Roper
Bingham’s 3-point play, a 3-pointer by Cole Martin and
two technical foul free throws by Martin after one of
three technicals called during the contest pulled Powder
Valley within 50-46 with 4:15 to play in the third.
But an 18-2 run that bled into the fourth quarter —
one that saw Burns score the fi rst nine points of the
fourth quarter — extended the Nixyaawii lead to 68-48,
and the Badgers got no closer than 11 points the rest of
the way.
“I thought we turned the ball over a little too much,
missed some easy layups,” Dixon said.
The Badgers (16-5 overall, 8-1 OOL) host La Grande
Saturday.
OREGON WOMEN’S BASKETBALL
Ducks hand UConn historic loss on Huskies’ home court
By Doug Feinberg
AP Basketball Writer
STORRS, Conn. — Coach Kelly
Graves and Oregon made history,
handing UConn one of its worst
home losses under Geno Auriemma.
Ruthy Hebard had 22 points and
12 rebounds as No. 3 Oregon rolled
past the fourth-ranked Huskies 74-
56 on Monday night, UConn’s fi rst
loss on campus in seven years.
UConn had never had a defeat
this bad while playing in Gampel
Pavilion, which opened in 1990.
“It means a lot. This is hallowed
ground, so to speak,” Graves said of
the win. “They’ve been so good for
so long. It means a great deal. ... It’s
icing on the cake — a pretty sweet
cake. Who doesn’t look up to Geno?
He’s an icon and great coach.”
It was UConn’s worst home loss
on any court since Dec. 5, 2005, when
North Carolina beat the Huskies
by 23 points in Hartford, their other
home.
UConn’s previous worst margin
of defeat at Gampel was 17 points
against Iowa in 1990 and against
Syracuse in 1992. The Huskies were
beaten by 25 points in 1980 by St.
John’s when the team played at The
Field House.
“They came in here and did
something that very few people have
been able to do,” Auriemma said. “In
that fi rst quarter it was evident that
physically we couldn’t match up with
them tonight, plain and simple.”
Sabrina Ionescu added 10 points,
nine rebounds and nine assists for
the Ducks (20-2), falling short of
increasing her NCAA-record 23
triple-doubles.
“To walk into this arena, we were
all star-struck looking at the walls
and banners,” Ionescu said. “It’s
where we’re trying to get our pro-
gram and model after them. Huge
for us to do what we did, but still a
lot of room for improvement.”
The Ducks built a big lead early
in the much-anticipated matchup
before a sellout crowd. UConn hadn’t
lost on campus since falling to Notre
Dame on Jan. 5, 2013. The Huskies
were beaten by No. 2 Baylor by
16 points in Hartford last month,
ending the team’s 98-game home
winning streak.