SATURDAY, MARCH 6, 2021
BAKER CITY HERALD — 5A
PAC-12 WOMEN’S BASKETBALL TOURNAMENT
BAKER VOLLEYBALL
Beavers get 2nd win over Ducks Bulldogs fall to
Badgers, Bobcats
By Nick Daschel
The Oregonian
If ever there was a game
putting Oregon State’s 2020-
21 season into a nutshell, it
was Thursday’s 71-64 win
over Oregon in the Pac-12
tournament quarterfi nals in
Las Vegas.
To quickly recap this
season: bad start, no hope,
then a little life, momentum,
catch fi re and now one of the
country’s hottest teams.
To recap Thursday: bad
start, lucky to be in the game,
a second-quarter spark, catch
fi re in the third, second win in
fi ve days over rival Oregon.
The numbers speak loudly.
During the course of Thurs-
day’s game, Oregon State had
its worst scoring quarter of
the season, a fi ve-point fi rst
quarter. The Beavers had
their best scoring quarter of
the season, a 31-point third.
“It’s the season of ‘Twilight
Zone,’ ” OSU coach Scott
Rueck said.
Descriptive phrases similar
to that have been assigned
to Oregon State’s pandemic-
impacted season. Strange.
Weird.
And now … rewarding.
How else to describe a season
that had a dozen game can-
cellations, a four-week pause
due to a COVID-19 outbreak
and a fi ve-game losing streak,
only to fi nd Oregon State
in the Pac-12 tournament
semifi nals for the fi rst time
since 2017?
“Did we see ourselves in
the Pac-12 semifi nal a month
ago? The obvious answer
would have been no,” Rueck
said. “It was hard to envision
what the potential of this
team could be, because we
hadn’t had a chance to experi-
ence it.”
Oh, the Beavers dreamed.
Dreamed big, even after
Oregon stomped the Beavers
79-59 on Dec. 13 in Corvallis.
Just like getting to the Pac-12
semifi nals, who could have
guessed OSU beating Oregon
twice within fi ve days later in
the season?
NORTH POWDER — The Baker High School vol-
leyball team’s season record dropped to 0-3 after the
Bulldogs dropped a pair of matches to Powder Valley
and Union on Thursday evening, March 4.
Both matches were played at North Powder.
In the fi rst match, Baker lost in straight sets to Pow-
der Valley, 25-20, 25-11 and 25-20.
Against Union, Baker won the opening set, 25-21, but
the Bobcats won the next three to take the match. The
scores were 25-16, 25-15 and 25-8.
Individual statistics weren’t available in time for this
story.
Baker returned to action this afternoon with a 1 p.m.
PDT match at Ontario.
OREGON MEN’S BASKETBALL
Bryan Steffy/Pac-12 Pool
Oregon’s Erin Boley shoots against Oregon State’s Taylor Jones (44) and Taya Coros-
dale during the Pac-12 women’s basketball tournament Thursday, March 4.
“This is a team full of very
competitive people and
that’s the reason we’re here.”
— Scott Rueck, Oregon State
women’s basketball coach
“We just had to play some
games, get in a rhythm,” said
senior guard Aleah Goodman,
who had 13 points, one of four
Beavers to score in double fi g-
ures against Oregon. “When
that fi rst game happened,
was I worried? Not really, just
because it was our third game
of the season in the Pac-12. I
knew what this team and this
group was capable of.”
Fast forward to Thursday,
when nothing went right at
the offensive end for Oregon
State. The Beavers were piti-
ful during the fi rst quarter,
scoring a season-low fi ve
points, making 2 of 16 shots.
Rueck was blunt about
OSU’s fi rst-quarter offense.
Execution was poor, and the
Ducks’ defense made it worse.
Rueck said he told the team
it felt like they were down 20
points after the fi rst quarter.
In reality, it was only 10-5.
While Rueck felt like Oregon
had the Beavers playing “on
our heels,” OSU played well
enough on defense, and better
yet, limited the Ducks to one
shot per possession by hitting
the defensive boards.
“Defensive rebounds was
the only reason we were in
the game,” Rueck said.
But the Beavers have been
lights out at the offensive end
of late, and a repeat of the
fi rst quarter seemed unlikely.
A 3-pointer by Goodman with
7:45 left in the second quarter
was “a shot in the arm for the
team,” Rueck said.
The Beavers scored 19
points in the second quarter,
but as it turned out, they
were just getting warmed up.
“We found our rhythm and
remembered who we were
and played good basketball
on both ends of the fl oor in
that second quarter,” Rueck
said.
The third quarter was an
offensive clinic, by both teams
for several minutes. The
Ducks made 7 of their fi rst 9
shots in the third, but it didn’t
last. Oregon State was a tour
de force for the entire 10 min-
utes, hitting 12 of 15 shots
and scoring 31 points.
Rueck said it felt similar
to Sunday’s performance in
Eugene, when OSU rolled up
88 points against the Ducks.
“I don’t know if we’ve been
better for a stretch than that,”
he said.
The third-quarter produc-
tion was widespread. It was
pick-and-rolls to Taylor Jones,
who had eight points in the
quarter.
Taya Corosdale hit a pair
of 3s and had eight points.
Talia von Oelhoffen had eight
points, including a memo-
rable three-point play where
she got emotional in the face
of Duck defender Jaz Shelley
after the layup.
Rueck loved it, though he
didn’t think von Oelhoffen
talked trash.
“I can relate. The fi rst time
I was in (the rivalry) I had
some of those same emotions,”
he said. “Seeing her pump
her fi st, and get fi red up, who
doesn’t love that? This is a
team full of very competitive
people and that’s the reason
we’re here. That’s the reason
we were able to weather.”
Ducks top UCLA,
take over first
place in Pac-12
EUGENE (AP) — Chris Duarte scored 23 points, LJ
Figueroa added 18 on 8-of-11 shooting, and Oregon ral-
lied to beat UCLA 82-74 on Wednesday night, March 3
in a matchup between two of the top teams in Pac-12.
Eugene Omoruyi and Will Richardson scored 15
points apiece for Oregon (18-5, 13-4).
The Ducks, who moved a half-game ahead of UCLA
and Southern California in the Pac-12 standings, play
at Oregon State in the regular-season fi nale Sunday
with a chance to clinch the conference title. The Beavers
beat a short-handed Oregon 75-64 on Jan. 23. Duarte,
Richardson and Figueroa missed the game for various
reasons.
Junior Jules Bernard had a career-high 23 points for
UCLA, but was scoreless over the fi nal 13 minutes as
the Ducks erased a nine-point defi cit.
Jaime Jaquez Jr., who fi nished with 15 points for the
Bruins, hit a jumper to make it 60-51 with 11:16 to play
but the Bruins went 1 for 6 from the fi eld and com-
mitted six turnovers as Oregon scored 15 of the next
17 points. Cody Riley converted a three-point play to
make it 68-all with four minutes left but Figueroa and
Omoruyi each made a layup before Duarte hit a 3 late
in the shot clock to put the Ducks in front for good.
Oregon shot a season-high 60.8% (31 of 51) from the
fi eld, hit 8 of 17 from 3-point range, and outscored the
Bruins 12-6 from the free-throw line.
The Bruins (17-7, 13-5) have lost back-to-back games
for just the second time this season, squandering con-
trol of their own destiny in the Pac-12. They play USC
in the regular-season fi nale today.
Lillard’s late surge leads Blazers past Kings, 123-119
By Anne M. Peterson
AP Sports Writer
PORTLAND — Damian Lillard
had 44 points, including 10 straight
at a key moment down the stretch,
to give the Portland Trail Blazers
a 123-119 victory over the Sacra-
mento Kings on Thursday night,
March 4.
Enes Kanter added 22 points and
21 rebounds for the Blazers, who
have won three straight and are 21-
14 heading into the All-Star break.
It’s the Blazers’ best start through
35 games since 2015.
Lillard said the difference in the
fi rst half was that the team never
got down after CJ McCollum and
Jusuf Nurkic were injured.
“When CJ and Nurk went down,
we just said ‘Let’s not feel sorry for
ourselves. Let’s show up and let’s
get the job done. Let’s come together,
let’s lean on each other, count on each
other and fi nd a way to get it done.’
And we did that,” Lillard said.
De’Aaron Fox had 32 points, 12
assists and eight rebounds for Sacra-
mento, which had six players score in
double fi gures.
Richaun Holmes dunked to give
the Kings a 103-98 lead with 5:41
left, but Lillard answered with a
3-pointer and Kanter’s layup tied it
at 103.
Sacramento went up 108-103
with 3:49 to go on Harrison Barnes’
layup and Buddy Hield’s 3. Lillard
responded with a pullup jumper,
a layup and a pair of 3-pointers in
quick succession to put the Blazers
ahead 115-108 with just more than a
minute left.
Sacramento wasn’t quite done,
pulling within 119-118 on a 3-pointer
with 6.6 seconds left. After Gary
Lillard’s 3-pointer lifts Blazers over Warriors
Tribune News Service
Portland’s Damian Lillard drives past Golden State’s James Wiseman
on Wednesday, March 3. Lillard led the Blazers to wins over the War-
riors and over Sacramento on Thursday.
Trent Jr. made two free throws for
the Blazers, Fox hit one then ap-
peared to miss the second intention-
ally. After a review over whether the
ball hit the rim, Portland got the ball
back with 3.7 seconds left and Lillard
was fouled to close it out.
Lillard fi nished with eight 3-point-
ers.
“On the whole it was a really re-
ally diffi cult game to play because of
their style of play, they push the ball,
they get to the paint,” Blazers coach
Terry Stotts said. “We had trouble
rebounding the ball. In some ways,
it was a little bit like our previous
game where we just kind of hung
around, made some plays at the end.”
Both teams were also playing the
second of a back-to-back heading into
the All-Star break.
The Kings had won two of their
last three games after a nine-game
losing streak. Sacramento was still
without reigning NBA rookie of
the month Tyrese Haliburton, who
missed his fourth game with a calf
injury.
“We don’t want to take any moral
victories. We wanted to win tonight
and we didn’t,” said Harrison Barnes,
who fi nished with 17 points. “ Some
calls didn’t go our way, some shots
didn’t go our way.”
Nemanja Bjelica’s 3-pointer gave
the Kings an early 21-16 lead. Lil-
lard’s 3 late in the opening quarter
put Portland up 28-27, and the
All-Star had 15 points by the end of
the period.
“Dame’s a great player. He had it
going there,” Barnes said. “We tried
to throw a bunch of different cover-
ages at him but we couldn’t touch
him with the way the whistle was
going tonight. Dame is gonna score
but you’ve got to limit the rest of the
team.”
PORTLAND (AP) — Played tough by the Warriors all game, Damian
Lillard needed to make something happen.
And that’s exactly what he did.
Lillard hit a deep 3-pointer with 13.7 seconds left to give the Port-
land Trail Blazers a hard-fought 108-106 victory over Golden State on
Wednesday night.
“Now is the time where I’ve got to force it, I’ve got to create the op-
portunity, even if it’s a tough one,” Lillard said about his thinking as the
clock ticked down. “Whatever happens I’ve got to put my foot on the
gas a little bit more, and try to make something happen.”
Lillard and Carmelo Anthony each had 22 points for the Blazers, who
kept it close most of the way after the Warriors jumped out to an early
lead.
Stephen Curry led the Warriors with 35 points. His 3-pointer gave
Golden State a 101-96 lead with 3:57 remaining.
Lillard, stifl ed by the Warriors through the fi rst three quarters, made
a 3 that tied it 103-all before Draymond Green’s 3 put Golden State in
front with 1:43 to go.
Lillard made free throws to get Portland within a point, then hit a
29-footer to give the Blazers a 108-106 lead with 13.7 seconds left. He
took a charge from Green, which prompted an unsuccessful challenge
by Golden State, and Portland won its second straight after a four-game
losing streak.
“He hit a huge shot, a deep shot,” Warriors coach Steve Kerr said.
“That’s what he does. That’s the kind of player he is. Even on a bad
night he can get going at any time, so that’s why you have to stay alert
the entire 48 (minutes).”
All eyes were on the matchup between Lillard and Curry, who are
among the NBA’s top scorers. Lillard went into the game ranked third
in the league with 29.6 points per game, just ahead of Curry at 29.5.
Washington guard Bradley Beal tops the list with 32.9.
— Anne M. Peterson, AP Sports Writer
HELP ON THE WAY
The Trail Blazers announced
that McCollum, who has been out
with a left foot fracture, has been
cleared for contact practice. Mc-
Collum has been out since Jan. 16
when he injured his foot in a game
against Atlanta.
McCollum, who was averaging
26.7 points before he was hurt,
will be key to Portland’s playoff
push.
The Blazers also said Nurkic
continues to rehab his right wrist
fracture and will be evaluated
next week.