6A — BAKER CITY HERALD
THURSDAY, JUNE 3, 2021
BAKER GIRLS BASKETBALL
BAKER BOYS BASKETBALL
Bulldogs win home opener Baker rallies to
top Vale, 73-66
By Corey Kirk
ckirk@bakercityherald.com
The Baker girls basket-
ball team rebounded from a
season-opening loss at Nyssa
to beat Vale 51-27 in the
home opener Tuesday, June 1
in the Baker gym.
Literally rebounded.
Baker coach Mat Sand said
he pushed the Bulldogs to
improve their rebounding, a
weak spot in the 43-41 loss to
Nyssa, in which Baker squan-
dered a 13-point lead.
“Last game we didn’t
rebound well, this game we
did, we turned that around,”
Sand said. “Second thing was
executive defensively and ex-
ecutive offensively, we showed
vast improvements from last
time.”
On Tuesday, Baker (1-1)
took the lead early and
extended the advantage to 13
points at halftime.
Vale stayed within reach
thanks to junior forward
Kailey McGourty, who scored
17 points.
“We just tried to put a fresh
person on her (McGourty),
and try to stay tight, and she
knocked down some shots,”
Sand said.
Baker’s sophomore post,
Jozie Ramos, was among the
Bulldogs tasked with guard-
ing McGourty.
Ramos said Baker strug-
gled at times with communi-
cation on defense.
“Sometimes we would lose
where she was, and we were
always trying to have some-
By Corey Kirk
ckirk@bakercityherald.com
Corey Kirk/Baker City Herald
Baker’s Makenzie Flanagan, right, guards Vale’s Riley Johnson on Tuesday, June 1, in
the Baker gym. Flanagan scored eight points in Baker’s 51-27 win.
one on her, annoying her so
she couldn’t get her shot off,”
Ramos said.
Baker scored 16 points in
the third quarter, the most
in any quarter, to extend its
lead to 25 points.
Ramos said she was
excited to see the team’s
confi dence rise during those
eight minutes.
“The third quarter is the
turning point in most games
because it’s right after half-
time, and we were trying to
focus on getting our energy
up, and playing as a team,”
said Ramos, who led Baker
with 15 points.
“She plays hard and she’s
a talent, so the thing that
she learns to deal with is
she is going to get double-
teamed, and she did well,”
Sand said of Ramos.
On the other end of the
court, meanwhile, Baker
held Vale to just four points
in the third period.
Sand cited the teamwork
that went into that perfor-
mance, with the Bulldogs
feeding off the defensive
intensity of senior guard
Sydney Keller.
“She’s (Keller) going to
bring the defense into it, and
create stuff for us that no
one else will, that’s part of
her senior leadership, that’s
why she’s a captain and
that’s why she’s playing,”
Sand said.
Baker breezed through the
fi nal period, maintaining its
sizable lead.
Sophomore Makenzie Fla-
nagan scored eight points.
With the condensed nature
of this basketball season,
Sand recognizes that with a
roster including nine sopho-
mores and two freshmen,
the season is a “maturation
process.”
He believes the team is
Corey Kirk/Baker City Herald destined for greatness in the
Baker’s Sydney Keller helped spur Baker’s defense dur-
future, and he wants to take
ing a key third-quarter surge Tuesday, June 1 against Vale. this opportunity, despite its
brevity, to help his players
learn how to excel at the
varsity level.
“This team has a high IQ
together because they’ve
played together so long,”
Sand said. “Once we get our
conditioning and our timing
in place, we are going to see
some really fun basketball.”
Baker continued its busy
week — three games in as
many days — by playing
host to Powder Valley on
Wednesday, then traveling
to Ontario this afternoon,
June 3.
Results from those games
will be published in the
Saturday, June 5 issue of the
Baker City Herald.
The Baker boys basketball team left Vale Tuesday
evening, June 1, with a 73-66 win in a hard-fought
game against the Vikings.
Baker (2-1) won its second straight after opening
the season with a loss at La Grande.
It was the fi rst loss for Vale (3-1), which started the
season with three wins, against Ontario, Nyssa and
Burns, by an average of 28 points.
On Tuesday, Vale led Baker 33-32 at halftime.
Baker coach Jebron Jones said the Bulldogs in the
fi rst two quarters weren’t playing the unselfi sh brand
of basketball he prefers.
“We weren’t making the extra pass, taking ill-
advised shots, just trying to do way too much,” Jones
said.
During halftime, he stressed to the Bulldogs that
playing together was the only way they could turn the
game back in their favor.
“That’s the most important thing, because I think
that some young people think they have to do it by
themselves, but there are fi ve dudes on the court for a
reason,” Jones said.
The Bulldogs responded, scoring 41 points in the
second half.
Senior Gabe Gambleton led Baker with 20 points,
and a pair of freshmen, Hudson Spike (17 points) and
Paul Hobson (11) combined for 28.
“I think the key to our success is balanced scoring. It
was a lot more balanced in the second half, that’s what
it’s going to take to win some games, to stay balanced
and consistent,” Jones said.
Baker pushed its lead to as much as 20 points in
the second half, but the Vikings, led by junior Tanner
Steele’s game-high 27 points, rallied before the Bull-
dogs put the game away.
Jones said he hopes Baker’s strong second-half
performance will carry over into future games.
“I hope they like that feeling, just be unselfi sh, play
together and good things will happen,” Jones said.
Baker will have a couple chances to fulfi ll the
coach’s wishes this week, playing host to Powder Val-
ley Wednesday night and to Ontario this evening at
5:30 p.m. in the Baker gym.
Results from those games will be published in the
Saturday, June 5 issue of the Baker City Herald.
Is it time to dress
up your ride?
Nuggets hold off Blazers
despite Lillard’s 55 points
■ Lillard sets Portland points record, NBA playoff record for 3’s
55 points and NBA playoff
record 12 3-pointers. He
DENVER — On Damian
eclipsed the mark of 11 set by
Lillard’s record-breaking
Golden State’s Klay Thomp-
night when he was hitting
son at Oklahoma City on
one shot after another from
May 28, 2016.
behind the arc and almost
“It was the best playoff
beyond belief, it was Michael performance I’ve ever seen,”
Porter Jr. who quietly sank
Trail Blazers coach Terry
the biggest basket of all.
Stotts said.
MPJ’s 3-pointer from the
“At this point, all that mat-
left corner barely fl uttered
ters is we can’t lose another
the net with 1:33 left in the
game in the series,” Lillard
second overtime and proved shrugged.
the game-winner as the
And he, for one, isn’t going
Denver Nuggets squelched
to dwell on his big night and
an epic comeback by the
even bigger letdown.
Portland Trail Blazers with a
Lillard scored 17 of Port-
147-140 win Tuesday night in land’s 19 points in the two
Game 5 of their best-of-seven overtimes, but he didn’t score
playoff series.
again after his 12th 3-pointer
“That’s what playoff bas-
in 17 attempts put the Blaz-
ketball is,” Porter said after
ers ahead 140-138 with 3:47
the thriller that included a
left.
dozen lead changes and 11
And his teammates didn’t
ties, including long 3s by Lil- score again, either.
lard that forced overtime and
Nikola Jokic, who scored
the second OT.
38 points and came one assist
Lillard’s night included
shy of a triple-double, tied
a franchise playoff record
it at 140 with a layup and
By Arnie Stapleton
AP Sports Writer
Porter broke the tie with a
3 from the left corner with
1:33 left off a sweet pass from
Jokic.
The Blazers still were
within three points — and
Lillard’s range — until a pair
of costly mistakes sent them
back to Portland for Game 6
tonight, June 3, trailing the
Nuggets 3-2 in the best-of-
seven series.
First, Robert Covington
missed a dunk with 41
seconds left and then CJ Mc-
Collum stepped out of bounds
with 9.1 seconds left and Lil-
lard setting up for another 3.
“It’s a shame we wasted
one of the all-time best per-
formances by not being more
supportive of him,” McCollum
said of Lillard.
Monte Morris, who scored
28 points off the bench, hit
a pair of free throws with
8.8 seconds to seal it, and
Shaq Harrison added two
free throws with 3.8 seconds
remaining.
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