A6 BAKER CITY HERALD • THURSDAY, JANUARY 6, 2022
SPORTS
BAKER GIRLS BASKETBALL
Bulldogs avenge December loss to Fruitland
Baker, which
lost by one point
to the Grizzlies
Dec. 15, prevail
in close game
Ramos said he was excited
to see the team prevail in a
game when the outcome was
in question almost to the final
seconds.
Baker’s three losses, to Pend-
leton, Fruitland and Crane,
were by a combined five
points, with the Pendleton and
BY JAYSON JACOBY
Fruitland losses both by a sin-
gle point.
jjacoby@bakercityherald.com
The Baker girls basketball
“It was a great finish for us to
team’s rematch with Fruitland, be able to come out with a win
Idaho, on Tuesday, Jan. 4, at
in that situation,” Ramos said.
Fruitland was about as dra-
He said he reminded his
matic as the teams’ first game players, during a fourth quarter
on Dec. 15 in the Baker gym.
timeout, that in similar cases
But the second chapter in
the Bulldogs had fallen just
the rivalry, unlike the first, had short.
a happy ending for the Bull-
“We talked about finishing
dogs.
the right way this time, and the
girls were able to do that,” Ra-
After the Grizzlies rallied
from an eight-point deficit in mos said.
Baker made key free throws
the fourth quarter to tie the
score at 32, Baker scored four in the fourth quarter, scoring
straight points and held on for four of their eight points at the
line.
a 37-35 win.
Sydnee Pierce had two free
The Bulldogs improved to
throws in the final period, and
8-3 on the season. They are
ranked sixth in the state at the Macey Moore and Rylee Elms
one each.
Class 4A level.
Ramos said Elms shrugged
“Any time you can go on the
off two early fouls to have one
road and beat a quality team,
it’s a good thing,” Baker coach of her best games, scoring a
team-high 13 points.
Jason Ramos said. “There’s a
Jozie Ramos and Moore had
lot of positives to take away
eight points each.
from this.”
other end,” Ramos said.
The game was close
throughout.
Baker led 9-8 after one
quarter, and the margin re-
mained a single point, 19-18,
at halftime.
The Bulldogs extended
the lead to 29-24 after three
quarters, and took their larg-
est lead, 32-24, early in the
fourth before the Grizzlies
rallied.
Baker won the JV game,
36-35. Kaydence Thomas
and Makea Robb each scored
eight points for Baker, Tiyana
Stevens had seven, and Ash-
lyn Dalton and Aiyana Rad-
In the Dec. 15 game at
ford four each.
Baker, the Bulldogs’ rally fell
The Bulldogs are slated to
just short after Fruitland led return to the road for their
40-36.
third long trip of the season.
At Fruitland, by contrast,
Baker is scheduled to play
the Grizzlies had to play from at Madras on Friday, Jan. 7 at
behind.
5:30 p.m., and then take on
Jason Ramos said Baker
Crook County at Prineville
switched to a zone defense
on Saturday, Jan. 8 at 11 a.m.
late in the game after Fruit-
The Baker boys varsity
Lisa Britton/Baker City Herald land, taking advantage of
team, which is slated to play
Rylee Elms, shown here against Burns on Dec. 29, 2021, scored a team- openings in the lane, had
host to Fruitland on Thurs-
day, Jan. 6, at 7 p.m., will also
high 13 points on Tuesday, Jan. 4, 2022, as the Bulldogs beat Fruitland, battled back to tie the score
at 32.
make the trip to Central Or-
Idaho, 37-35. Jozie Ramos (background), added eight points.
That shift led to a couple of egon. The boys are scheduled
The rematch at Fruitland
ularly the fourth quarter. In
key defensive stops that kept to play Madras on Jan. 7 at 7
played out much like the ear-
both games the teams were tied the Grizzlies at bay, he said.
p.m., and Crook County the
lier game in Baker — partic-
at 32.
“And we capitalized at the
next day at 12:30 p.m.
BAKER (37)
Elms 5 3-5 13, Wilde 0 0-0 0,
Gyllenberg 1 0-2 2, Pierce 1 1-2
3, Ramos 3 2-3 8, Roy 0 0-0 0,
Jaca 1 0-0 2, Moore 3 1-2 8. To-
tals 14 7-14 37.
FRUITLAND (35)
Barnes 0 0-0 0, Roubidoux 2
0-0 4, Drollinger 1 0-0 2, Hardy
0 0-0 0, Gibb 0 0-0 0, Hart 0 0-0
0, Phillips 1 0-0 2, Jerman 5 0-0
10, Huff 6 1-3 13, Fritts 1 2-6 4.
Totals 16 3-9 35.
Baker
9 10 10 8 — 37
Fruitland 8 10 6 11 — 35
Look for Norway to top medal
table again at Winter Olympics
off computer models that an-
alyze the most recent results
The Winter Olympics open in major competitions — and
in 30 days, and Norway is
smaller ones — in the run-up
expected to head the medal
to Beijing.
standings for the second
Norway is predicted to win
straight time, even topping its 22 gold medals and 45 overall.
record haul of 39 medals in
More than half of Norway’s
2018 in Pyeongchang, South medals are predicted to come
Korea.
in cross country skiing and
This is the prediction of
biathlon.
U.S.-based Gracenote Sports,
Second place, if total med-
which released its medal ta-
als is used for the ranking or-
ble forecast on Wednesday,
der, will be the Russian Olym-
Jan. 5 with the Beijing Winter pic Committee with 11 gold
Games opening on Feb. 4.
and 32 overall. The team in
Nielsen-Gracenote supplies Beijing, as in Tokyo, will be
statistical analysis to sports
known as the ROC, or the
league around the world. Its
Russian Olympic Committee.
Olympic numbers are based
The ROC must compete
BY STEPHEN WADE
Associated Press
Carmen Mandato/Getty Images-TNS
Kansas State’s Malik Knowles (No. 4) celebrates a first-half touchdown with Skylar Thompson (No. 7)
against LSU during the TaxAct Texas Bowl at NRG Stadium on Tuesday, Jan. 4, 2022, in Houston.
without its national flag or
anthem, fallout from a state-
backed doping program
dating from the 2014 So-
chi Winter Olympics. Many
critics say the punishment is
negligible since athletes still
compete in national colors.
Under the IOC guidelines,
the athletes will represent not
their country, but the ROC.
Germany is picked to finish
third with 12 gold and 25 over-
all. After this, the next seven
countries are closely grouped.
They are: United States (7 gold,
22 overall), Canada (6-22),
Sweden (7-21), Switzerland (5-
21), Netherlands (6-20), Austria
(5-18), and France (2-18).
Kansas State dominates short-
handed LSU 42-20 in Texas Bowl
The Associated Press
HOUSTON — Deuce
Vaughn and the Kansas State
Wildcats finished a streaky sea-
son on a positive note Tuesday
night, Jan. 4 with a dominant
42-20 win over short-handed
LSU in the Texas Bowl.
Vaughn, a sophomore run-
ning back and first-team
All-American as an all-purpose
player, rushed for 146 yards
on 21 carries. He scored four
touchdowns — three rushing
and one receiving.
“The aggressiveness of our
play calling opened up the run-
ning game,” Vaughn said. “Ev-
erybody was making plays, and
our O-line stayed committed to
the fight against a really good
defense.”
Kansas State (8-5) also got a
strong performance from quar-
terback Skylar Thompson, who
returned to make his final col-
legiate start after missing the
regular-season finale with an
ankle injury.
“For him to be on point like
he was and throwing strikes,
he was phenomenal,” Kansas
State coach Chris Klieman
said. “To see him go out like
that was huge. He wanted to
play well in this moment and
he did.”
Thompson completed 21
of 28 passes for 259 yards and
three touchdowns and was
chosen Texas Bowl MVP. Ma-
lik Knowles had two touch-
down catches and 42 yards
receiving.
“It flew by, but it was a
special way to end it, for
sure,” Thompson said. “Holy
smokes, I couldn’t have drawn
up a better way to finish it than
tonight.”
While LSU (6-7) had a
tough time slowing Vaughn
and Thompson, the Tigers
had another uphill battle on
offense.
With starting quarterback
Max Johnson having trans-
ferred to Texas A&M, backup
Myles Brennan recovering
from surgery and a third-
string freshman that would
have had to burn his redshirt
to play, LSU entered the game
with a big question mark un-
der center.
The Tigers turned to se-
nior receiver Jontre Kirklin,
who hadn’t played quarter-
back since high school in 2016.
Kirklin had only played in 25
games over five seasons, in-
cluding his first two years as a
cornerback.
The Tigers didn’t get a first
down until late in the second
quarter. By that time, Kan-
sas State already had 12 first
downs and a 21-0 lead. LSU
later scored on that drive,
though, a 23-yard touchdown
catch by Jaray Jenkins.
Kirklin was 7-of-11 pass-
ing for 138 yards, three touch-
downs and two interceptions
while also rushing for 61 yards
on 11 carries. He delivered
an 81-yard touchdown pass
to Chris Hilton Jr. as time ex-
pired.
The Tigers were led by in-
terim coach Brad Davis, the
offensive line coach who was
filling in during the transi-
tion from Ed Orgeron to for-
mer Notre Dame coach Brian
Kelly. LSU announced in De-
cember that Davis would be
returning on Kelly’s staff as the
offensive line coach.
Davis said LSU had just 38
scholarship players available
for the game, but backing out
was never an option.
“We don’t stand back from a
challenge,” Davis said. “There
was never a thought in our
mind about not playing this
game. We fully expected to
win.”
Kansas State appeared
to have a slight edge in the
makeup of the crowd, despite
Baton Rouge, Louisiana, be-
ing nearly 500 miles closer
to Houston than Manhattan,
Kansas.
The Wildcats led 21-7 at
halftime.
Kansas State enjoyed its
most lopsided win over an
SEC opponent in school
history, improving to 5-17
against the conference.
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