BAKER CITY HERALD • TUESDAY, JANUARY 25, 2022 A5
SPORTS
BAKER GIRLS BASKETBALL
Bulldogs roll past Ontario
Bulldogs improve to
2-0 in league play
BY JAYSON JACOBY
jjacoby@bakercityherald.com
Ontario’s Xiomara Ortega made a
3-pointer from the top of the key less than
a minute into the Tigers’ girls basketball
game against Baker in the Bulldogs’ gym.
Ontario led 3-0.
And that was about the only surprising
thing to happen Friday evening, Jan. 21.
Baker scored the next 16 points and
went on to a rather predictable 69-16 rout
of the winless Tigers.
The Bulldogs, now 2-0 in the Greater
Oregon League, improved to 12-4 over-
all. Baker is ranked fifth in the state in the
Class 4A division.
Baker led 26-8 after the first quarter
and 48-13 at halftime.
Although the Bulldogs slowed down
their offense in the second half — partly
on purpose — Baker’s defense was even
more smothering, holding Ontario to just
three points in the second half, including
a scoreless third quarter.
Baker coach Jason Ramos said he
talked with his players before the game
about the need to stay focused even
against an opponent that was likely to be
overmatched.
“We talked about trying to maintain a
high level of basketball continuity, and I
think that’s what we saw in the first half,”
Ramos said.
He was also pleased with Baker’s success
at another point of emphasis in the game
— avoiding what he called “silly” fouls.
The Bulldogs committed a season-low
seven fouls, including only one in the
second half.
Ontario shot just six free throws.
With a 35-point lead at halftime, Ramos
said he sought to use the second half to
work on running offensive sets, inevitably
a more relevant situation than a practice.
“The girls were still playing at our level,
and we had a chance to get into our sets
and run our halfcourt offense,” he said.
Baker junior Rylee Elms, who scored six
of Baker’s first eight points and finished
with 10, said that although it can be diffi-
cult to maintain focus in a game when the
outcome isn’t in doubt after the first quar-
ter, she thinks the Bulldogs did well.
Elms said Ramos talked before the game
about taking advantage of the chance to
fine-tune the Bulldogs’ offense.
“I feel like we definitely executed, and
we ran a couple of new plays,” Elms said.
She said Baker, which has won six of
its past seven games, is “really starting to
communicate and play as a team.”
Baker had five players in double figures,
ONTARIO (16)
Dester 2 1-1 5, Wilson 1 1-1 5, Eidson 0 0-0
0, Ortega 2 1-2 6, Evans 0 0-0 0, Campbell
0 0-0 0, Womack 0 0-0 0, Esquivel 0 0-2 0.
Totals 6 3-6 16.
BAKER (69)
Elms 5 0-0 10, Flanagan 1 0-0 2, Wilde 0
0-0 0, Gyllenberg 4 0-0 10, Pierce 5 0-2 10,
Ramos 10 4-5 25, Roy 0 2-4 2, Jaca 0 1-2
1, Robb 0 0-0 0, Moore 3 3-3 9. Totals 28
10-16 69.
Ontario
8
5
0
3 — 16
Baker
26
22
15
6 — 69
led by Elms’ fellow junior, Jozie Ramos,
who scored in every quarter and finished
with a game-high 25 points.
Two other juniors, Sydnee Pierce and
Taylor Gyllenberg, joined Elms in double
figures with 10 points each.
Another junior, Macey Moore, added
nine points.
After playing three games in eight
days, Baker has most of this week off to
prepare for a game that could help decide
the GOL title.
The Bulldogs travel to La Grande on
Friday, Jan. 28, for a 6 p.m. game against
Lisa Britton/Baker City Herald
the Tigers, who are 9-5 overall and sit atop Baker’s Sydnee Pierce elevates on the way to a layin against Ontario
the league standings with Baker at 2-0.
on Friday, Jan. 21, 2022, in the Baker gym.
BAKER WRESTLING
OREGON MEN’S BASKETBALL
Bulldogs pin Mac-Hi Ducks rout Huskies
for 5th straight win
BAKER CITY HERALD
The Baker wrestling team
continued to round into shape
as it prepares for the regional
tournament by beating Mac-Hi
65-12 in a dual on Thursday,
Jan. 20, at Milton-Freewater.
It was Baker’s second dual
win in as many days.
The Bulldogs topped Nyssa
52-23 on the Baker mats on
Wednesday, Jan. 19.
Baker finished a hectic week
by competing in a large tour-
nament on Friday, Jan. 21, at
John Day.
Complete results weren’t
available by press time, but
three Baker wrestlers went un-
defeated in the tournament —
Jaden Martin, Gauge Bloomer
and Sheylin Karolski.
“There was some great com-
petition there from all of the
surrounding schools in our
area throughout Eastern Or-
egon,” Baker coach Brandon
Young said.
STEVE MIMS
Associated Press
Lisa Britton/Baker City Herald
Baker’s Gavin Stone wrestles on Jan. 19, 2022, in the Baker gym.
Ryan Brown had a tough
match with Mac-Hi’s Wyatt
Koch but he battled and even-
tually won by fall.
Ben Coburn won by for-
Mac-Hi dual
feit and then wrestled Koch in
Young said one of the high- an extra match, pinning the
lights from Baker’s win was
Mac-Hi wrestler.
the performance of Cole Hes-
Other Baker results:
ter, who moved up from his
• Aldo Duran, 113 pounds,
usual 132 pounds to 138 to
won by forfeit.
take on regional champion
• Sage Darlington, 126, won
Cooper Yensen.
by forfeit.
Yensen defeated Hester in
• Samuel Nelson, 132, won
the regionals last year.
by forfeit.
“A summer of hard work
• Gavin Stone, 145, won by
and weight training paid off for forfeit.
Cole as this time around it was
• Adrian Allen, 182, defeated
all Cole,” Young said.
Rocky McClellan by fall.
• Gauge Bloomer, 195, de-
Hester won by technical
fall, meaning he was 15 points feated Brian Day by fall.
• Jayden Clark, 220, lost to
ahead of Yensen.
Tanner Wells by fall. Wells is
“Cole capitalized on several
ranked second in the state.
takedowns and put Yensen on
• Russell Walden, 285, de-
his back a few times,” Young
feated Francisco De La Rose
said. “That is a huge jump for
by fall.
Cole and puts him in a great
“Russell has really improved
position heading into regionals.”
a ton this season,” Young said
At 160 pounds, Baker’s
of the sophomore. “He has a
great work ethic, and a bunch
of tough wrestling partners.”
In extra matches:
• Mac-Hi’s Cooper Yensen,
132 pounds, defeated Samuel
Nelson by fall.
• Mac-Hi’s Aysia Quigg, 160,
defeated Sheylin Karolski by
fall.
• Jacob Mills, 182, defeated
Rocky McClellan by fall.
• Mac-Hi’s Brian Day, 195,
defeated Connor Jensen by fall.
• Jayden Clark, 285, defeated
Francisco De La Rosa by fall.
Baker returns to its home
mats today, Jan. 25, hosting ri-
val La Grande in a dual. Bak-
er’s senior wrestlers will be
recognized at 5 p.m., followed
by JV and girls matches, and
varsity boys at 6 p.m.
On Thursday, Jan. 27, Baker
will host a JV and girls tourna-
ment (times to be announced),
and a home middle school
tournament is set for Friday,
Jan. 28 in the BHS main gym.
EUGENE — Will Rich-
ardson scored 21 points as
Oregon won its sixth straight
game with an 84-56 victory
over Washington on Sunday
night, Jan. 23.
Jacob Young and Quincy
Guerrier each added 12 points
as the Ducks (12-6) moved up
to fourth place in the Pac-12
at 5-2. Franck Kepnang and
De’Vion Harmon each scored
nine points for Oregon.
Terrell Brown Jr. scored 14
points and Emmitt Matthews
Jr. added 12 points to pace the
Huskies (9-8, 4-3).
Oregon shot 65.5% from
the field in the first half, in-
cluding 8 for 12 from 3-point
range, to take a 48-13 lead at
the break.
“We knew that was a good
Washington team that had
won four of its last five so we
had a sense of urgency,” Guer-
rier said. “We played really
well on defense in the first
half... Sharing the ball is a ma-
jor key to be successful against
their zone so we were sharing
the ball and ready to shoot it.”
Oregon took a 13-4 lead on
a 3-pointer by Richardson be-
fore Nate Roberts scored for
Washington.
The Ducks followed with
11 straight points, including
two dunks from Kepnang,
to take a 24-6 lead midway
through the first half.
After Daejon Davis made
two free throws for Washing-
ton, Oregon answered with 16
straight points beginning with
a 3-pointer from Eric Wil-
liams Jr. Richardson added a
jumper and a 3-pointer before
Guerrier made a 3-pointer to
push the Ducks ahead 37-8.
“We were ready to play,”
Oregon coach Dana Altman
said “I thought in the first
half, our defensive activity was
really good. We forced a lot of
turnovers.”
Oregon finished 32 for 59
from the field, 9 of 18 from
behind the arc. The Ducks
had 16 assists while forcing
Washington into 23 turn-
overs.
“It was one of those nights,”
Altman said. “We had a good
first half, 8-for-12 on 3-point-
ers, so things were clicking for
us especially in the first half.”
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