A6 BAKER CITY HERALD • TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 22, 2022
SPORTS
BAKER GIRLS BASKETBALL
Bulldogs tame Tigers again, this time for GOL crown
Baker’s 3rd win over La Grande
ensures home playoff game on
either March 4 or March 5
BY JAYSON JACOBY
jjacoby@bakercityherald.com
Brooklyn Jaca thought the
ball was going in when it spun
off her fingers.
But she still had to wait, and
watch.
When the ball plunged
through the net with 14 sec-
onds left in the third quar-
ter, the Baker girls’ bid for the
Greater Oregon League cham-
pionship was all but assured.
Jaca’s 3-pointer boosted
Baker’s lead over La Grande to
41-28, and the Bulldogs went
on to a 50-39 win on Saturday
evening, Feb. 19.
Their third victory this
season over the rival Tigers
clinched a home playoff game
for Baker on either Friday,
March 4, or Saturday, March
5. The opponent has yet to be
determined. The winner will
advance to the Class 4A state
tournament March 10-12 in
Coos Bay.
Buell Gonzales Jr., Baker
School District athletic direc-
tor, said he would prefer to
schedule the playoff game for
Friday, March 4, because it
would be easier to incorporate
the game into the schedule
for the state Class 1A tour-
nament, which takes place
at Baker High School from
March 2-5.
“I was glad it went in,” Jaca
said with a smile, and a bit of
understatement, about her key
3-pointer.
Her shot capped a 7-0 Baker
run that was possible largely
because the Bulldogs snared
five straight offensive re-
bounds in the final 50 seconds
of the third quarter.
The first sequence, with one
offensive board from Jaca and
three from Jozie Ramos, led to
Ramos being fouled with 18.1
seconds left in the quarter. Ra-
mos made the first free throw
to give Baker a 38-28 lead, its
largest to that point.
She missed the second
shot but another offensive re-
bound, from Rylee Elms, gave
Baker yet another chance.
Sydnee Pierce saw Jaca
alone and made a crosscourt
pass to set up Jaca’s 3-pointer.
Jaca said Pierce’s pass, and
the offensive rebounds that set
up the play, exemplified the
importance of teamwork.
“We played together as a
team, and that’s when we have
our best moments,” she said.
“Brooklyn’s three was a big
shot,” Baker coach Jason Ra-
mos said. “She had a great
game.”
Baker’s 7-0 run at the end of
the third quarter was a deci-
sive sequence, he said.
“That was huge, getting that
separation right there at the
end of the quarter,” Ramos
said. “It gave us some momen-
tum.”
And it continued into the
final quarter, as Makenzie Fla-
nagan scored just 10 seconds
into the quarter and Macey
Moore made a pair of free
throws to extend Baker’s lead
to 45-30.
LA GRANDE (39)
Shorts 1 1-6 3, Collman 2 7-8
12, Strand 1 2-2 4, Jensen 0 0-0
0, Kump 1 0-0 2, Wilcox 4 0-1 8,
Neer 3 0-3 6, A. Dunlap 2 0-0 4.
Totals 14 10-20 39.
BAKER (50)
Elms 4 3-4 11, Flanagan 3 0-0
6, Wilde 0 0-0 0, Gyllenberg 0
1-2 1, Pierce 1 0-0 2, Ramos 2
6-10 10, Roy 0 0-0 0, Jaca 4 0-0
10, Moore 2 6-7 10. Totals 16
16-23 50.
La Grande 10 14 4 11 — 39
Baker
12 17 12 9 — 50
Lisa Britton/Baker City Herald
Baker’s Rylee Elms and La Grande’s Makenna Shorts vie for a loose ball during the GOL title game on Satur-
day, Feb. 19, 2022, in the Baker gym.
La Grande never got closer
than 9 points after that.
Jason Ramos said Baker
excelled at getting the ball to
players in the key, where they
were able to draw fouls when
they didn’t score.
“They (La Grande) were in
foul trouble, and we tried to
take advantage,” he said.
Baker made 16 of 23 free
throws.
Ramos was also happy with
the Bulldogs’ defensive effort.
Baker controlled La
Grande’s Makenna Shorts in
particular. The junior guard
led the Tigers in both previ-
ous games, scoring 11 points
in Baker’s 51-43 win at La
Grande on Jan. 28, and 13
points in the Bulldogs’ 43-25
win on Feb. 8 at Baker.
On Saturday, Shorts scored
just three points.
Both teams struggled early
to establish any offensive mo-
mentum in a first quarter
marked more by fouls and
turnovers.
La Grande committed its
seventh foul with 51 seconds
left in the quarter, ensuring
Baker would shoot free throws
on most fouls for the rest of
the half.
The Bulldogs took advan-
tage, making nine of 11 free
throws. Moore made four of
her five free throws.
Baker led 12-8 late in the
first quarter, but La Grande’s
Addy Dunlap swished a
15-footer at the buzzer, and
the Tigers scored the first four
points of the second quarter
to take their first lead at 14-12
with 6:52 left in the half.
La Grande extended the
lead to 18-14 on Shorts’ free
throw with 4:53 left, but Elms
scored two baskets in the next
minute, the last on a rebound
of her own miss, to tie the
score at 18 with 3:56 left in the
half.
Jaca then swished a
17-footer as part of an 11-2
Baker run that gave Baker a
lead it would never relinquish.
Baker led 29-24 at halftime,
and after the Bulldogs pushed
the lead to eight points early in
the third quarter, La Grande
got as close as 34-28 on Maezie
Wilcox’s basket midway
through the quarter.
Baker then went on the 7-0
run capped by Jaca’s 3-pointer.
Baker, which improved to
18-5, had one of its most bal-
anced scoring games of the
season.
Elms led the way with
11 points. Ramos, Jaca and
Moore had 10 points each. Fla-
nagan added six.
“It’s great to know that we’ve
got players out there that can
score,” Jason Ramos said.
Baker will conclude its regu-
lar season schedule by playing
host to Pendleton on Friday,
Feb. 25, at 5 p.m.
POWDER VALLEY GIRLS BASKETBALL
Badgers finish second in OOL tournament
a 5-1 lead through the first five
minutes of action and slowed
A valiant effort ultimately
down the pace.
came up short for the Powder
The Golden Eagles ran the
Valley girls basketball team,
press on defense early and often,
which finished as runners-up fighting back to take a 9-7 lead
in the Old Oregon League dis- at the end of the first quarter.
trict tournament.
Nixyaawii’s Sistine Moses was
The Badgers stayed within
steady offensively all game long,
reach early, but a big second
scoring six of her game-high 16
half propelled Nixyaawii to a
points in the first quarter.
59-39 victory in the champion-
The Badgers found them-
ship game on Saturday, Feb. 19, selves trailing for the ensuing
at Baker High School.
three quarters, but the game
Powder Valley relied on its
was far from lost. Powder Val-
high defensive intensity early
ley cut the lead to 12-11 with
on, holding a high-octane
6:15 remaining in the second
Nixyaawii offense within check quarter — a packed house at
early on. The Badgers built up Baker High School was loud
BY DAVIS CARBAUGH
The Observer
from start to finish. The Bad-
gers trailed 24-18 at halftime
and looked to be in conten-
tion for the district title.
The third quarter was an
exchange of runs, which ulti-
mately proved costly to Powder
Valley. Nixyaawii jumped out
to a 26-18 lead out of halftime,
to which the Badgers answered
with a 7-0 run of their own.
With Nixyaawii leading
28-25, the Golden Eagles
completely tilted the scales in
their favor. Nixyaawii rattled
off a 16-0 run that extended
into the fourth quarter and
helped the Golden Eagles
take a 44-25 lead.
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Late in the game, Powder
Valley fought back to bring the
game within 11 — the Badgers
trailed 50-39 with three minutes
remaining. Nixyaawii closed
out the game with a 9-0 run to
cap off a 20-point victory in the
district title game.
Dallee Bingham was ef-
fective throughout the game
for Powder Valley, scoring a
team-high 10 points. Jacey
Anderson and Maddy Leggett
both scored nine points each.
The win for Nixyaawii
clinches the team’s spot at the
top of the Old Oregon League
in the state playoffs. Powder
Valley, as runner-up, will play
at home against Trout Lake
(Washington) on Feb. 23.
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