A6 BAKER CITY HERALD • SATURDAY, MARCH 12, 2022
SPORTS
BAKER GIRLS BASKETBALL AT CLASS 4A STATE TOURNAMENT
High-scoring Cardinals overwhelm Bulldogs
BY JAYSON JACOBY
jjacoby@bakercityherald.com
The Baker girls basketball
team has relied on defense to
carry it through those inevi-
table stretches when shots re-
fuse to fall.
But the defense that pow-
ered the Bulldogs to a 20-5
record faced its biggest chal-
lenge against the Corbett
Cardinals in a quarterfinal
at the Class 4A state tourna-
ment on Thursday, March 10,
at Marshfield High School in
Coos Bay.
This time the defense
couldn’t quite pull the Bull-
dogs through.
Corbett, the highest-scoring
4A team this season, demon-
strated its offensive prowess
during a 61-46 win over Baker.
No team has scored more
against the Bulldogs, who
came into the tournament
giving up an average of just
31.2 points.
Corbett more than tripled
the offensive output of Marsh-
field in Baker’s 50-20 win in a
March 5 playoff game in the
Baker gym.
Nyssa, which beat Baker
58-48 on Feb. 1 and went on
to win the Class 3A state ti-
tle, was the only other team to
reach 50 points.
On Thursday at Marshfield,
with Baker trying to defend its
2019 state title (the 2020 and
2021 tournaments were can-
celed due to the pandemic),
Corbett had decisive advan-
tages in 3-pointers and at the
free throw line.
The Cardinals made five
3-pointers — two each by
Allyson Schimel, who had a
game-high 23 points, and Ella
Holwege.
Baker, meanwhile, had only
one.
And that 3-pointer, by Jozie
Ramos, who led Baker with 21
points, came with 22 seconds
left in a game that had long
since been decided.
In addition to the 12-point
advantage in 3-pointers, Cor-
bett outscored Baker by 9
points at the free throw line.
The Cardinals made 20 of
27 free throws — including 10
for 11 in the first half.
Bulldogs rebound to beat Cascade,
will play for 4th-place trophy
With its top scorer one foul away from being disqualified and
more than 11 minutes left in the game, the Baker girls basketball
team navigated the treacherous period with aplomb, running away
from Cascade late to keep alive the Bulldogs’ chances to return with a
trophy from the Class 4A state tournament in Coos Bay.
Baker won 50-39 on Friday morning, March 11, and will play
Marist Catholic for fourth place at 10:45 a.m. Saturday, March 12, at
Marshfield High School.
Junior Jozie Ramos picked up her fourth foul with 3:48 left in the
third quarter and the score tied at 29.
Baker coach Jason Ramos, who’s Jozie’s dad, used occasional sub-
stitutions to reduce the risk of her drawing her fifth foul and being
lost for the rest of the game.
The strategy worked.
Ramos did draw her fifth foul, but that was with 2:03 left in the
game and Baker holding a solid 48-39 lead. Ramos scored six of her
13 points after being whistled for her fourth foul.
Brooklyn Jaca’s 3-pointer gave Baker the lead for good, at 36-33,
with 2:06 left in the third quarter.
The Bulldogs led 38-35 entering the final period.
Jaca started the fourth quarter with a steal and assist to Makenzie
Flanagan for a fast break layin.
After Ariel Tobiaason’s basket got Cascade to within 42-39, Jaca
nailed a 3-pointer with 5:30 left to boost Baker’s lead to 45-39.
Baker then scored the final 5 points, holding the Cougars scoreless
for the last 5:46 of the game.
Macey Moore, who led Baker with 14 points, had the hot hand
in the first half, making a pair of 3-pointers and scoring 10 points as
Baker led 19-18 at halftime.
The Bulldogs scored the first 7 points of the second half — 4 by
Ramos and a 3-pointer by Moore — to lead 26-18, but Cascade ral-
lied to forge three ties, at 29, 31 and 33, before Baker pulled away.
Rylee Elms and Jaca each had 9 points for Baker, which made 5
of its 10 attempts from 3-point range, and 19 of 40 overall, 48%. The
Bulldogs held Cascade to 13 for 36 shooting, 36%. Baker also forced
22 Cascade turnovers, while committing 14.
Lisa Britton/Baker City Herald
Baker’s Brooklyn Jaca shoots against La Grande on Tuesday, Feb. 8,
2022, in the Baker gym. Jaca had 5 points in the Bulldogs’ 61-46 loss to
Corbett in the Class 4A state tournament on Thursday, March 10, 2022.
Baker was just 11 of 24.
Baker played from behind
almost from the start.
Neither team scored in
the first 2 minutes. Allyson
Schimel had the game’s first
basket, and Isabelle Van Hee’s
3-pointer game Corbett a 5-0
lead with 5:05 left in the first
quarter.
Brooklyn Jaca swished a
16-footer with 4:49 left to get
Baker on the scoreboard.
Jaca joined fellow junior
Sydnee Pierce in playing with
a clear plastic face shield. Both
sustained broken noses during
games — Pierce earlier in the
season against La Grande, and
Jaca during Baker’s playoff
win over Marshfield.
Nor were those the only
nose-related issues for Baker.
Ramos had a bloody nose
just before tip off, and she had
to miss the first few minutes
waiting for the blood to be
stanched.
“Those kinds of things just
kind of throw you off,” Baker
coach Jason Ramos said.
After Corbett took a 12-4
lead on Holwege’s 3-pointer,
Baker’s Makenzie Flanagan
rebounded her own miss, and
Ramos scored inside to cut
the lead to 12-8 after the first
quarter.
That duo had consecutive
baskets again early in the sec-
ond quarter to get Baker to
within 15-12 with 6:31 left in
the half.
But Baker never got closer.
The Cardinals scored six
straight points — four by Al-
lyson Schimel and two from
Lilly Schimel — to lead 21-
12.
That kicked off an 18-3
Corbett run, including six
straight points from Hol-
wege, that increased the Car-
dinals’ lead to 33-15 with
1:34 left in the half.
Ramos scored on a re-
bound basket with 3 seconds
left to trim the lead to 35-20
at the break.
“We dug ourselves a hole
there in the first half,” Jason
Ramos said. “We had a bad
second quarter is really what
it was.”
Corbett made 11 of 23 field
goals in the first half, 48%.
“They shot really well in
the first half,” Ramos said.
“We knew they had shooters
and that they liked to shoot.
We didn’t do a very good
job of running them off the
three-point line.”
Allyson Schimel opened
the second half with a
3-pointer, and Baker could
never make a major dent in
the Cardinals’ lead thereafter.
Corbett led 48-31 after
three quarters.
Ramos scored the first 5
points of the fourth quarter to
get Baker within 12, at 48-36,
with 6:13 left in the game.
The Bulldogs made one
final run. Jaca made an
18-footer and Ramos had a
free throw with 4:13 left and
Baker was down 51-39.
But the Bulldogs couldn’t
string together enough bas-
kets to sustain a rally.
Baker, which has raced past
multiple opponents by forcing
turnovers that lead to break-
away layins and other easy
baskets, had relatively little
success against the Cardinals.
Corbett scored 23 points
off Baker turnovers, while
the Bulldogs had just 9 points
stemming from Cardinal mis-
cues.
The turnovers, combined
with Baker’s poor free throw
shooting, were the two biggest
factors in the game, Jason Ra-
mos said.
“They were able to force us
into some bad decisions and
turnovers that were costly,” he
said. “We’re not happy with
20 turnovers in a game, when
we’re trying to limit them to
12. We didn’t play our best
game.”
Flanagan had 7 points for
Baker. Macey Moore added 6
points, and Jaca had 5.
CORBETT (61)
A. Schimel 7 7-9 23, Merrill
0 1-2 1, S. Schimel 1 0-0 2, E.
Holwege 5 3-4 15, Van Hee 3
7-10 14, L. Schimmel 1 0-0 2,
S. Holwege 0 0-0 0, Lanter 0
2-2 2, Donahue 1 0-0 2. Totals
23 20-27 61.
BAKER (46)
Elms 1 1-4 3, Flanagan 3 1-2
7, Jaca 2 1-2 5, Gyllenberg 0
0-0 0, Moore 3 0-2 6, Wilde 1
0-0 2, Pierce 1 0-0 2, Ramos 7
8-14 21, Roy 0 0-0 0, Robb 0
0-0 0. Totals 18 11-24 46.
Corbett 12 23 13 13 — 61
Baker
8 12 11 15 — 46
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