FOUR-PAGE PULLOUT
A5
S PORTS
THE BULLETIN • TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 9, 2021
bendbulletin.com/sports
WOMEN’S
BASKETBALL
Arizona rolls past
Oregon, 79-59
Cate Reese scored 25
points and No. 10 Ari-
zona completed a season
sweep of 11th-ranked Or-
egon with a 79-59 win on
Monday.
Reese, a 6-foot-2 ju-
nior who entered the
game averaging 11.3
points, was 11 for 14 from
the field while making
all three of her 3-point
attempts. Sam Thomas
scored 14 points and
Trinity Baptiste and Aari
McDonald each added
13 points as the Wildcats
shot 50.8% from the field.
Arizona, which had
been off for 17 days
with four games post-
poned because of
COVID-19, won consec-
utive games against the
Ducks for the first time
since 2011. Coach Adia
Barnes dropped her first
10 games against Ore-
gon before this season’s
sweep, which kept the
Wildcats (12-2, 10-2) in
second place in the con-
ference.
Nyara Sabally scored
17 points to lead the
Ducks (12-4, 9-4), who
dropped to fourth in the
Pac-12. Sedona Prince
scored 10 points while
Taylor Mikesell and Te-
Hina Paopao each had
nine points.
Arizona led 33-32 at
halftime before outscor-
ing the Ducks 27-14 in
the third quarter.
The Wildcats opened
the second half with a 9-2
run to go ahead 42-34
on a pair of free throws
by Thomas. The Wildcats
scored 13 straight points
before Paopao made
a 3-pointer to get the
Ducks within 60-46 enter-
ing the final period.
Reese and Thomas
combined to score the
first eight points of the
game for Arizona.
Central Oregon | prep sports
OSAA approves March 1 start
Although football, volleyball
still have hurdles to clear
BY BRIAN RATHBONE
The Bulletin
I
n one way or another, high school sports
are set to return to competition starting
March 1.
The executive board of the Oregon
School Activities Association approved the
start of soccer, cross-country and (partly)
volleyball during a Monday Zoom meeting,
while football players are still waiting for
further guidelines from the Oregon Health
Authority to determine if they can play
games this winter and spring.
“That was a priority for the board,” Peter
Weber, executive director of the OSAA, told
The Bulletin Monday afternoon. “Let those
who can go, go. And those who can’t, pro-
vide alternative options.”
Those who can: Soccer and cross-country
are allowed to start practicing Feb. 22, while
questions remain about what the postseason
will entail. Those questions will likely have
more clarity following a Feb. 17 OSAA exec-
utive board meeting.
Dean Guernsey/The Bulletin
ABOVE: The Bend High School football team practices Monday.
BELOW: Bend High School assistant football coach Kevin Cooper talks to the team during practice Monday.
See OSAA / A7
—Associated Press
MEN’S
BASKETBALL
Buffs defeat cold
Beavers, 78-49
Jeriah Horne scored
16 points, Tristan da Silva
added a career-high 15,
and they combined to
make 12 of 14 shots in
Colorado’s 78-49 victory
over cold-shooting Or-
egon State on Monday
night.
Colorado (15-5, 9-4)
moved within one game
of co-leaders UCLA and
No. 20 USC at 9-2 in con-
ference play. It matches
Colorado’s best 13-game
conference record in the
Pac-12 era, joining the
2011-12 and 2019-20
teams.
Colorado opened the
second half on a 13-2 run
to build a 53-29 lead as
Oregon State missed its
first six shots. The Beavers
went nearly six minutes
without a made field
goal late in the second
half, trailing by as many
as 31 points during the
drought.
Dallas Walton had
12 points and seven re-
bounds for Colorado.
McKinley Wright IV added
six points and four as-
sists. Colorado shot 59.3%
from the field (16 of 27) in
the first half to help build
a 40-27 lead at the break.
Ethan Thompson
led Oregon State (10-8,
6-6) with 10 points. The
Beavers shot 32.7% and
turned it over 20 times.
It was the first of six
road games, with three
at home, to conclude the
regular season for Oregon
State.
—Associated Press
NFL| 2021 SEASON
AUSTRALIAN OPEN
Bucs hope to keep core together
to chase another Super Bowl
Only Venus gets
to decide when
she leaves tennis
BY FRED GOODALL
Associated Press
TAMPA, Fla. — Tom Brady’s com-
ing back. So is Bruce Arians.
The Tampa Bay Buccaneers are al-
ready thinking about what it’ll take
to repeat as Super Bowl champions.
The challenge begins with trying to
keep some key components together
for next season.
Brady threw three touchdowns
passes on the way to claiming a re-
cord seventh NFL title with a 31-9
rout of the Kansas City Chiefs — two
to Rob Gronkowski and one to An-
tonio Brown, both of whom played
on one-year deals after being lured to
Tampa Bay by the 43-year-old quar-
terback.
Leonard Fournette ran for the
team’s other TD. He, too, joined the
Bucs on a one-year contract after
Brady reached out to the talented
running back after he was released
by the Jacksonville Jaguars late in
training camp.
If Brady, Arians and general man-
ager Jason Licht have their way,
Gronkowski, Brown and Fournette
won’t wind up being one-season
rentals.
The team is also interested in sign-
ing linebacker Shaquil Barrett and
receiver Chris Godwin to long-term
deals. Defensive starters Lavonte Da-
vid, Jason Pierre-Paul and Ndamu-
kong Suh can become free agents,
BY HOWARD FENDRICH
AP Tennis Writer
Arians also expressed the belief
that the Bucs, who rode Brady and
a dynamic young defense on an im-
pressive playoff surge that culmi-
nated with Tampa Bay becoming the
first team to appear in a Super Bowl
in its own stadium, can be even bet-
ter next year.
He and Brady reiterated how dif-
ficult it was to navigate this season,
the quarterback’s first in Tampa Bay
after 20 years in New England, amid
COVID-19 protocols that eliminated
offseason workouts and preseason
games.
The questions about Venus Williams’ fu-
ture have been accumulating for a while
now, some subtle, some less so.
About whether she’ll be back at a particu-
lar event. About whether she’ll stick around
for the following season.
About her passion for tennis. About her
motivation at age 40. About other players
who recently retired or were about to retire.
The bottom line, essentially, was this: As
Williams accrued more and more early ex-
its at Grand Slam tournaments — and, well,
other tournaments, too — how much longer
would she keep playing professional tennis?
But there is another bottom line and it is
this: It’s really up to just one person to de-
cide why and how long Williams will keep
going.
Williams, of course.
And after going 0-3 at the sport’s ma-
jor championships in 2020, and 1-8 over-
all during the pandemic-shortened season,
Williams began the 2021 Grand Slam sea-
son with the best sort of answer to all of
those questions. She won.
Starting her 21st Australian Open and
professional-era record 88th appearance at
all Slams, Williams beat Kirsten Flipkens 7-5,
6-2 on Monday. That set up a second-round
meeting Wednesday with Sara Errani, a
33-year-old from Italy who was a French
Open runner-up and U.S. Open semifinalist
in 2012 and is now ranked 134th.
See Bucs / A7
See Venus / A7
Ben Liebenberg/AP
Tampa Bay Buccaneers head coach Bruce Arians holds the Vince Lombardi trophy
following Super Bowl 55 on Sunday in Tampa, Florida. Tampa Bay won 31-9.
although there’s been no indication
any is eager to leave.
“I’m very very confident,” Arians
said Monday of keeping the bulk of
the roster together for next season.
“I have all the trust in the world in
Jason and what he will do. There will
be dollars involved, but I think this
group is so so close that sometimes
dollars don’t matter. But we’re going
to do everything we can to get the
dollars right, too.”
The Bucs likely have about $38
million in salary cap space, though
the 2021 cap number has not been
set yet.