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FOUR-PAGE PULLOUT S PORTS A5 Stay connected with local sports! Get text alerts with up-to-date scores and schedules from Central Oregon high school sports events. Sign up at bendbulletin.com/text or scan the QR code. THE BULLETIN • WEdNEsday, OcTOBEr 13, 2021 bendbulletin.com/sports WOMEN’S PAC-12 HOOPS UO picked to finish 2nd, OSU 4th SAN FRANCISCO — Oregon is picked to finish second and Oregon State fourth in Pac-12 women’s basketball season as the preseason coaches poll was released Tuesday morning. Defending national champion Stanford is the choice to repeat at the conference champion. The preseason poll kicked off the first of two days of Pac-12 basket- ball media days at the conference office in San Francisco. Oregon, coming off a Sweet 16 appearance last March, earned one first- place vote and 108 points overall. Oregon State, which reached the NCAA Tour- nament’s second round last season, had 86 points, edging out last year’s na- tional finalist Arizona. Here is the preseason poll: 1. Stanford (11) 121 points 2. Oregon (1) 108 3. UCLA 101 4. Oregon State 86 5. Arizona 83 6. Washington State 70 7. Colorado 65 8. Arizona State 47 9. USC 45 T10. Utah 25 T10. Washington 25 12. California 16 — The Oregonian MLB PLAYOFFS Astros advance to ALCS with 10-1 win CHICAGO — It was Jose Altuve, Carlos Cor- rea and Alex Bregman once again. Led by their October-tested stars, the Houston Astros are going back to the AL Champi- onship Series for the fifth straight year. Altuve hit a three-run homer, scored four times and stole a base, and Houston eliminated the Chicago White Sox with a 10-1 victory in Game 4 of their AL Division Series on Tuesday. Correa and Bregman each hit a two-run dou- ble as the Astros bounced back from Sunday night’s 12-6 loss with their usual relentless brand of base- ball. Michael Brantley had three hits and two RBIs. Next up for Altuve and company is Game 1 of the ALCS against former Astros bench coach Alex Cora and the Boston Red Sox on Friday in Houston. The Red Sox eliminated Tampa Bay with a 6-5 vic- tory in Game 4 on Mon- day night. It’ll be Houston’s sec- ond ALCS under 72-year- old manager Dusty Baker. Baker replaced A.J. Hinch, who was fired in fallout from the Astros’ 2017 sign-stealing scandal that also resulted in a one- year ban for Cora. Gavin Sheets con- nected for Chicago, be- coming the third rookie in franchise history to homer in a postseason game. But Carlos Rodón was knocked out in the third inning of his first start since Sept. 29, and the AL Central champions left eight runners on base. The White Sox also lost in the first round of the 2020 playoffs. Before this year, the franchise had never made consecutive postseason appearances. The Astros are looking for the franchise’s second championship after win- ning it all in 2017, a title that still evokes a strong reaction around the game after the team was punished for using elec- tronics to steal signs. — Associated Press NFL Wilson a spectator Seattle QB will be out multiple weeks; expected back later this season BY TIM BOOTH • Associated Press RENTON, Wash. — Until now, Russell Wilson has never missed a game and only on rare occasions been absent for a practice. For the next few weeks, the sight of Wilson on Monday wearing a jacket and baseball hat while his teammates went through practice is going to be a regular sight for the Seattle Seahawks after their starting quarterback Elaine Thompson/AP underwent finger surgery late last week. Seattle Seahawks quarterback Russell Wilson salutes fans after the Seahawks’ 26-17 loss to the Rams on Thursday. Wilson injured a finger in the game and will miss his first games since becoming the starter in 2012. Wilson’s surgery last Friday in Los Angeles re- paired a ruptured tendon in what often is referred to as mallet finger, and a “fracture-dislocation” of the joint at the top of his middle finger on his right hand. The injury was suffered in the third quarter of Seattle’s 26-17 loss to the Los Angeles Rams. Wilson has started all 165 games — regular sea- son and playoffs combined — since being named the starter for the Seahawks before the start of the 2012 season. “He’s in really good spirits and really active today as much as he can be around us and all that,” Seat- tle coach Pete Carroll said. “Really happy for the re- sults of the initial part of it.” Carroll said there is not a timeline on Wilson’s return and declined to even ballpark a potential target, although he is expected to play again this season. He said placing Wilson on injured reserve — which would keep him out at least three games — remains an option as that would open a roster spot for Seattle. And that timeline could also make sense with Seattle having three more games before its bye week in early November. Wilson had the finger heavily wrapped as he watched quarterbacks Geno Smith and Jake Luton go through early warmups during a light practice following the long weekend. WOMEN’S COLLEGE HOOPS | OREGON DUCKS “He knows his job is to help Geno and get him ready,” Carroll said. While Wilson is sidelined the job will turn to Smith, who hasn’t started an NFL game since 2017 when he was with the New York Giants. Smith’s start in New York was the game that Eli Manning saw his streak of consecutive starts end at 210. Now Smith will be taking the spot of Wilson af- ter 149 regular season and 16 postseason starts in a row. The Seahawks were thrilled with how Smith played in the fourth quarter against the Rams once Wilson was ruled out. See Wilson / A7 GOLF Roster turnover results in Ducks’ Patrick Cantlay taking time experienced, versatile lineup to soak up 5 big weeks BY JAMES CREPEA The Oregonian BY DOUG FERGUSON AP Golf Writer EUGENE — Significant roster turnover during the off- season left Oregon women’s basketball both with the core of its starting lineup and most of last year’s freshman class back and infused with some critical additions. Seniors Erin Boley and Lydia Giomi graduated and moved on and guards Taylor Chavez, Taylor Mikesell and Jaz Shelley and forward An- gela Dugalic transferred. The Ducks added five in- coming transfers of their own though in guards Endyia Rog- ers and Ahlise Hurst and for- wards Shannon Dufficy, Tay- lor Hosendove and Chanaya Pinto. UO is still awaiting word from the NCAA on eligibility for Dufficy and Hosendove, both two-time transfers, but Dufficy’s waiver is expected to be a formality due to her be- ing a graduate transfer. It all means significant shakeup in the Oregon back- court, which returns Te- Hina Paopao and Maddie Scherr and adds freshman Taylor Bigby as well. So far, the Ducks have teamed Rog- ers with Paopao to put two ball-handlers on the court at once, much in the way they did with Sabrina Ionescu, Maite Cazorla and Minyon Moore in the past. “It’s nice to not always han- dle the ball,” Paopao said. “They’re having me play the 1 sometimes and playing me off the ball, but I personally like playing off the ball. I’ll play point guard. I’ll play at the 2. Me and Endyia, we’ve been solely together these last cou- ple of weeks and I’ve been en- joying her having to come off LAS VEGAS — Patrick Cantlay had that magic wand of a putter in his hands on the 16th green at Whistling Straits without having to use it. Shane Lowry conceded the match, Cantlay handed the club to his caddie and before long he was celebrating a Ryder Cup vic- tory. That was 16 days ago. Cantlay hasn’t touched his clubs since then, and it might be another two weeks before he does. Few other players are in need of one big exhale. Con- sider his five-week span to close out a season he won’t soon forget. Cantlay won the BMW Championship amid cheers of “Patty Ice” for making six clutch putts to stay alive and outlast Bryson DeChambeau at Caves Valley. He hit the most important 6-iron of his career on the final hole at East Lake to hold off Jon Rahm and win the $15 million prize as FedEx Cup champion. He was voted PGA Tour player of the year. And then he was unbeaten in four matches in his Ryder Cup debut as the Americans won by a record margin. “It’s really nice to have some off time after a run like that. It gives you time to appreciate it,” Cantlay said Monday from his home in South Florida, about the time players were arriving in windy Las Vegas for the CJ Cup. “Upon reflection, I’m re- ally proud of how I handled the pressure and the import- ant golf,” he said. “It was nice to have the Ryder Cup be at a time when your golf is peak- ing, or when you’re most com- Leon Neuschwander/For The Oregonian Oregon’s Te-Hina Paopao (12) looks to pass during a Pac-12 women’s basketball game against Arizona last season. screens and looking for others and creating for others.” It took until the NCAA Tournament for Oregon to establish an identity through its post players last season. Sedona Prince and Nyara Sa- bally are certainly going to remain pillars of the lineup, now with more complemen- tary players in 6-foot-8 fresh- man Phillipina Kyei and a more experienced Kylee Wat- son. With the infusion of trans- fers mostly combo forwards that can play on the wing, where Sydney Parrish is also back and will play a big role, Oregon can play a very big lineup, four guards and a more traditional rotation. “I really like our versatility,” Oregon coach Kelly Graves said. “I like the fact that we’ve got players really at all dif- ferent positions who can im- pact the game. I think we’ll probably have some kind of a hybrid of the ball screen and the spread-it-out motion that we’ve employed for most of my tenure here with an eye to getting inside maybe a little bit more. I’m not saying we have another Ruthy (Hebard), but we’ve got players inside that can command dou- ble teams and really we can pound the ball inside when we need to. “I think we’re a little bit bet- ter in the ball screen than we were last year. Endyia can play out of the ball screens. Mad- die Scherr has really gotten better and can play out of ball screen. Te-Hina I felt was re- ally our only player that could really play out of the ball screen action. I think we have additional help there.” The Ducks, the presea- son No. 2 pick among Pac-12 coaches, have two exhibitions on Oct. 28 and Nov. 6 before opening the regular season on Nov. 9 against Idaho State. “Upon reflection, I’m really proud of how I handled the pressure and the important golf. It was nice to have the Ryder Cup be at a time when your golf is peaking, or when you’re most comfortable with golf. I could see where if you had insecurities, the Ryder Cup would magnify them.” — Patrick Cantlay fortable with golf. I could see where if you had insecurities, the Ryder Cup would magnify them.” There were no such insecu- rities, then or now. The Shriners Children’s Open in Las Vegas has been an annuity for Cantlay. He has made nearly $3 million from his four appearances at the TPC Summerlin — a victory, two runner-up finishes and a tie for eighth (he played in the final group that time). Instead, he was content to stay home and finish the first part of the Winston Churchill trilogy, “The Last Lion.” He also went fishing with friends in the Atlantic Ocean. Cantlay would seem to be more skilled with a golf club in hand, but he can follow instruction. “When you’re out in the deep sea and you hand me a rod and tell me to start reeling, I can do that,” he said. The CJ Cup at the Summit this week has a $9.75 million purse and a 70-man field with no cut at a private club in Las Vegas. See Cantlay / A6
