Blue Mountain Eagle
Wednesday, January 14, 2015
A7
WEDNESDAY
January 14, 2015
Prairie City girls 50 – Long Creek/Ukiah 5
Two county teams battle at hoops in season opener
By Angel Carpenter
Blue Mountain Eagle
PRAIRIE CITY – The Lady Panthers
took Friday’s game against the Moun-
taineer/Cougars as an opportunity for
their younger team members to see action
on the Prairie City court.
They toppled the less-experienced
Long Creek/Ukiah team 50-5.
“This is one of those situations that
you still need to excel and get better but
also do it with some respect,” said Pan-
ther head coach Penny Black. “All the
Lady Panthers have seen varsity action
and all played with the intent to better
themselves and their team.”
It was both teams’ league opener.
Black was pleased to see scoring from
players she’s expected to “step up,” in-
cluding Jeannie McCarthy, who had 9
points in the game, and Sarah Ennis,
also with 9. Cassie Hire followed with 6
points and Mariah McClung also had 6.
“The young Lady Panthers are re-
sponding quickly to our new more in-
tense practices, and it is showing up in
their games,” the coach said.
Lady Panther Lindsay Wall said they
played well as a team.
“It was good that we got the whole
team in to play, and I felt like that was
a good experience for the younger play-
ers,” she said.
With just two players with previous
experience, the Long Creek/Ukiah team
is just coming together.
Scoring for the Mountaineer/Cougars
came in the third quarter when Bow Rat-
tanakulwattana shot 1-1 at the free-throw
line and later scored 2 points. Emalie
Gulden also scored 2 points in the quar-
ter.
The team’s two experienced players
toughed out the night, as Emalie Gul-
den played through an illness, and Maria
Prairie
City
Panther
Ethan
Camarena (11) puts up a shot in
Friday’s game against Long Creek/
Ukiah. In the fray, are Joonas
Kortesalmi (12 left), Timo Goebel
(44) and Brandon Gillihan (25).
Cabral was back after a knee injury.
Long Creek/Ukiah co-coaches Daniel
See HOOPS, Page A14
Eagle photos /Angel Carpenter
Prairie City’s Megan Camarena makes a shot in the
game against Long Creek/Ukiah over the reach of
Maria Cabral (22) and Bruna Falci (21). Back, Mae
Phatthanun (10).
2014-15 M OUNTAINEER /C OUGARS S ENIORS
Mae
Phatthanun
Lea
Petruccello
Maria Jose
Cabral
Sam
Studtmann
Wyatt
Alford
Fernando
Flores
Building TEAM
Contributed photo/Shawnah Schafer
Dayville/Monument Tiger Hayden Schafer (20)
pushes past Harper/Huntington’s Steven Rasinski
(14) in the Tiger’s league opening win in Dayville.
Tigers take on
Hornets with ‘Barn
burner’ basketball
By Angel Carpenter
Blue Mountain Eagle
DAYVILLE – Dayville/Mon-
ument Tiger boys stormed their
basketball court for a “barn burn-
er” home opener last Friday.
The Tigers took a nail-biter 48-
44 win over the Harper/Hunting-
ton Hornets.
“The Harper/Huntington boys
sure came to play, and made for a
great show,” said head coach Jeff
Schafer. “We are still working on
our goals, fouls and watching the
turnovers.”
He add his team was tired near
the end of the game, while the
Hornets were able to rotate sever-
al players in and out of the game.
“Our team showed great per-
severance and personal strength,”
he said. “It was absolute determi-
nation and a team mind set my
boys had that won our game, and
I am incredibly proud of them.”
Tanner Moodenbaugh was the
high-point scorer for the Tigers
with 16 points, and four steals and
four assists. Jordan Bowlus had
12 points, 4 steals and 1 assist.
Hayden Schafer, Dakota Emerson
and Sage Flower each contributed
7 points. The Tigers’ game against
Burnt River proved to be anoth-
er competitive match, Dayville/
Monument winning 54-50.
“Burnt River was a good
team,” coach Schafer said, adding
his team was tired from the previ-
ous night’s game.
The Tigers were able to pull
ahead in the third quarter and hang
onto the lead.
Dayville/Monument girls win
two
The Tiger girls also enjoyed
success at the home opener.
The derailed Harper/Hunting-
ton, 44-32, on Friday.
Dayville/Monument was up
by just 1 point in the ¿ rst quar-
ter, 7-6, then started pulling away
with the lead.
The Lady Tigers kept the Hor-
nets to just 3 points in the second
quarter, the score 22-9 at halftime.
Harper/Huntington’s attempt
to catch up in the fourth, with 16
points, came a little late and the
Tigers claimed the win.
On the road, the Tigers took a
38-20 win over the Burnt River
Bulls.
Dayville/Monument faced
Long Creek/Ukiah, past press
time, on Tuesday and will host
Prairie City in Monument begin-
ning with varsity girls at 6 p.m.
Friday. The teams are away at
Crane on Saturday for a 2 p.m.
game.
The Eagle/Angel Carpenter
The Long Creek/Ukiah boys basketball team, including Sam Studtmann (10), runs onto the Prairie City
court for both teams’ first league game of the season.
Coaches say teams are progressing well
By Angel Carpenter
Blue Mountain Eagle
LONG CREEK – Most every season is a “building year” for
the Mountaineer/Cougars boys and girls basketball teams.
Despite the schools’ inÀ ux of new foreign exchange students
each year, the teams are making strides this season.
Out of 19 boys and girls playing this season, only six had played
basketball before – two for the girls team, four for the boys.
“We’re a little behind,” said co-coach Daniel Johnson, add-
ing the teams are working on passing and keeping the tempo of
the game up.
“We’re teaching them and going over presses – they’ve
grasped more,” said co-coach TC Conner.
This year’s senior boys are Sam Studtmann, Wyatt Alford
and Fernando Flores.
Check out next week’s issue for an update on
the Grant County Youth Wrestlers.
Dayville/Monument
SPORTS SCHEDULE
Basketball
Long Creek
Grant Union
Prairie City
2015 COUNTY
See TEAM, Page A14
The Eagle/Angel Carpenter
The Long Creek/Ukiah girls basketball team faces
the Prairie City team in their first league game of
the season Jan. 9.
Friday, Jan. 16
Grant Union @ Union
Dayville/Monument vs. Prairie City
Long Creek/Ukiah @ Adrian
Saturday, Jan. 17
Grant Union vs. Enterprise
Prairie City @ Jordan Valley
Dayville/Monument @ Crane
Long Creek/Ukiah @ Burnt River
Union
Monument
Adrian
6 p.m.
6 p.m.
6 p.m. (MT)
John Day
Jordan Valley
Crane
Unity
4 p.m.
2 p.m. (MT)
2 p.m.
2 p.m.
Baker City
TBA
Wrestling
Friday, Jan. 16
Grant Union @ Baker Tournament