SPORTS
SCHEDULE
Thursday-Satur-
day, Dec. 17-19
WEDNESDAY
December 16, 2015
Prairie City, Dayville/
Monument basketball @
Union Tourney in Union,
girls and boys TBA
GU boys topple Mustangs at home
Friday-Saturday,
Dec. 18-19
Dayville/Monument
Monday,
Dec. 21
Grant Union
basketball @ Irrigon in
Irrigon, girls 6 p.m./boys
7:30 p.m.
Long Creek
Grant Union
basketball
@ Heppner
in Heppner,
girls 4 p.m./
boys 5:30
p.m.
Blue Mountain Eagle
Grant Union
Saturday,
Dec. 19
By Angel Carpenter
Prairie City
Grant Union
wrestling
@ Elgin
Tournament
in Elgin, 1
p.m./10 a.m.
Pros’ 20-point lead in 3rd seals the deal
JOHN DAY — Eight Grant
Union Prospector boys got in
on Thursday night’s scoring
to claim a 56-40 win over the
Crane Mustangs.
The Prospectors took the
lead early on and held it through
the game.
“I thought we played good
fundamental basketball,” said
head coach Steve Speth. “We
didn’t shoot as well as normal,
but we were able to control the
game with our defense and ball
control.”
Grant Union had a 27-18
lead at the half and jumped to a
20-point lead to close the third.
A few Prospectors got in on
some three-point scoring, in-
cluding Wyatt Weaver who led
with 19 points and 10 rebounds.
He also had four assists.
“I’m really excited to be
with these guys,” Weaver said.
“I think our group is coming to-
gether and starting to click early
in the season.”
Speth credited the Mustangs
for a competitive game.
“Crane is a strong team,
ranked in the top 10,” he said.
“It’s a good, solid win for us.”
Grant Union will face the
TigerScots at the Weston-McE-
wen tournament which starts
Friday and continues Saturday.
The stats
Grant Union vs. Crane
points/rebounds/assists/steals
Wyatt Weaver: 19/10/4/2
Ricky Weickum: 8/4/1/1
Nathan Gehley: 8/11/1/1
Duane Stokes: 8/1/1/1
Trace Gill: 4/4/1/1
Brady Burch: 4/3/1/1
Clayton Vaughan: 3/1/0/0
Zack Deiter: 2/0/1/1
Cauy Weaver: 0/3/2/0
The Eagle/Angel Carpenter
Grant Union Prospector Nathan Gehley
fights to score against Crane Thursday
night.
Seasoned Prospectors
set expectations high
Grant
County
teams
go on
the road
The Eagle/Angel Carpenter
Grant Union Prospector
Kaylee Wright flies above
Crane defenders to score
in Thursday night’s game.
GU girls ¿ re
up, rein in
Mustangs
By Angel Carpenter
By Angel Carpenter
Blue Mountain Eagle
Blue Mountain Eagle
CONDON — Grant
County basketball teams
were on the road for weekend
tournaments.
Prairie City Panther boys
won games against Mo-
hawk, 50-35, and McKenzie,
62-20, at the Condon Tour-
nament.
Head coach Jonathon Gill
said Mohawk gave them their
¿ rst test with a close game
situation.
“I was so proud of the kids
coming together as brothers
to pull that victory out,” Gill
said.
The second game gave
Gill the opportunity to get
everyone in the action.
The Lady Panthers had
a decisive 58-13 win over a
young Mohawk team, and
suffered a loss to McKenzie,
39-33.
She said the McKenzie
game was a good test.
“Now we go work on
improving our game,” she
said.
The Dayville/Monument
Tiger boys pulled out two
wins at the Adrian Tourna-
ment with a 59-32 win over
Adrian and 74-61 over Coun-
cil, Idaho.
“Adrian is a tough team,”
said head coach Jeff Schafer.
“We started off a little slow
but picked it up after the
half.”
The contest against Coun-
cil was a “dog ¿ ght,” he said.
“Our boys played great team
ball.”
The Lady Tigers had a 54-
28 loss to Adrian and beat
Harper/Huntington 49-38.
JOHN DAY — The Grant
Union Lady Prospectors took a 60-
48 win at their home court over the
Crane Mustangs Thursday night,
notching their second preseason
victory.
The girls amped up their game
in the second half to pull away with
the 12-point win.
While Crane is a 1A class team
and Grant Union is 2A, the Mus-
tangs were ranked fourth in the pre-
season coaches poll.
“We started slow and made
some adjustments and played much
better in the second half,” said Grant
Union’s head coach Mark Mosley.
At halftime, the Prospectors had
a 27-20 lead and increased it to 46-
29 in the third.
Kaylee Wright, Kori Pentzer
and Heather Mosley had three
steals each on the night, and Sa-
mantha Brock and Kenzie Wilson
each had two.
Scoring was led by Pentzer with
19, followed by Mosley with 16,
and the team shot 63 percent from
the ¿ eld.
“We give Crane credit. They
can shoot the basketball,” coach
Mosley said. “At times we weren’t
contesting those threes and allowed
them to creep back into the game.
Overall, I was pleased with our
defense in the second half and our
offensive sets — we executed those
pretty well.”
Prospector Kenzie Wilson was
happy with the win.
“We came out and played our
game, and defense is where we
thrived,” she said. “It was a good
win for us.”
See ROUNDUP, Page B8
The Eagle/Angel Carpenter
Grant Union Prospector head coach Steve Speth shares a game plan with the team during
last Thursday’s game against Crane.
Grant Union
hopeful
for state
competition
By Angel Carpenter
Brady
Burch
Nathan
Gehley
Trace
Gill
Clayton
Vaughan
Wyatt
Weaver
Ricky
Weickum
Blue Mountain Eagle
JOHN DAY — Sever-
al key players from last
year’s Prospector boys
basketball team have re-
turned to show their ex-
perience on the court.
Steve Speth, who
works with assistant
coaches Kelsey Wright
and Kelly Stokes, has led
the team as head coach
for ¿ ve years and said
this year’s seniors are the
¿ rst group he’s had which
started with the eighth-
grade travel team.
“They have been ded-
icated and have worked
hard and improved tre-
mendously, not only on
the court, but off as well,”
he said. “Our upcoming
classes are also an ex-
citing group and have
tremendous potential to
compete at a high level
for many years to come.”
Adding to the talent on
this year’s roster are two
juniors, six sophomores
and three freshmen.
“We have good depth
at the varsity level, with
strong senior and sopho-
more classes,” Speth said.
“All six of our seniors
look to contribute strong-
ly to the team this year.”
Wyatt Weaver and Na-
than Gehley are team cap-
tains.
Weaver said his previ-
ous years playing on the
team have prepared him
to be a leader this year.
“I think we’re coming
together early this year,”
he said. “I’m really excit-
ed to be with these guys.”
Gehley said he’s glad
to step into the leadership
role.
“We’ve followed the
leaders on the team in
previous years and all
the seniors have stuck
with it,” he said. “We’ve
all played together long
enough that we work well
as a team.”
The other seniors are
Ricky Weickum, Brady
Burch, Clayton Vaughan
and Trace Gill.
Some of the seniors
have been playing ball
together since second or
third grade, Weickum
said.
“Our team is looking
pretty good offensively
and defensively,” he said.
“We’re looking better
than in previous years.
We’re more focused and
take care of the ball.”
Burch said playing
together that long has
helped their team chem-
istry.
“It’s good,” he said.
“Our defense is good and
we’ve improved on our
offense.”
“The team is looking
good,” Vaughan said.
“We’re working to be
a tough out in the state
tournament.”
Speth said the team
has a goal to play as a
team and to do well at the
state tournament.
Along the way to
achieving their goals, he
said they work on posi-
tive leadership, playing
tough in practice and
staying calm in games.
Competing in the Wa-
piti League in Class 2A,
Speth said it will be a
tough schedule this year.
Grant Union will be up
against Union, Imbler, El-
gin, Burns, Enterprise and
Cove.
“We look forward to
competing with the best
teams in the state,” he
said. “This team is unself-
ish, work hard for each
other and love the game
of basketball — they are
coachable.”
COME SEE THE CREW AT LES SCHWAB IN JOHN DAY, 551 W. Main
The stats
Grant Union girls vs. Crane
Kori Pentzer: 19 points, 3 steals
Heather Mosley: 16 points, 3 steals
Kenzie Wilson: 10 points, 2 steals
Kaylee Wright: 7 point, 3 steals
Samantha Brock: 4 points, 2 steals
Mariah Moulton: 4 points
John Day
541-575-1346
t a
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