WEDNESDAY
December 7, 2016
Grant Union girls ready for big roles
Coach: Team is fast
with strong defense
By Angel Carpenter
Blue Mountain Eagle
Senior
Heather Mosley
The Grant Union Lady Pros-
pectors are a young team with
nine freshmen and just one senior,
but head coach Mark Mosley said
their potential is showing early in
the season.
“From the freshmen to the se-
nior, we have a lot of talent,” he
said. “Some of the younger girls
are going to play some pretty big
roles for us this year.”
Team speed and strong defense
are positives the team is bringing
to the table, he said.
This is Mosley’s fi fth year as
head coach and his seventh year
coaching, overall. His assistant
coaches are Casey Hallgarth, who
coaches the junior varsity girls
team, and Crystal Culley.
Hallgarth has several years
of coaching experience from his
time leading Elgin’s varsity boys
basketball team. He also coached
Grant Union’s junior high football
team this year.
Culley has been involved in
youth basketball programs over
the years.
There are 23 players making
up the varsity and junior varsity
teams, including nine freshmen,
six sophomores, seven juniors
and one senior. Returning start-
ers are senior Heather Mosley,
junior Mariah Moulton, and
sophomore Kaylee Wright, who
was a starter for part of last sea-
son. Several varsity girls played
See GU GIRLS, Page B3
More
inside
See the Grant
Union girls basketball
schedule on Page B3.
Grant Union
wrestlers grapple at
opening meet.
Page B10
PANTHERS PUNISH ANTELOPES
Prairie City boys leap to 20-point win over Adrian
The Eagle/Angel Carpenter
Prairie City Panther Brianna Zweygardt in action
in Friday’s game against the Adrian Antelopes.
Lady Panthers
fall to Adrian
after fast start
Prairie City
gears up for
game with Ione
By Angel Carpenter
Blue Mountain Eagle
Prairie City’s Lady Pan-
thers put up a good battle in
their fi rst game of the season
but could not catch the Adri-
an Antelopes, who ran to a
46-19 win.
The Lady Panthers came
out with a show of strength
to start. Adrian had the tip,
but Prairie City’s Sarah En-
nis took the ball back, and
teammate Cassie Hire took
it up for two points.
Hire nabbed a defensive
rebound from Adrian, and
teammate Megan Camarena
scored two.
Lady Panther Brianna
Zweygardt got into the ac-
tion, scoring one free-throw
point, and Hire and Lindsay
Wall each scored once to
give Prairie City a 9-6 lead
at the close of the fi rst quar-
ter.
Head coach Bo Workman
knew this home game would
be a tough test.
“Adrian has a strong
program, and they played
pressure defense to the end,”
he said. “We know what we
need to work on.”
The Antelopes gained
momentum in the second
quarter, gaining 22 points
while holding the Panthers
to two points.
After halftime, Prairie
City fi red back up, but were
outshot 8-6, and Adrian held
onto their lead at 36-17 and
continued that pace for the
win.
“They started good,”
Workman said of his team.
“They took care of the ball
the fi rst quarter and kept
their heads up.”
He said they’ll be prac-
ticing skills such as posi-
tioning, shooting and con-
ditioning in their upcoming
workouts.
“We know what we need
to work on, just getting that
fi rst game out of the way is a
big deal,” he said.
Lady Panther Brianna
Zweygardt led Prairie City
with nine points, followed
by Cassie Hire and Megan
Camerena who each scored
four, and Lindsay Wall
scored two.
Prairie City hosted Grant
Union junior varsity on
Tuesday, Dec. 6, past press
time. The team will face
Ione at 3 p.m. Friday, Dec.
9, in Condon.
The Eagle/Angel Carpenter
Prairie City Panther Dorran Wilson leaves Adrian in his wake as he goes up to score in Friday night’s game.
Coach: Game is
good barometer
test for season
By Angel Carpenter
Blue Mountain Eagle
G RANT C OUNTY SPORTS ROUNDUP
By Angel Carpenter
Blue Mountain Eagle
Grant Union girls
beat Sherman,
lose to Culver
Grant Union was on the
road to Moro for the Sher-
man County Tournament.
The Lady Prospectors
claimed a 55-53 victory over
Sherman on Friday and the
following day lost 47-35 to
Culver.
Grant Union girls head
coach Mark Mosley said his
team executed offense well
in the game against Sherman.
“We were able to pound
the ball on the inside,” Mos-
ley said. “Our overall defen-
sive performance was good,
but we still have some room
for improvement.”
Speaking of the loss to
Culver, Mosley said his
team didn’t handle the pres-
sure defense which the Bull-
dogs laid on from start to
fi nish.
“We had too many turn-
overs,” he said.
Grant Union closed the
gap within two points, late
in the third quarter, but the
Bulldogs pulled out for the
win.
“Overall, we learned the
things we have to improve
on before this weekend,”
Mosley said. “We have to
learn to handle pressure and
become more confi dent with
the basketball. There are
many bright points to build
on as well.”
The Eagle/Angel Carpenter
Prairie City Panther Levi Burke (21) fights for a
rebound.
Prospector boys
lose to last year’s
1A state champs,
beat Culver
The 2A Prospector boys
lost 79-53 in their fi rst game
to Sherman, last year’s 1A
state champions.
“They’re a good team,
and they didn’t lose anyone
from last year,” said Grant
Union boys head coach Kel-
sy Wright. “They’re a big
team, averaging 6-foot-2.”
See ROUNDUP, Page B10
The Eagle/Angel Carpenter
Prairie City Panther Wyatt Williams takes a
defensive stance as an Adrian player tries to throw
in the ball at Friday night’s game.
If the Prairie City Panther
boys’ fi rst game is any indica-
tion, the community could be
in for an exciting season.
The Panther boys out-
played the Adrian Antelopes
by 20 points Friday night, tak-
ing a 59-39 win at the Prairie
City court.
Adrian was fi rst on the
scoreboard, but Prairie City
gained a foothold and outshot
the Antelopes 16-8 in the fi rst
quarter.
Panther Dorran Wilson
scored eight in the quarter, fol-
lowed by Levi Burke with four
and Jonathan Lawrence and
Danner Davis with two apiece.
Davis also had a steal.
Prairie City’s Brogan McK-
rola added two points in the
second quarter of play, and
Wilson and Burke each shot
a three-pointer, the Panthers
scoring 20 to the Antelopes’
nine.
The home team kept the
momentum going in the third
with a 20-point gain, including
a three-pointer from McKrola,
to lead 53-26.
The game started to get
physical, and two Panther
players fouled out.
Wilson, a junior, led Prairie
City for the night, scoring 30
points with 12 rebounds and
11 steals.
Levi Burke also scored in
double digits with 13.
Prairie City head coach
Jonathan Gill said to be on the
winning side against a strong
team is a good feeling.
His head wasn’t in the
clouds, though. He said the
team has a lot to clean up in
their performance.
“The fi rst game, you kind
of don’t know what you got,
but to see the guys bring effort,
bring passion and heart, that’s
all you can ask for as a coach,
and so I would say it was a
good win,” he said. “Adrian is
a league team, and usually you
don’t get to play a league team
this early in the season, so that
was a good barometer test for
us to see where we’re going to
be.”
Burke said the skills
they’ve worked on in practice
will help them throughout the
season.
“We have a lot to work on,
but it was a fun game overall,”
he said.
“We’re a little rusty, but we
got the job done,” said Panther
junior Danner Davis.
“I’m really proud of the ef-
fort everyone put in,” Wilson
added. “We still have kinks
we need to work out. Adrian
played well against us, and
they never gave up. It was a
good start to our journey.”
Coach Gill said the team
will be preparing for their next
games.
“We’re going to go back
to the drawing board to clean
some things up, some of those
sloppy mistakes, and we’ll be
ready to go,” he said. “It was a
heck of a win, and we’re proud
of the kids.”
He added, he was happy
with Friday night’s show of
support from the home crowd.
“We hope that the commu-
nity will come back out,” he
said.
The Panther boys hosted
the Grant Union junior varsity
team on Tuesday, Dec. 6, past
press time. Prairie City will
face Ione on the road at 4:30
p.m. Friday in Condon.