A14
Sports
Blue Mountain Eagle
Wednesday, February 28, 2018
BOYS
Continued from Page A13
brought on by Santiam’s Jordan Lanham,
with another 4 points added off layups.
Grant Union’s Cauy Weaver, Duane
Stokes, Kellen Shelley and Ty McDaniel
also contributed to the 23-16 lead.
Santiam outshot Grant Union 13-11 in
the second, but the Prospectors stayed in
the lead, 34-29.
Reimers fell early in the third and
limped out of the game, for a time. Then
Santiam crept up on the Prospectors’ lead,
tying the score 37-37.
A technical foul was called on Reimers
after he re-entered the game later in the quar-
ter, and Santiam scored 1-2 for a 43-43 tie.
Stokes stole the ball and scored, and
when Santiam answered back with a buck-
et, Stokes landed a 3-pointer and added a
free-throw shot for a 49-45 lead for Grant
Union going into the fourth.
The intensity grew, along with Grant
Union’s momentum in the final eight min-
utes.
The Prospectors were ahead 58-49
when a technical foul was called on San-
tiam’s head coach.
Shelley landed 2-2 at the free-throw line
on the call.
He went to the line twice more, adding
4 more points, and he scored two more bas-
kets in the fourth.
Grant Union powered ahead, holding
Santiam to 6 for the quarter for the 15-point
win.
Stokes led the Prospectors with 21
points, followed by Reimers with 15.
Wright said both teams wanted the win,
and his team stayed composed and worked
hard for it.
Grant Union already accomplished two
goals, winning the Wapiti regular-season
title and the district tournament title.
“This was our third goal, to get to the
Final 8, and we just did it,” Wright said.
“We’ve got Western Mennonite on Thurs-
day. (Santiam) is the only team in the state
that has come close to beating them. They
only lost by 6 points, so if we can play this
well with this group of boys, over there in
the ‘states’ we can compete pretty well.”
Wright highlighted Weaver for his re-
bounding.
“He helped us out tremendously on
free-throw rebounding, which is hard be-
cause it’s four against two down there, and
he came up with the basketball three or four
times and gave us an extra possession —
that was great on his part, and I think we
contributed points off of that as well.”
Wright added it took every team mem-
ber for the win.
“It was pretty awesome, and I’m just
proud of everybody,” he said.
Grant Union players expressed the thrill
of the win.
The Eagle/Angel Carpenter
Grant Union Prospectors run on the court to celebrate
Friday’s win over Weston-McEwen, including, from left,
Mariah Wright, Hailie Wright, Kaylee Wright, Whitney
McClellan (back) and Madi McKrola.
GIRLS
Continued from Page A13
The Eagle/Angel Carpenter
Grant Union Prospector Cole Deiter takes aim while under pressure from
Santiam’s Josh Fawcett, Prospector Duane Stokes (13) also in the action on
Saturday.
Grant Union Prospector Wade Reimers
scores over Santiam.
momentum to keep us rolling into Thurs-
day’s game.”
Reimers added his thoughts on facing
Santiam again this school year.
“It was great revenge, since we lost to
them in football,” he said. “They played a
good game against the team we’ll face at
state, the No. 1 team. We’ve got to keep im-
proving our defense.”
Grant Union school officials will send a
rooter bus to the Prospector boys and girls
state tournament for Thursday, if enough
people sign up. The cost is $10. For more
information, call 541-575-1799, ext. 20.
“It’s been a long time since we’ve
moved on to state,” Weaver said. “It’s a big
thing, winning league and districts — big
steps. We played together and never let up
on the throttle.”
Zack Deiter said he’s excited to advance
to state.
“It’s nice to see all the hard work pay off
that we put in this season,” he said.
Stokes added, “I think this was definite-
ly a tough game, and we need to use this
Grant Union
Duane Stokes: 21 (four 3-pointers, 5-6 free throws)
Wade Reimers: 15 (3-5 free-throws)
Kellen Shelley: 12 (6-6 free throws)
Cauy Weaver: 9 (1-7 free throws)
Cole Deiter: 7 (one 3-pointer)
Ty McDaniel: 2
Santiam
Jonah Downey: 25 (two 3-pointers, 1-2 free throws)
Josh Fawcett: 11 (one 3-pointer)
Jordan Lanham: 5 (one 3-pointer)
Dustin Keys: 4
Sean Horning: 4
Colin Thurston: 2 (0-2 free throws)
The Eagle/Angel Carpenter
The Eagle/Angel Carpenter
the
corner’s
HOT
SH T
EEK
OF THE W
ZACK DEITER
School: Grant Union
Grade: 12
Parents: Chris & Windi Deiter
Sport: Basketball
Position: Guard
Workman looks
forward to next
season
The Eagle/Angel Carpenter
Prairie City Panther Jojari
Field (5) flies up to score
and draws an opportunity
at the free-throw line in
Saturday’s game.
quarter and win,” he said.
“They played with a lot of
heart all year, and to get to
this point was a huge accom-
plishment.”
Workman said his team
played well, and he’s proud
of them.
Prairie City
Dorran Wilson: 20 (6-12 free throws)
Lucas McKinley: 9 (three 3-pointers)
Levi Burke: 9 (one 3-pointer)
Syd Holman: 9 (3-4 free throws)
Jojari Field: 3 (1-3 free throws)
Jayden Winegar: 2
Powder Valley
Omar Benites: 12 (two 3-pointers)
Hunter Davis: 11 (3-3 free throws)
Tanner Eubanks: 10 (one 3-pointer, 1-2
free throws)
Roper Bingham: 6
Moziss Nesser: 4
Dominick Grende: 2
The Prairie City Panther
girls basketball team lost
their round-one state playoff
battle 46-25 to the Powder
Valley Badgers Feb. 20.
The Panther girls made
it to state competition after
their third-place finish at
the Feb. 15-17 1A-8 Dis-
trict Tournament in John
Day.
Prairie City head coach
Bo Workman said Powder
Valley, ranked No. 3 among
OSAA 1A teams, shot well
and ran an aggressive de-
fense.
He said the Badgers
made a run in the first half,
which left the Panthers try-
ing to catch up.
“We made a little run in
the fourth,” he said, adding,
“They beat us from the out-
side and just couldn’t seem
to miss.”
Workman said overall it
was a good season.
“We accomplished a lot
in our mental game, and the
younger girls got a lot of
post season experience,” he
said.
The team graduates three
seniors, Brianna Zweygardt,
Cassie Hire and Megan Ca-
marena.
This year, Bo Workman
had his father, Mike Work-
man, as a volunteer assistant
coach.
The elder Workman
brings many years of coach-
ing experience, including
Prairie City in the ’80s,
Mt. Vernon High School
and then Grant Union High
School, after Mt. Vernon be-
came a junior high school.
He also coached Jordan Val-
ley for several years, after
Eagle file photo
Prairie City Panther Rilee
Emmel scores in the
game against Adrian on
Feb. 17 at the District 8
Tournament.
moving there.
“He’s been one of the
best assistant coaches you
could have sitting next
to you on the bench,” Bo
Workman said.
At the District 8 Tour-
nament, held Feb. 15-17 at
Grant Union in John Day,
Prairie City beat the Harper
Hornets 53-32 on day one,
and the Panthers fell 47-46
in a hard-fought battle with
the Jordan Valley Mustangs
the following day.
Playing for third place,
Prairie City beat the Adrian
Antelopes 44-39 for their
ticket to round one in the
state playoffs.
The last time the Lady
Panthers reached the state
level was in 2014, then
coached by Penny Black and
Denis Fast, when the team
placed sixth at the champi-
onship tournament in Baker
City.
Workman said he plans
to return as coach next year,
adding he has two little girls
he would like to coach one
day.
“I’m hoping to be in it for
the long run,” he said.
G RANT U NION DOMINATES W APITI L EAGUE HONORS
What I like best about my sport: “I’ve
been playing with the same five since sixth
grade. It takes us all to win a game — you can’t
win it by yourself.”
Coach’s Comment:
“He’s definitely developed into a team
player. He’s one of our better
offensive players on the team.”
- Coach Kelsy Wright
PROUD SPONSOR OF GRANT COUNTY ATHLETES
100 E. Main • Stoplight in John Day
541-792-0425
Prairie City girls end
season at round one
Blue Mountain Eagle
Continued from Page A13
Prairie City Panther Dorran Wilson (3) scores over
pressure from Powder Valley Badger Hunter Davis.
Grant Union
Kaylee Wright: 25 (two 3-pointers, 3-5
free throws)
Mariah Moulton: 11 (three 3-pointers)
Trinity Hutchison: 8
Madi McKrola: 8
Mariah Wright: 7 (one 3-pointer)
Hailie Wright: 4 (2-4 free throws)
Marissa Smith: 4
Kori Girvin: 2
Whitney McClellan: 1 (1-3 free throws)
Alcie Moore: 1 (1-2 free throws)
Weston-McEwen
Katie Vescio: 13 (1-3 free throws)
Chelsea Quaempts: 13 (5-8 free
throws)
Alyssa Finifrock: 6
Jordyn Lambert: 4
Trinity Hearn: 2
Tyree Burke: 2
Hannah McIntyre: 2
By Angel Carpenter
STATE
when Holman rebounded and
Burke scored 3, to move the
Panthers ahead 45-43.
With only 53 seconds left
on the clock, Prairie City
continued to pull ahead at the
free-throw line.
Wilson led the Panthers
with 20 points for the night,
followed by McKinley, Hol-
man and Burke with 9 each.
“It was a great win, and we
worked hard for it all week,”
Wilson said. “I think it’s pre-
paring myself and a lot of the
younger guys to really see
what that next-level competi-
tion is like.”
Burke said it was “killer”
to beat an experienced team
like Powder Valley.
“They played hard, so I’m
glad we could pull it out,” he
said.
Holman agreed.
“No matter what, they’re
a solid team,” he said of the
Badgers, adding that if they
hadn’t straightened out, they
may have lost. “But we got to-
gether and played as a team.”
“It’s my freshman year, and
an experience like this is awe-
some,” said Field. “The inten-
sity of the crowd was great.”
Powder Valley’s head
coach Warren Wilson said it
was a good game.
“You just can’t have the
collapse we had in the fourth
play against a quality oppo-
nent.
“My team, as always,
played extremely hard,” he
said. “Some of our shortcom-
ings were exposed, but we
never quit.”
He said his team has been
improving with each game,
including the playoff.
“My hat is off to Grant
Union,” he said. “They can
beat any team in the state,
and I look forward to watch-
ing them play next week.”
Grant Union players were
thrilled with the win.
“We all played together
and moved the ball well,”
said Mariah Moulton. “It’s
one more milestone, and now
we have a whole week to pre-
pare for Pendleton.”
Makenna Culley said she
appreciated the opportunity
to play with the varsity team.
“We knew going into to-
night we had to give it our all
to make it to Pendleton this
week,” she said. “The en-
ergy of the game was great,
and having the whole town
here was an awesome expe-
rience.”
“I think we brought our
best game tonight because
we knew we had to,” said
Marissa Smith. “If we keep
playing like we can, I think
we have the potential to go
far in the state tournament.”
Grant Union school offi-
cials will send a rooter bus to
the Prospector girls and boys
state tournament for Thurs-
day, if enough people sign
up. The cost is $10. For more
information, call 541-575-
1799, ext. 20.
42751
Blue Mountain Eagle
The Grant Union girls
and boys basketball teams
are advancing to the state
tournament, but they’ve al-
ready received numerous
honors for their accomplish-
ments in the Wapiti League.
For the girls, Kaylee
Wright was named Player
of the Year, and Casey Hall-
garth was named Coach of
the Year. Kaylee Wright
and Hailie Wright, both
juniors, were named to the
all-league first team. Junior
Madi McKrola and senior
Mariah Moulton were
named to the all-league
second team. And senior
Mariah Wright received
honorable mention.
For the boys, Duane
Stokes was named Play-
er of the Year, and Kelsy
Wright was named Coach of
the Year. Stokes and Wade
Reimers, both seniors, were
named to the all-league first
team. Senior Zack Deiter
was named to the all-league
second team. Sophomore
Cole Deiter and senior Cauy
Weaver received honorable
mention.
Contributed photo/Elizabeth Shelley
Grant Union 2018 all-league honorees from the Wapiti League
are, from left, Hailie Wright, Cole Deiter, Mariah Moulton, Zack
Deiter, Kaylee Wright, Duane Stokes, Madi McKrola, Cauy
Weaver, Mariah Wright and Wade Reimers. Girls coach Casey
Hallgarth and boys coach Kelsy Wright, not pictured, were each
named Coach of the Year.