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PAGE LABEL
Blue Mountain Eagle
Wednesday, January 9, 2019
WEDNESDAY
January 9, 2019
Prairie City boys 12-0 after topping Long Creek/Ukiah
By Angel Carpenter
Blue Mountain Eagle
The Prairie City boys basketball
team’s 86-55 league victory over
the Long Creek/Ukiah Mountain
Lions on Saturday brings the Pan-
thers’ record to 12-0 for the season.
Panther senior Levi Burke led
his team with 29 for the night, fol-
lowed by junior Cole Deiter with
16. Seven others were in on the
scoring for Prairie City.
Mountain Lion junior James
Kreamier led with 23 for his
team, including 5-5 from the free-
throw line, followed by junior Ben
Combs with 11. Three of their
teammates also were in on scoring
for the night.
Prairie City is now 2-0 in league,
and Long Creek/Ukiah is 1-2.
Prairie City was off to a smooth
start when senior Syd Holman bat-
ted the tip to Burke who threw it to
sophomore Jojari Field for the fi rst
2 points of the game.
Burke racked up 14 points in
the fi rst quarter and, standing at
6-foot-4, made a few exciting
dunks for the night.
Field earned 5 of his 12 points
in the game at the start of the sec-
ond quarter, and the Panthers had a
healthy 53-19 lead at the half.
Long Creek/Ukiah came out on
fi re after the break.
Mountain Lions James Kream-
ier, Tiger Zeng, Thomas Kreamier,
Combs and Mathéo Buchart com-
bined for 22 points in the third,
outshooting Prairie City by 10.
The Panthers dominated the
fourth, with Burke draining a
3-pointer to start, followed by 2
from Deiter and 2 from Field off
an assist from Burke.
Prairie City scored 11 in the
fi rst 3 minutes of play before Long
Creek/Ukiah found the basket.
The Eagle/Angel Carpenter
The Eagle/Angel Carpenter
Prairie City Panther Jayden Winegar takes aim over the reach of Long Creek/Ukiah Mountain Lion
Thomas Kreamier in Saturday’s game.
Long Creek/Ukiah Mountain
Lion Mathéo Buchart (23) scores
in the game against Prairie City.
“They had fun, and everybody
got to play,” said Prairie City head
coach Sam Workman.
Commenting on their 12-0
record, the coach said, “They’re
doing something right. They’re
coming together, and every game
they’re getting a little bit bet-
ter.” All 14 players scored in the
69-26 league win over the Burnt
River Bulls Friday.
Long Creek/Ukiah coach TC
Conner said his team moved the
ball better Saturday than in pre-
vious games, noting it takes ball
movement and speed to com-
pete with a team like Prairie
City, which is currently ranked
No. 2 in state among OSAA’s 1A
teams.
Conner said this was his team’s
third game in as many days.
“They haven’t faced anyone
that tall and athletic before,” he
said.
The Mountain Lions are 2-7
overall.
On Thursday, Long Creek/
Ukiah fell to the Crane Mustangs
73-52 in Long Creek, then beat
Dayville/Monument 64-60. Both
were league games.
Conner said his team is making
strides, learning to play together
rather than as individuals.
“Hopefully we keep going,”
Conner said. “The players are
realizing they need partners to
help build the team.”
Buchart said their team had
a tough start to the season, and
although they lost to the Panthers,
they competed well.
“We were able to communi-
cate more like a team,” he said.
“We can be proud of what we’ve
done this weekend — we fi ght and
improve our games.”
Prairie City
Jojari Field: 12 points (two 3-pointers)
Jonathan Lawrence: 5 (one 3-pointer)
Jayden Winegar: 4 (one 3-pointer, 1-2 free throws)
Declan Zweygardt: 8 (2-4 free throws)
Levi Burke: 29 (one three-pointer)
Lucas McKinley: 3 (one 3-pointer)
Syd Holman: 5 (one 3-pointer)
Cole Deiter: 16 (2-2 free throws)
Brett Copenhaver: 4
Long Creek/Ukiah
James Kreamier: 23 points (four 3-pointers, 5-5 free
throws)
Tiger Zeng: 6 (2-2 free throws)
Ben Combs: 11 (one 3-pointer)
Thomas Kreamier: 8 (two 3-pointers)
Mathéo Buchart: 7 (one 3-pointer)
Grant Union track
and fi eld champion
signs to WOU
By Angel Carpenter
Blue Mountain Eagle
The Eagle/Angel Carpenter
Long Creek/Ukiah’s Karen Quintanilla (51) drives the ball with Prairie City’s Aleah Johns behind her. Long Creek/
Ukiah’s Heather Fan (41) is also in the action.
Panther girls dominate Lions
in cross-county contest
By Angel Carpenter
Blue Mountain Eagle
The Prairie City Panther
girls dominated their cross-
county guests the Long
Creek/Ukiah
Mountain
Lions 47-19 Saturday in
High Desert League action.
Panther junior Rilee
Emmel led her team with 14
points, followed by junior
Hailee Wall with 10 and
junior Emily Ennis with 9.
Those three players plus
sophomore Abbey Pfeffer-
korn combined for 15 points
in the fi rst quarter keeping
the lid on Long Creek/Uki-
ah’s basket.
Prairie City led 21-2 at
the half, Long Creek/Ukiah
sophomore Itsumi Yama-
moto scoring her team’s
fi rst points of the game.
Mountain Lion soph-
omore
Dorotha
John-
son grabbed Prairie City’s
inbound pass to start the
scoring in the third.
Prairie City outshot
Long Creek/Ukiah 14-6 in
the third for a 35-8 lead.
Long
Creek/Ukiah
upped their intensity in
the fi nal eight minutes and
saw more shooting suc-
cess, scor-
ing 11 points
to
Prairie
City’s 12,
but it was
too late to
close
the
Jenny
gap.
Lee
Sopho-
more Lucchese Douglas,
senior Jenny Kim and senior
Karen Quintanilla led the
scoring for Long Creek/
Ukiah with 4 points each in
the game.
This was the Mountain
Lions’ third league con-
test in as many days, and
they suffered some injuries
early on. The team faced
Crane on Thursday with a
74-18 loss, and Dayville/
Monument Friday, falling
47-15.
It was Prairie City’s sec-
ond league game. The Pan-
thers beat the Burnt River
Bulls Friday, 75-31, with
Wall leading the scoring
with 22 points.
Panther head coach Bo
Workman said his team is
gaining more confi dence in
shooting the ball.
“We’re doing the right
things fundamentally,” he
said. “We’ve had some
t o u g h
games, but
we’ve been
in them.”
Prairie
City
was
down three
Kathy
players for
Quintanilla most of the
preseason, and the team
is still down by two who
have been sidelined with
injuries.
Workman said they’ve
switched some positions to
“mix it up a little.”
“We have a lot to work
on still, but they’re work-
ing hard to the end,” he
said.
Long
Creek/Ukiah
coach TC Conner said his
team is “getting their confi -
dence back,” but he knew a
third game in a row would
be tough, especially with a
couple key athletes playing
with injuries.
He said the team is com-
ing together, but they need
more conditioning and
stamina.
Gladys Johnson said she
was pleased with how her
team performed in the sec-
ond half.
“It was good for our
p l a y -
ers strate-
gy-wise,”
she said. “I
was really
impressed
with
our
Gladys
foreign
Johnson
exchange
students this game. They
really held Prairie City
back.”
Ennis said, “Being 2-0 in
league is a big confi dence
booster” as they continue
in league competition.
“I felt like we had a lot
of teamwork and collabo-
ration,” she said.
Prairie City is 2-8 over-
all and 2-0 i"n league.
Long Creek/Ukiah is 4-5
overall and 0-3 in league.
Grant Union senior
Kaylee Wright of John Day
signed a letter of intent to
run and throw for Western
Oregon University’s track
and fi eld team in Mon-
mouth this fall.
Wright was surrounded
by family and Grant Union
athletic director and head
track and fi eld coach Sonna
Smith as she signed the let-
ter on Dec. 22.
“I’ve always wanted
to go to college and do a
sport,” Wright said. “I want
to go for a criminal justice
degree, and they have the
best program in Oregon.”
As a junior, Wright won
three titles at the girls track
and fi eld state champion-
ships in Eugene, helping
her team earn second place.
Wright shattered the
previous state javelin
record, which she set as a
freshman, with a throw of
138-6.5, which was a per-
sonal record. She also won
the high jump (5-3) and
100-meter dash (12.75).
The Grant Union girls team
placed fi rst at state in 2017.
She competed at the
Down Under Sports Track
and Field Championships
in the summer of 2017
in Queensland, Austra-
lia. There she had a fi fth-
place fi nish in the women’s
16-17 division (500g) jav-
elin throw with a mark of
38.83 meters (127-40 feet).
Wright was also a
member of the Grant
Union volleyball team,
which placed fi rst in state
in 2017 and second in
2018, and plays for the
Grant Union basketball
team, which earned fourth
in state last season.
Wright is the daughter
of Kelsy Wright, who is
an assistant track and fi eld
coach for Grant Union spe-
cializing in javelin, and
Raelynn Cearns.
Prairie City
Rilee Emmel: 14 (two 3-pointers)
Hailee Wall: 10 (4-4 free throws)
Emily Ennis: 9 (two 3-pointers)
Samantha Workman: 6
Abbey Pfeff erkorn: 6
Aleah Johns: 2 points
Long Creek/Ukiah
Brooke Harrison: 4
Jenny Kim: 4
Lucchese Douglas: 4
Gladys Johnson: 3 (one 3-pointer)
Dorotha Johnson: 2
Itsumi Yamamoto: 2
Contributed photo
Grant Union senior Kaylee Wright, left, signs a letter
of intent to run and throw for Western Oregon
University in Monmouth. Also in the photo are her
dad Kelsy Wright, center, and Grant Union head track
and fi eld coach Sonna Smith.