SPORTS
MyEagleNews.com
Wednesday, December 11, 2019
A13
Grant Union girls learn lessons in loss to Burns
By Angel Carpenter
Blue Mountain Eagle
The 2A Grant Union
Prospector girls had a
no-quit spirit in their first
game of the season, but took
a 47-23 loss to the 3A Burns
Hilanders on Dec. 4 in John
Day.
Burns put up a defensive
battle for the night, making
it tough for Grant Union to
find the basket while grab-
bing several steals.
It was the first nonconfer-
ence game of the season for
both teams.
Grant Union trailed 34-9
at the half, and Burns out-
shot them 10-4 in the third
quarter.
The Prospectors had a
better fourth quarter, hold-
ing the Hilanders to just
3 points, while adding 10
points.
Baylee Combs led Grant
Union with 6 points, scor-
ing a 3-point shot in the first
quarter and adding another
at the final buzzer.
Prospector
Carson
Weaver added 4 points, and
Paige Gerry scored 3 points
at the free throw line.
Hilander Allie Hueckman
had a game-high 13 points
for the night.
Grant Union head coach
Kristi Moore said she
was happy with her play-
ers’ efforts and expects to
see improvement in future
games.
“They played hard, they
worked hard the whole time
and they never gave up,”
she said. “They have a lot
to learn, but we have a lot of
potential.”
She said players who
The Eagle/Angel Carpenter
Grant Union Prospector Riley Robertson battles to shoot the
ball against Burns.
were in for four quarters
of the junior varsity game
played one quarter of var-
sity, and those who played
wins on the road
The Prairie City Pan-
ther boys basketball team
had a close shave with
the Joseph Eagles Friday,
which resulted in the Pan-
thers’ first loss of season
and the Eagles’ first win of
the season.
“We were down by 17 at
the start of the fourth and
fought hard to come back,”
said Panther boys head
coach Bo Workman. “We
took the lead by 1 point
with 9 seconds left.”
In those final seconds
Joseph was able to score for
the win.
“Now we know what we
need to work on,” Work-
man said. “It’s still early in
the season.”
Prairie City picked up a
42-31 win over the Imbler
Panthers on day two in
Joseph.
Next up, the Panthers
will compete at the Bad-
ger Tournament at North
Powder High School, fac-
ing Bickleton (Washington)
at 7:30 p.m. Friday and St.
Paul Buckaroos at 3 p.m.
Saturday.
The Prairie City junior
varsity will also host the
Grant Union junior varsity
Wednesday at 6:30 p.m.
“We’ll have our hands
full this week,” Workman
said.
with a 32-17 win over the
Imbler Panthers.
“They handled the ball
better, and Emily Ennis had
10 rebounds,” Workman
said. “That was a big deal,
and we made a few more
baskets.”
Next up, the Panther
junior varsity team will
also host the Grant Union
Prospector junior varsity
on Wednesday, Dec. 11, at
5 p.m.
The Prairie City girls
travel to the Badger Tour-
nament at North Powder
High School, where they’ll
face Council (Idaho) at
6 p.m. Friday and Tri Val-
ley (Idaho) at 1:30 p.m.
Saturday.
Dayville/Monument
Tiger boys and
girls compete at
Paul Humphreys
Tournament
The Dayville/Monument
Tiger girls split wins at Fri-
day-Saturday Paul Hum-
phreys Memorial Tourna-
ment in Fossil in their first
games of the season.
The Tiger girls fell 36-26
to the Condon/Wheeler
Knights on Friday, then
came back with a 35-22
win over Mitchell/Spray on
Saturday.
The Dayville/Monument
boys took losses to Condon/
Wheeler, 60-37, and Mitch-
ell/Spray, 57-45.
Prairie City girls face
tough Joseph team,
beat Imbler
Prairie City Panther girls
basketball head coach Bo
Workman said it was lit-
tle mistakes, which caused
turnovers, that cost them a
game to the Joseph Eagles,
48-16, on Friday on the
road.
He said they need to
be more aggressive to the
basket.
“Joseph has an intense
defense,” he said. “We need
to learn to not get rattled
and take care of the ball.”
After a night with the
Prairie City teams sleeping
on the Joseph gym floor, the
Prairie City girls came up
Ukiah/Long Creek
boys take losses
in early season
competition, girls are
hampered by injuries
The Ukiah/Long Creek
Mountain Lion boys basket-
ball team struggled to coor-
dinate on offense in their
first game of the season,
taking three road losses.
The Pilot Rock Rock-
ets claimed a 71-55 win
over Ukiah/Long Creek on
Thursday in Pilot Rock.
The Mountain Lions
played Mitchell/Spray on
Friday, the Logger/Eagles
winning 55-54, at the Paul
Humphreys Memorial Tour-
nament in Fossil. On Satur-
day they lost 69-38 to the
four quarters of varsity had
one quarter of junior varsity
playing time.
“They’re all going to get
Win
SPORTS ROUNDUP
Panther boys split
conditioned fast,” Moore
said.
She said the team came
out a little nervous, but set-
tled down at the half.
“They were able to focus
more on what they do and
their own team and their
own plays, what they were
needing to do to be success-
ful,” she said.
Prospector Tyler Blood
said the game was rocky, but
they got out their first-game
jitters.
“We played our best,” she
said.
Teammate Kenna Combs
agreed.
“Everyone gave their all
and really hustled, even with
the lack of subs,” she said.
Burns head coach Bran-
don McMullen said the team
graduated three starters last
season, but they have a core
Condon/Wheeler Knights.
“They’re all skilled play-
ers, and they’re all good,
but sometimes they played
a little isolated,” Ukiah/
Long Creek head coach
Amos Studtmann said of his
team. He leads the Moun-
tain Lions with co-coach
TC Conner.
Studtmann said it’s still
early in the season, and the
boys from the two different
schools are just connecting.
In the game against
Mitchell/Spray, the Moun-
tain Lions were playing
from behind, but with less
than 30 seconds in the game,
took a one-point lead.
“(Mitchell/Spray) found
a guy on the weak side and
put it in, then we didn’t
have enough time to come
back,” Studtmann said.
“When a game comes
down to the final seconds,
usually there were plenty
of things earlier on that
could have prevented it,” he
said. “We always focus on
growth and improvement,
rather than the win and loss
column.”
Next up, Ukiah/Long
Creek travels to the Arling-
ton Tournament on Friday
and Saturday with games
at 1:30 p.m. on Friday and
11:30 p.m. on Saturday. The
boys also hosted Mitch-
ell/Spray in Long Creek on
Tuesday, past press time.
The Ukiah/Long Creek
girls were hampered by
several injuries, both in
practice and at Thursday’s
game against Pilot Rock on
the road, which ended in a
72-9 loss for the Mountain
Lions.
Three starters were
among four injured —
including two rolled ankles
and a broken finger — and
the team had to cancel their
games at the Pauls Hum-
phreys Tournament.
Coach Amos Studtmann
said he expects three of the
girls to return to the game
soon, although he wasn’t
sure if they’d be ready
in time for the Arlington
Tournament.
“They’ll come back,” he
said.
Continued from Page A9
of the fourth quarter, but
Burns began to come
back, taking advantage
of multiple turnovers and
free throw opportunities.
“We need to take care
of the basketball bet-
ter, and we had too many
turnovers,” said Huerta.
“We gotta learn how to
close teams out, and we
have to work on improv-
ing our communication.”
With nine fouls in the
fourth quarter against
Grant Union, it gave
Burns the opportunity
to score 7 free throw
points, which helped
narrow Grant Union’s
lead to 3, 40-37 with
35.4 seconds left in the
game.
Burns fouled Morris in
the final seconds, sending
him to the free throw line.
Morris made both to seal
Grant Union’s 5-point
win.
“I felt like we attacked
the basket well, and our
second half rebound-
ing also improved, which
helped us win,” Huerta
said. “Our bench overall
of juniors back, along with
some inexperienced but ath-
letic sophomores.
“It’s a work in progress,
but they’re a fun group,” he
said.
McMullen said he was
happy with his team’s pass-
ing, and defense was a large
emphasis from the start.
The Prospectors traveled
to the Lions Tournament in
Elgin, where they picked up
a 41-38 win over the Baker
Bulldogs junior varsity team
on Friday and fell in a close
contest to the Elgin Huskies,
46-44, on Saturday.
Grant Union will com-
pete at the Columbia River
Clash at Umatilla High
School on Thursday through
Saturday. The Prospectors
face Irrigon at 7 p.m. Thurs-
day, and the other games are
to be determined.
did a really great job and
helped with the win.”
Grant Union notched
a couple more wins at
the Lions Tournament in
Elgin, defeating the Baker
Bulldogs junior varsity
team 72-32 on Friday and
the Elgin Huskies 74-49
on Saturday.
The Prospectors com-
pete at the Columbia
River Clash at Uma-
tilla High School, fac-
ing the Irrigon Knights
at 7:30 p.m. Thursday.
The tournament contin-
ues on Friday and Satur-
day with opponents to be
determined.
SPORTS SCHEDULE
THURSDAY, DEC. 12
Grant Union basketball @ Irrigon at the Co-
lumbia River Clash in Umatilla, boys 5:30 p.m.,
girls 7 p.m.
Dayville/Monument basketball vs. Condon/
Wheeler in Monument, girls 6 p.m., boys
7:30 p.m.
FRIDAY, DEC. 13
Dayville/Monument basketball @ Arlington
Snowball Tournament, girls 6 p.m., boys
7:30 p.m.
Ukiah/Long Creek basketball @ Helix at
the Arlington Snowball Tournament, boys
1:30 p.m.
Grant Union basketball @ Columbia River
Clash in Umatilla, TBD
Prairie City basketball @ Badger Tournament
in North Powder, girls vs. Council (Idaho)
6 p.m., boys vs. Bickleton (Washington)
7:30 p.m.
Grant Union wrestling @ Culver Tournament,
TBD
SATURDAY, DEC. 14
Ukiah/Long Creek basketball @ Dayville/
Monument at the Arlington Snowball Tourna-
ment, girls 10 a.m. (TBD), boys 11:30
Prairie City basketball @ Badger Tournament
in North Powder, girls vs. Tri-Valley (Idaho)
1:30 p.m., boys vs. St. Paul 3 p.m.
Grant Union basketball @ Columbia River
Clash in Umatilla, TBD
Grant Union wrestling @ Culver Tournament,
TBD
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OSAA 2A All-State football honors announced
Blue Mountain Eagle
Two Grant Union Prospectors were rec-
ognized by the OSAA on the 2A All-State
team.
• Tools
Drew Lusco, a senior, was named both
Offensive Lineman of the Year and Defen-
sive Lineman of the Year.
Justin Hodge, a sophomore, was named
to the third team as a wide receiver.
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