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Wednesday, February 12, 2020
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WEDNESDAY
February 12, 2020
Prairie City boys win two more
Panthers extend
win streak to 18
By Steven Mitchell
Blue Mountain Eagle
The Prairie City Pan-
thers boys basketball team
extended their winning
streak to 18 on the road Sat-
urday, defeating Dayville/
Monument 67-37.
While the Tigers lacked
the size and depth of the Pan-
thers, they still went the dis-
tance and earned the respect
of the Prairie boys basketball
team, which only lost its first
game of the season.
“They have improved
since the last time we played
them,” Panther junior Jojari
Field said.
For Dayville/Monumu-
ment, juniors JT Hand, Don-
ovan Shafer and senior Drew
Wilborn combined for 27
points.
Field, who scored 17
SPORTS
SCHEDULE
FRIDAY, FEB. 14
Prairie City basketball @
Adrian, girls 6 p.m., boys
7:30 p.m. (MT)
Grant Union basketball vs.
Stanfield, girls 6 p.m., boys
7:30 p.m.
Dayville/Monument bas-
ketball @ Jordan Valley, girls
2 p.m., boys 3:30 p.m. (MT)
Grant Union wrestling
@ boys district in Union,
2 p.m.
Ukiah/Long Creek bas-
ketball @ Four Rivers, girls
6 p.m., boys 7:30 p.m. (MT)
SATURDAY, FEB. 15
Prairie City basketball @
Crane, girls 2 p.m., boys
3:30 p.m.
Ukiah/Long Creek basket-
ball @ Jordan Valley, girls
2 p.m., boys 3:30 p.m. (MT)
Grant Union wrestling boys
@ district in Union, 10 a.m.
SPORTS
ROUNDUP
Ukiah/Long Creek
teams lose tough games
The Ukiah/Long Creek
girls nearly won their first
game Friday, but fell to
Huntington in the final min-
utes of the game, 40-36.
Head coach Amos Studt-
mann said the team got off
to a rough start and had to
claw their way back from a
double-digit deficit.
With two minutes left the
girls had a 36-35 lead, but a
turnover while attempting to
run out the clock and then a
foul that sent Huntington to
the free throw line put the
game out of reach.
The girls team lost Sat-
urday’s game against highly
ranked Crane 72-23. Studt-
mann said playing Crane
gives the team an opportu-
nity to see what to shoot for
in the future and work on
their skills.
The boys also fell to
Crane, 58-38. Head coach
TC Connor could not be
reached for comment.
Next up, the girls team
will go on the road to play
back-to-back games.
For the first game they
play Four Rivers (6-12,
1-5) on Feb. 14. Tip-off is at
6 p.m. (MT). In the second
match up, they will take on
Jordan Valley (15-6, 5-1).
The game starts at 2 p.m.
(MT).
Grant Union boys
wrestling team cancels
second tourney due to
illness
The Grant Union wres-
tling team continues to
battle illness and took no
chances, bowing out of the
Pine Eagle Tournament
in Halfway this weekend
ahead of districts.
points, said the Tigers were
much more aggressive, both
offensively and defensively.
Senior Cole Dieter led
the Panthers with 19 points,
knocking down nine field
goals and going one of two
at the free-throw line, while
sophomore Marcus Judd put
up 16 points, hitting two out
of four free-throws.
As a team, the Panthers
hit 40% of their field goals
and were five of 12 in 3-point
shooting. Lucas McKinley
shot 33%, and 50% from the
3-point line.
In addition to Deiter,
Judd and Field, McKin-
ley scored in double digits
with 10 points. The senior
led the team with six assists
and had two steals and three
rebounds.
As a team, the Panthers
amassed 50 rebounds, 20 of
which were on the offensive
end of the court.
Dieter had a game-high
23 rebounds, 15 of them
The Eagle/Steven Mitchell
Prairie City’s Jojari Field, left, and Jayden Wineger, right,
force a turnover Saturday against the Dayville/Monument
Tigers Saturday. The Panthers defeated the Tigers 67-37.
on defensive. The 6-foot-3
senior dominated on both
ends of the court.
The Panthers have won 17
of their last 18 games by dou-
ble digits.
“We know we are the
team everyone wants to beat,
and we don’t take anything
for granted,” head coach Bo
Workman said. “That is why
I stress to the kids that they
cannot expect to win every
game, and they need to be
prepared every time we step
onto the court.”
Field said it is games like
Saturday’s game against
Dayville/Monument
that
have kept them on their
game.
The Tigers, in spurts,
put up a fight and went the
distance.
Wilburn got the offense
going, scoring 5 of his 9
points in the game’s final
quarter. In a never-say-die
fashion, the senior forced a
turnover to get 2 in the paint
and then drained a 3, bring-
ing the packed gym to their
feet.
Senior Wesley Adams,
junior Zach Ferguson and
Mark Thomas all contributed
in the final offensive push
to finish strong in their final
home game of the season.
Also for the Tigers, junior
JT Hand led both teams in
free-throw shots. The junior
was three of four at the free
throw line.
“I am not disappointed
at all,” Wilburn said. “We
played hard, and I am proud
of our effort.”
Junior JT Hand said the
team played well together
all season, and they hustled
every second of the game.
“We have worked on mov-
ing the ball better on offense
and playing more cohesively
as a team,” head coach Jeff
Shafer said. “Today’s game
really showed that we have
made some improvements.
We still have more work to
do, but I am still very proud
of my team.”
Panthers head coach Bo
Workman said the Tigers are
not a team to take for granted.
“They hustled and they
played hard,” he said. “I
always have the kids pre-
pare before we play a team
like
Dayville/Monument.
They’re a competitive team.”
Next up, Dayville/Monu-
ment will go on the road to
face Jordan Valley (14-7,5-
2) Friday. The boys tip-off at
3:30 p.m. MT.
Adrian (10-10, 4-3) will
host the Panthers Feb. 14.
The boys tip-off at 7:30 p.m.
The Panthers will host
Crane (14-7, 7-1) on Feb.
15. Tip-off is at 3:30 p.m.
Prairie City girls extend win streak
to five, beating Dayville/Monument
By Steven Mitchell
Blue Mountain Eagle
The Lady Panthers
downed
Dayville/Monu-
ment 47-30 Saturday for
their fifth straight win of
the season.
The Panthers, who led
the Tigers 31-8 at the end
of the first half, came out
with guns blazing on both
the offensive and defen-
sive ends of the court.
Freshmen
BettyAnn
Wilson and Laken McKay
combined for 21 points.
McKay led the team at
the free throw line, hitting
three out of four, and in
scoring with 11 points.
Wilson said the team
is continuing to play solid
defense, and it is making
all of the difference on the
offensive side of the court.
The freshman had four
steals, and three out of
her four rebounds were on
defense.
As a team, the girls had
18 steals, 11 offensive
rebounds and 17 defensive
rebounds. They were 39%
at the free throw line, 22%
in three-point shooting and
37% on field goals.
Lady Panthers head
coach Bo Workman said
the girls have gradually
become more aggressive
and more competitive, and
they are getting results.
“They’re not playing
down, they’re playing up,”
Workman said. “And it is
encouraging with districts
right around the corner.”
Workman said the next
two games are going to be
The Eagle/Steven Mitchell
Prairie CIty freshman BettyAnn Wilson runs the ball down the court Saturday after forcing a turnover in the first period.
The freshman had four steals and 10 points in the contest.
tough for the Lady Panthers.
They face Adrian (7-14,
4-2) Feb. 14 on the road
and then host No.2-ranked
Crane the next day.
“We have to focus on
being prepared and play
with intention,” Work-
man said. “Both of those
teams have multiple offen-
sive weapons and depth on
their bench.”
The Lady Panthers tip-
off at 6 p.m. (M\T) against
Adrian, and 2 p.m. for
Crane.
For the Lady Tigers,
the game was a personal
win for the team, first-year
head coach Cheyenne Per-
kins said.
The Lady Tigers, who
carved out a 5-point,
48-43 win over Four Riv-
ers the day before, were
exhausted and did not get
back until near midnight.
The fatigue, coupled
with Saturday being the
girls’ final home game in
Dayville, Perkins said the
team was emotional going
into the contest.
“We had two goals.
The first was to score 30
points. The second was to
figure out our offensive
press. And we did both,”
she said.
The first-year coach
said she does not define
winning solely by wins
and losses. She said men-
tal toughness, team unity
and resiliency have been
the overall focus points for
the girls this season.
Additionally, they set
achievable goals each
game, where the team
focus was not on the score-
board but on working on
fundamentals of the game,
especially when they’re
playing
higher-ranked
teams like Prairie City and
Crane.
The fact that the girls
have been able to see past
the scoreboard during
those games and see the
bigger picture is a win in
her book, Perkins said. Per-
kins said she is seeing real
improvement on the court.
Another
gratifying
aspect of the season the
scoreboard has not reflected
was the opportunity to
coach her younger sister,
Denali Twehues.
Twehues, a senior and
one of three returning start-
ers, brought experience and
on-the-court leadership to
the team this season.
“We did really well
all season and competed
against some really good
teams,” she said.
The Dayville/Monument
girls team is now 7-13 over-
all and 4-3 in league play as
they go on the road Feb. 14
to face Jordan Valley (15-6,
5-1). They tip-off at 2 p.m.
(MT).
The Lady Panthers are
now 14-5 overall and 5-1
in league play and tip-off at
6 p.m. (MT) Feb. 14 against
Adrian (7-14, 4-2).
Grant Union girls basketball team snaps three-game losing streak
By Steven Mitchell
Blue Mountain Eagle
The Grant Union girls
basketball team snapped its
three-game losing streak,
handing the Lady Rock-
ets a 45-13 loss Friday
and pulling out a nail-biter
against Weston-McKewen
39-36.
In Friday’s game, Baylee
Combs scored a team-high
12 points with two 3-point
shots. Tyler Blood and Kay-
tlyn Wells combined for 12
points in the effort.
With two starters out
sick, head coach Kristi
Moore told her team before
the game the goal was to
push.
“These girls play with a
ton of heart and really stick
together through tough
times,” Moore said. “I am
really proud of them.”
Blood said the team
played well, and they
played together.
“We had great ball
movement and executed
The Eagle/Steven Mitchell
Grant Union senior Tyler Blood pulls up for a shot Friday
against Pilot Rock.
Baylee Combs drives the ball down the court Friday against
Pilot Rock. The senior scored a team-high 12 points in the
Lady Pros’ win over Pilot Rock that snapped their three-
game skid.
our plays very well,” Blood
said.
Wells said the team’s
great chemistry and cama-
raderie is why the team is
winning more games.
“We really just stick
together, and that shows on
the court,” Wells said.
Moore said she has been
defensive end of the court.
On Saturday, Moore said
Baylee Combs stepped up
and took the lead.
“Combs frustrated the
other team,” the coach said.
“Good defense and
rebounds is how teams win
games, “ Moore said.
For a younger team to
The Eagle/Steven Mitchell
most impressed by how the
girls fight. She said Sat-
urday’s game was a great
example.
“They fought through a
lot of adversity and got the
win,” Moore said.
She has also been
impressed with how the
team is getting back on the
internalize that is key as the
girls head into the postsea-
son, Moore said.
The Lady Prospectors
are 7-13 overall and 5-6 in
league play as they head
into next week’s game at
home, Feb. 14, against
Stanfield (18-4, 8-2). The
girls tip-off at 6 p.m.