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About Heppner gazette-times. (Heppner, Or.) 1925-current | View Entire Issue (Feb. 22, 2006)
Heppner Gazette-Times, Heppner, Oregon Wednesday, February 22, 2006 - THREE Cardinals win two of three to take #3 seed to state Lady Cardinals win Big Sky tournament Kip Krebs watches for the ball in the midst of two Redsides players. Photo by Jeri McElligott. The lone Cardinals captured the #3 seed from the Big Sky Conference last weekend at the BSC District Tournament in Umatilla. The C ards d efeated H orizon C h ristia n , lost to South Wasco County and downed Nixyaawii to take third in the conference and advance to the first round of the OSAA 1A State Tournament. lone is sch ed u led to play at D am ascus C h ristia n on Saturday, Feb. 25 at 5:30 p.m. The Cards opened to u rn a m e n t play on Thursday against Horizon C hristian o f Hood River. With both teams aware that the loser would be going home, the game looked like it would be close and hard- fought. lone jumped out to an early lead but Horizon went on an 8-0 run midway through the period, ending the quarter ahead 16-13. The Cardinals went on an 11-0 run to start the second quarter, opening up a 24-16 lead before Horizon could get a score on the board. Horizon then hit two three- pointers and another basket as the teams battled to a 28- 24 halftime score in favor of lone. A 19-8 advantage in the third quarter for lone made the difference in the game as the Cards led 47-32 at the end o f th ree and coasted home for the 61-50 win. T yler B row n led three Cardinals into double fig u res w ith 18 p o in ts, followed by Tony Bolin with 16 and Kelly Thompson with 15. lone outrebounded Horizon 41-24, led by Nik Ram p with 13 and Bolin with nine. Bolin had four stea ls and B row n and Thompson led the team in assists with eight and six respectively. The Cards shot 23 of 54 from the field for 42.6 percent compared to 16 o f 47 (34 p e rc e n t) for Horizon. “This was a game the kids really wanted to win,” said Coach Dennis Stefani. “They wanted redemption for a loss e a rlie r in the season. We got some good post play from Nik Ramp and Dan Long and we played really well as a team.” T he o p p o n en t on Day Two was South Wasco C ounty, the num ber one team from the west side of the Big Sky Conference and a team who had defeated the Cards rather soundly during league play. lo n e got o ff to a good start, leading 15-11 after one quarter and 25-21 at the half. The momentum shifted to the Redsides in the seco n d h a lf w here they outscored lone 19-13 in the third quarter, knotting the score at 38. South Wasco’s big men in sid e led the R ed sid es to a 10-6 advantage in the fourth for the final 49-44 margin. B olin led the Cardinals in scoring with 18 point, including three 3- p o in te rs. B row n and Thompson added nine points each. The Cardinals held a slight rebounding edge, 29- 28, led by Brown with seven. Bolin paced the team with four steals and Thompson had four assists. lo n e ’s sh o o tin g p e rcen tag e w a sn ’t quite what it had been as they shot 13 of 42 from the field for 31 percent. The Redsides d id n ’t fare m uch better, h ittin g 16 o f 47 fo r 34 percent. At the line, the C ards were 12-15 for 80 percent and South Wasco was 12 of 20 for 60 percent. "This was a game we could have won,” said Coach D ennis S tefan i. “ South Wasco was stronger in the post. They just took control in the second half and our kids got tired.” Flaying their third gam e in three days, the Cardinals faced Nixyaawii on Saturday with the winner taking the third seed from the conference and the loser the fourth. IJ j O u wie Uwited ta a 5Cth Wedding, Clnnivewcvig. in fionxm of Jß e e and Mxvuf Cinn (Palme* Sunday,, &eâ. 26th a t 2 pm . W illow Ç uutge M all Jane, (Diegan Casual - no oilts, please Brown hit three of his five three-pointers and scored 13 of his game high 34 points in the fast-paced first quarter as the Cardinals jumped out to a 28-17 lead. The pace slowed a bit in the seco n d but the C ard s maintained a 40-28 halftime lead. The G olden Eagles cam e aliv e in the th ird quarter, outscoring lone 21- 14, pulling to within five points at the conclusion of the third, 54-49. Early in the fourth, the Cards went on a 10-0 run to re g a in a c o m fo rta b le lead. T he G olden E agles did keep scrapping though and with 51 seconds remaining in the game, pulled to within six points. However, strong free throw shooting down the stretch kept them safely at bay as the Cardinals took the 73-63 win. Along with Brown’s 34 points, Thompson added 18 and Bolin had 11. The Cardinals shot 42 percent from the field (25-59) and 63 percent from the line (17- 27.) Long led a good Cardinal rebounding effort with nine boards. The Cards outrebounded Nixyaawii 35- 27. Thom pson paced the team with six assists and Brown notched three steals. C o ach D en n is Stefani was pleased with the team’s effort. “This win was important for us to have for seeding and it was important in that it gives us momentum g o in g in to the state playoffs," he said. “The kids played really well and they played well as a team.” He also no ted th at B row n played a great game with 34 points and five three pointers but part of Brown’s success came from some great kick outs and teamwork. Morrow County Gun Club news Ten sh o o ters a tte n d ed the M orrow County Gun Club shoot on Sunday, Feb. 19. In sin g le s, R oger M o rtim er had 24 o f 25. Jim m y W alton, M ark Schlichting, Rob Ashbeck and Harvey Childers had 23 of 25. Dennis Peck had 21 of 25. In handicap, Walton had 20 o f 25. M ortim er, Dick Goodhead, Schlichting and Ashbeck had 19 of 25. Peck had 18 of 25. Two A nnies w ere shot and both were won by Childers. The next shoot will be held Sunday, Feb. 26 at 12 noon. Red Hats to meet in lone The Red Hat R ow dies w ill have th eir March no-host luncheon on W ednesday, M arch 1, in lone, at Taylor’s Restaurant at 11:45 a.m. All area ladies and guests are invited to attend. For th o se in te re ste d in “ d re ssin g u p ,” red and purple are for those 50 and over and pink and lavender are for those under 50. The Lady Cardinals accept the first place award at the 1A District Basketball Tournament: (Back Row L-R): Amber Patton, Teonna Vandever, Julie Vanden Brink, Kylee Svetich, Kaylee Palmateer, Kayla l.aRue, Ashly Grams, Jenny Griffith, Emily Rietmann and Stephanie Holland; (Kneeling L-R): Rrenna Rietmann and Tiana Camarillo. Not pictured: Coach Ryan Rudolf and Assistant Coach Brandi Heideman. Photo by Donna Rietmann. T he lo n e Lady Cardinals surprised everyone but themselves, winning the Big Sky C o n fe re n ce Tournament at Umatilla last w eeken d in d ram atic fashion. Playing three days in a row, lone took the title by downing Cascade Locks in th e ir o p en er, d e fe atin g defending league champion Dufur in the second round and u p settin g favored C ondon-W heeler for the cham pionship. The Lady Cards advance to the first round of the OSAA State 1A Tournament and will host Crane on Friday, Feb. 24 at 4 p.m. T he lo n e Lady Cardinals broke open a close game with a 22-point fourth quarter to win their opening game against Cascade Locks on T h u rsd ay , Feb. 16. Cascade Locks, the #3 seed from the west side of the conference, didn't make it easy for the Cardinals in the early going. lone led 14-10 after one and 24-19 at the half. Although lone never re lin q u ish e d th e ir lead. Cascade Locks challenged in the third quarter, pulling to w ithin tw o p oints tw ice including at the conclusion of the quarter, 33-31. The Lady C ards got down to business in the fourth, going on a 16-4 run to take the lead and put the game away for good, 55-42. A shly G ram s and A m ber P atton shared sco rin g h onors w ith 18 points each. Emily Rietmann added 10 points and Jenny Griffith had nine. Patton led the team in rebounds with 10 . With one win under their belt, the Lady Cardinals moved on to face Dufur, the #1 seed from the west side of the conference. lone had fallen to the Lady Rangers by one point during the league sch ed u le and arriv ed determined to get a different result despite the fact that Dufur was unbeaten by a league opponent this season. The first half of the game saw the score tied five times and the lead change hands nine times. Using a 6- 2006 Spring Professional Sports Camps ABC Baseball & US Fastpitch Softball TVCC Sports Complex Ontario, Oregon March 11 & 12, 2006 Sessions for Ages 10-13 and 14-18 Sign up Online Today at www.softballcamps.com or www.baseballcamps.com Group and sibling discounts available! Call 541-212-6019 for Group Rates/Registrations Sign up by February 25 for a Reduced Fee Amber Patton makes a free throw during the game against the Dufur Rangers. Photo by Jeri McElligott. 0 run in the final 1:15 of the second quarter, the Lady Cards charged to a 27-20 halftime lead, the biggest point advantage for either team in the game to that point. The teams played even in the third, starting the fourth quarter with the score 33-26 in favor of lone. But D ufur was not done yet. Going on a 5-0 run, the Lady Rangers pulled to within two points before lone got some points on the board with a free throw from Jenny G riffith and a big bucket from Amber Patton off an offensive rebound. Leading 36-31, lone got a couple of key sco res from K ylee Svetich and Rietmann as they built their advantage to 40-31 with just over three minutes remaining. Dufur was forced to foul, sending the Lady Cards to the line 11 times in the last 2.5 minutes o f the gam e w here they tallied another six points leading to a final score of 48- 38 in favor of the underdogs. Patton led all scorers with 15 points. Grams and G riffith added 10 points each. Patton also had 10 rebounds while Grams had seven rebounds and five steals. The Lady Cards shot 17 of 37 from the field for 46 p ercent co m p ared to D u fu r’s 11 -52 fo r 21 percent. lone had four three pointers in the contest, three from Griffith. The upset win over D ufur p laced the Lady f SUPPORT 'N YOUR LOCAL BUSINESSES! yShop In Town Cardinals in the Tournament C h am p io n sh ip ag ain st a fam iliar foe, the Condon- W h eeler K n ig h ts. Two previous m eetings in the season had resulted in two close losses, one in double overtim e. Right from the start, this game looked to be a close one. In the first quarter, the team s traded scores and neither team was able to open more than a five-point lead. The quarter ended with the score 16-13 in favor of the Knights. In the second quarter, C ondon- Wheeler opened up a seven point lead, 23-16, before the Lady Cards responded with seven unanswered points to tie it up at the half, 23-23. The third quarter was more of the same, ending with the K nights up 33-31. lone grabbed the lead back in the early going of the fourth and fought their way to a seven point lead before the Knights hit back to back buckets to pull to within two, 42-40. The teams traded pairs of free throws leaving the score at 44-42 in favor o f the Cardinals with a minute to go. Clutch four of five free throw shooting in the last 40 seconds gave the Lady Cards the final advantage, 48-42. G ram s and Patton led the team in scoring with 15 points each. Patton also led the team w ith 11 rebounds. “It’s a great feeling. This is an exceptional group of young ladies and winning the District Championship was only one of the goals they set at the beginning of the year. They want a return trip to Baker C ity," said Coach Ryan Rudolf. "We shot the ball well and played great d e fe n se . T h e y 're ready.”
