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.
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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-
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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
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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.”