FOUR - Heppner Gazette-Times, Heppner, Oregon
Wednesday, December 15,2010
Mustangs bring home wrestling trophy Lady Cards split weekend games
at Heppner Tournament
Heppner wrestling placed 1st in small schools at the Muilenberg Tournament in La Grande
this weekend. -Contributed Photo
The Heppner wres
tling team competed in one
of the largest and longest
running wrestling tourna
ments in Oregon Friday and
Saturday, the Muilenberg
Tournament in La Grande.
Eighteen teams from 1A
to 6A competed in the two
day tournament, with 6A #2
ranked Oregon City finish
ing as the overall champion
just three points ahead of
4A #2 ranked Mac Hi. With
over 400 wrestlers, each
weight class featured a 32-
man bracket and nearly all
were full.
The M u sta n g s
showed that they were not
afraid to compete with any
one, winning nine of their
first eleven matches, includ
ing eight with bonus pin
points. That strong start put
them solidly in the driver’s
seat for the small school
trophy ahead of the second
place contender, the co
op of Enterprise/Wallowa.
Everyone in the gym took
notice as Heppner went up
on the board in a surprising
fifth place overall after the
first round of the champi
onship bracket, an extraor
dinary start considering
that small schools were
allowed only one scorer per
weight class while 3A-6A
schools entered two. In the
end, Heppner finished 13th
overall, ahead of the rest
of the 1A/2A teams and
Hermiston JV, and only
eleven points behind the
next large school.
“We made it a team
goal to win the small school
trophy at this tournament,”
said Coach Mark Lemmon.
“To give us more scoring
opportunities, we asked
some of the guys to bump to
bigger weight classes. That
amounts to risking your
personal placing for the
benefit of the team. Every
one of them was willing.”
The strategy paid off big
as Earl Propheter, Wade
Matthew, and Andrew Bara
each scored both advance
ment points and bonus pin
points for the team effort at
higher weight classes. Bara
had a career best tourna
ment going 4-2 and finish
ing in second place of the
consolation bracket at 160
lbs.
The te a m ’s se
nior, Jarreid Miller, placed
the highest for Heppner.
Miller finished with three
wins and two losses, taking
fourth overall in the 135 lbs
championship tournament
bracket.
Jared Lemmon was
consolation champion at
112 lbs with three straight
wins after dropping to the
consolation bracket with a
loss in his first match. All
three wins were by pin, in
cluding one in 16 seconds.
Alex Smith, Tres-
ton*Maben, Garrett Gibbs,
Tim Nelson, and Jacob
Moore also won matches
for the Mustangs. Nelson
went 3-2 and made it to the
championship quarterfinals
on Saturday morning before
incurring his first loss. Six
of the 12 Heppner wrestlers
had a .500 or better tourna
ment record.
The Mustang grap-
plers have another busy
week ahead with a four
way dual meet in Hepp
ner on Thursday at 6 p.m.
against Irrigon, Riverside,
and Pomeroy, WA. Then
the team travels to Milton-
Freewater to compete in the
Mac Hi Christmas tourna
ment on Saturday.
The lone Lady Car
dinals split their weekend
games last weekend at the
Heppner Tournament los
ing a close one to Crane on
Friday and pulling away
from Heppner at the end of
the game.
On Friday, lone got
a chance to play Crane, a
perennial powerhouse from
the High Desert League and
a third place finisher at the
state tournament last year.
Both teams played tight in
the first quarter and after
eight minutes. Crane held
a 5-2 lead. Three Cardinals,
Beth Morter, JoAnna Pat
ton and Shadow Kendrick,
put points on the board in
the second quarter with
Kendrick’s two free throws
bringing the Lady Cards to
within one at the half 12-13.
lone took the lead in the
third and held it the entire
period but Crane went on
an 11 -2 run at the tail end of
the third and into the fourth
quarter to swing the lead
back their way 29-25. The
Cards weren’t done fight
ing though, answering each
Crane score and closing the
margin to a two point deficit
several times. With 1:20 on
the clock, Beth Morter’s
putback off the offensive
glass made the score 33-31
in favor of Crane. In the
next 30 seconds, the Lady
Mustangs went to the free
throw line four times but
were only able to capitalize
on two. With 36 seconds on
the clock and a four point
lead, it looked like they
were home free. ‘Not yet’
said the Lady Cardinals.
Makenna Ramos went to
the line to shoot two. She
sunk the first one and the
second one rebounded into
the hands of JoAnna Pat-
Heppner Mustang Taighler Dougherty scrambles for the ball
with lone Cardinal Joanna Patton. The Cardinals beat the
Mustangs in a close game during the Heppner tournament
this past weekend. -Photo by Sandy Matthews
ton, who put it back for two
points. Now with 20 sec
onds to go. Crane brought
the ball down court and
got two or three shots off.
By the time the Lady Cards
snagged the rebound and
headed down court, the
final buzzer sounded with
the score 35-34 in favor of
Crane.
“ It was a good
physical game,” said Coach
Mike Garrett. “It was close
the whole way and I was
pleased with how we han
dled the ball.”
Beth Morter led
the team in scoring with 12
points and JoAnna Patton
added 11. Also scoring for
the Cardinals was Shadow
Kendrick with six, Mak
enna Ramos with three and
Stacee Halvorsen with two.
Morter and Patton led the
Heppner beats Crane 37-36
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Heppner Mustang Jared Hedman goes up for a basket during
the tournament in Heppner. Heppner heat Crane 37-36 in a
fast paced game. Photo by Sandy Matthews
rebounding effort with eight
each and Ramos snagged
five steals.
“I would have liked
to get the win but I liked
how the team played. Crane
will be a state contender
again this year,” said Coach
Garrett.
On Saturday, the
Lady Cardinals faced Hep
pner for the first time in
many years. lone jumped
out to an early 9-3 lead
but Mustang sharpshooter,
Alaina Wilson put Heppner
right back into the game
with three 3-pointers in the
first quarter. Heppner took a
17-15 lead midway through
the second quarter scor
ing six unanswered points
before Stacee Halvorsen
scored on a fast break lay-
in to tie the game. Shadow
Kendrick canned a pair of
free throws with just over
a minute left in the half
and the Lady Cardinals
hung on to a 19-17 halftime
lead. Eor the first time this
season, seven Cardinals had
points in the scorebook by
halftime.
Although Heppner
tied the game early in the
third, the Cards went on a
10-2 run that looked like it
might be the undoing of the
Lady Mustangs. However
Heppner swapped scores
with the Cardinals before
nailing another three-point
er to narrow the margin
to four points with 6:20
remaining in the game. It
was free throws down the
stretch that finally provided
the separation between the
teams. lone went to the line
ten times in the last three
minutes and made eight
crucial shots. The Lady
Cards finished the game
scoring 10 unanswered
points for the final 43-29
margin.
Eight C ardinals
scored in the game led by
Shadow Kendrick with 14.
Makenna Ramos had seven
-See LAD Y CARDS/Page SIX
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