Image provided by: Morrow County Museum; Heppner, OR
About Heppner gazette-times. (Heppner, Or.) 1925-current | View Entire Issue (Feb. 29, 2012)
HeppnerGazette-Times, Heppner, Oregon Wednesday, February29,2012 -FIV E Cardinals ousted in round two Lady Cards end season with 40-39 heartbreak of state By Anne Morter The lone Cardinals saw their season end in the second round of' the sub state playofTs last weekend, falling to the team sitting at the top o f the OSAA RIM. County Christian, by a slim eight-point margin. The Cards finished the 2011- 12 campaign with a 15-11 record. To get to the Sat urday game, the Cardinals had to survive a first-round game on the road against Damascus Christian, the number-two seed from the Valley 10 league, on Tues day, Feb. 21. lone led 25-22 at halftime but Damascus Christian outscored the Cards 14-10 in the third to lead 36-35 heading into the fourth. The Cardinals put the pedal to the metal in the final period, outscoring their hosts 18-4 to take the 53-40 win. It was a three- point shootout with lone hitting eight and Damascus Christian tallying five in the contest. Adam Collin had one of the best games of his career, leading the team in scoring with 15 points and adding 10 rebounds. Ste ven Holland had a double double with 11 points and 10 boards. Zac Orem stayed cool under the pressure of the DCS defense, tallying 12 points. The win propelled the Cardinals to the second Junior Evan Kietmann puts in a layup during round-two state playoffs at Country Christian on Feb. 25. Photo by Paula Emme l round and booked them for the second Portland road trip in the week, sending them to Country Christian in M ollala on Saturday, Feb. 25. The Cards led 15- 11 after one quarter but fell behind slightly at the half, 30-26. and they trailed by a seemingly insurmountable 13 points at the end of three, 51-38. But the determined lone squad refused to go away, pulling to within four points with four minutes left in the game, eventu ally falling 69-61 although outscoring Country 23-18 in the final quarter. Zac Orem led the team in scoring with 14 points. Luke Jobes and Evan Rietmann each added 13 . Bv Anne Morter I he 2011-12 bas ketball season ended in heartbreak for the lone Lady Cardinals as they went from the high o f winning the district championship to the low of being eliminated from the state playoffs in less than a week. The Car dinals fell to the Pine Eagle Spartans by one agonizing point in a second-round, sub-state playoff game held in lone on February 24, dashing their dreams of a state tournament run. The lone gym was packed and the atmosphere electric prior to game time. Pine Eagle, the number two seed from the Old Oregon League, was a team that the Cards had defeated 51-35 in their first game of the season at the lone Basketball Bonanza. But teams evolve and improve over the course of the sea son and, as the Cardinals can now attest after déjà vu happening all over again, anything can happen come playoff time. Shadow Kendrick tallied the first score of the game when she knocked down all three free throws after being fouled on a three-point attem pt but the Spartans outscored the Cards 12-9 in the first pe riod. The opening quarter also saw Makenna Ramos collect her second foul two and half minutes into the Tires LES SCHWAB I FOUNDER'S CELEBRATION A L L NEW FREE P R O MO T I O N EN TER TO W IN * ir 1 5 0 0 LUCKY W INNERS * * C O M P A N Y -W ID E ! VI SI T LESSCHWAB. COM OR OUR STORES FOR OFFI CI AL RULES * Over 30 Years Experience ★ Premium Quality Parts * Professionally Trained Technicians ★ Dest Drake Warranty FREE BRAKE INSPECTIONS • FREE ESTIMATES • SAME DAY SERVICE (ON MOST Vf HICLES) WWW. LESSCHWAB. COM Les Schwab Tire Center 124 N Main Street, Heppner 541-676-9481 \ I Top: Sophomore Emily Holland opens the women's round-two state playofTs at lone, singing the national anthem in a packed house. Bottom: Senior Mary Rietmann puts in a jumpshot during round-two state playoffs during the lone v Pine Eagle game on Feb. 24. Photos by Paula Emmel game and Shadow Kend rick notch two of her own. The Lady Cards outpaced the Spartans 11-7 in the second quarter and took a slim 20-19 halftime lead. Foul trouble continued as Lacey Thompson had three fouls by then. With less than a minute gone in the third. Pine Eagle regained the lead 24-21 before the cous in duo of Shadow Kend rick and Lacey Thompson teamed up for an 11-2 run. The scoring burst gave the Lady Cardinals their big gest lead of the day, 33-26, and the Cardinal faithful wondered if the home team was finally going to shake loose of the pesky Spartans. Pine Eagle was having none o f that, closing the third quarter with a 7-2 run that included a long three with less than five seconds left, and it was 35-33 heading into the final frame. Also, the Cardinal scorebook now showed Shadow Kendrick and JoAnna Patton with three fouls each. The S p ar t an s smelled an upset as they scored six unansw ered points, taking a 39-35 lead with 4:53 to play, and then proceeded to go into a stall to run time off the clock. Makenna Ramos finally broke the Cardinal scor ing drought and made it a two point game, 39-37, with 2:23 remaining. Lacey Thom pson’s fourth foul sent the Spartans into the bonus and to the line with 2:03 on the clock. They hit the front end o f the one-and-one to build their precarious margin to three points. Despite a couple o f wide-open shots, the Cardinals just could not convince their shots to fall. The Spartans got another chance at the line with 1:20 showing but did not con vert. With 16.6 seconds left, M akenna Ramos tossed back an offensive rebound and it swished in, mak ing the score 40-39. The Cards put heavy defensive pressure on Pine Eagle as they were bringing the ball down court, forcing a dou ble-dribble turnover. lone ended up inbounding the ball with 3.5 seconds left, hoping for the chance to put up a winning shot. The Spartans forced a jump ball with .8 remaining and the Cards had one last chance to put up the winning score. The ball came in and left Lacey Thompson’s hands in time but was just short and the score stood Pine Eagle 40, lone 39. “Cold shooting was the difference in the game. We had a statistical advan tage in every other fourth and lone was two of 17,” said Coach Mike Garrett. Shadow Kendrick was the Cardinal’s leading scorer with 12. JoAnna Patton was held to eight points. Lacey Thompson had six and Mary Rietmann added five. JoAnna Patton had 14 rebounds and Mary Rietmann had 11. "Pine Eagle came ready to play and 1 was impressed with their de fense and intensity. We just couldn't get a shot to drop and never really got into a good rhythm. Like always, I was very proud of my kids for their work ethic and they never gave up or got dis couraged,” said Garrett. “It was a very pain ful end to our season and I was really hoping that we would have the opportunity to play in Baker. The kids worked really hard in the off-season and it seemed like we were just starting to peak. Overall, they had a season to be very proud of and winning the Big Sky Championship was great. This was my fourth year coaching the girls and I am really going to miss this senior class. We all started together, and to see how much they have improved and the success that they were able to have really made this year special.”
