EIGHT - Heppner Gazette-Times, Heppner, Oregon Wednesday, December 21 , 2022
Mustang girls basketball
continues preseason struggles
By Tylynn Cimmiyotti
The Mustangs girls
basketball team hosted the
Echo Cougars Tuesday,
Dec. 13. The game ended
with the Cougars taking
the win with a final score
of 15-46.
Ava Gerry and Brook
Wilson led the Mustangs
with four points each. Ire-
lynn Kollman contributed
three points, and Hadlee
Nation and Hailey Wenberg
each added two points.
Stats: Arianna Worden:
1 Foul. Hadlee Nation: 2
points, 1 rebound, 1 foul.
Brooke Wilson: 4 points,
1 rebound, 1 foul. Irelynn
Kollman: 3 points. Ava
Gerry: 4 points, 2 fouls, 1
fouled. Hailey Wenberg:
2 points, 2 rebounds, 2
fouls. Kadie Henrichs: 2
rebounds, 2 fouls.
The girls’ varsity team
then traveled Dec. 15 to
Riverside High to play the
Pirates on their home court.
Heppner closed the first
half in the lead at 8-6 but
ultimately fell to the Pirates
in the second half. The end
score was 17-26.
Ava Gerry and Hailey
Wenberg led the Mustangs
with four points each in the
game against Riverside.
Arianna Worden, Hallee
Hisler, Brook Wilson and
Morgan Cutsforth each con-
tributed two more points,
and Lily Nichols contribut-
ed a point to the Mustangs’
total.
Stats: A. Worden: 2
points, 1 foul. H. Hisler: 2
points, 4 rebounds, 3 fouls,
2 turnovers. H. Nation: 1
rebound, 2 fouls, 1 steal,
1 turnover. B. Wilson: 2
points, 1 rebound, 4 fouls,
1 turnover. Z Masterson:
1 rebound, 1 foul. A. Ger-
ry: 4 points, 2 rebounds,
1 fouled. M Cutsforth: 2
points, 1 rebound. L. Nich-
ols: 1 point, 2 fouls. H.
Wenberg: 4 points, 3 re-
bounds, 3 fouls, 1 steal,
3 turnovers, 2 fouled. K.
Henrichs: 1 foul, 1 turnover.
Over the weekend,
Heppner hosted several
teams for a winter week-
end tournament. Central
Linn, South Wasco, Weston
and Heppner took turns
playing each other Friday
and Saturday. Weston and
Heppner did not compete
against each other during
this tournament.
To start, the Mustangs
played the second-ranked
Cobras Friday evening. The
Mustangs had some trouble
with turnovers at the rate of
24 for the team by the end
of the game. That made the
final score 16-48 for the
Cobras.
Lily Nichols led the
Mustangs with six points.
Hailey Wenberg and Hal-
lee Hisler contributed four
points each, and Katie Spiv-
ey added two points. Hailey
Wenberg led the Mustangs
with six rebounds during
the game.
Stats: A. Worden: 1
foul, 2 turnovers. H. His-
ler: 4 points, 1 assist, 2
rebounds, 2 fouls, 2 steals,
6 turnovers. H. Nation: 1
rebound, 1 steal, 2 turn-
overs. B. Wilson: 1 re-
bound, 2 steals, 4 turnovers.
Z. Masterson: 1 rebound,
1 turnover. I. Kollman: 1
rebound. A. Gerry: 1 as-
sist, 2 rebounds, 3 fouls,
2 turnovers. M. Cutsforth:
2 rebounds, 1 turnover. L.
Nichols: 6 points, 1 foul,
3 turnovers. K. Spivey: 2
points, 1 rebound, 1 foul,
1 fouled. S. Jensen: 1 foul,
1 turnover. H. Wenberg: 4
points, 6 rebounds, 1 steal,
1 turnover. K. Henrichs: 1
turnover.
Saturday morning Hep-
pner took on South Wasco
for the second day of games
at home. The Mustangs
ended the first half with a
three-point lead over the
Redsides. Ultimately the
girls fell to the competition
with a 15-point deficit,
33-48.
Hallee Hisler led the
Mustangs with thirteen
points. Hadlee Nation
contributed eight points.
Kadie Henrichs added three
points. Brook Wilson, Ava
Gerry, Morgan Cutsforth,
and Katie Spivey each add-
ed two points, and Lily
Nichols scored one point.
Stats: H. Hisler: 13
points, 4 rebounds, 5
fouls, 1 steal. H. Nation: 8
points, 1 assist, 1 rebound, 2
fouled. B. Wilson: 2 points,
4 rebounds, 3 fouls, 1 turn-
over. Z. Masterson: 1 steal,
1 turnover. A. Gerry: 2
points, 3 rebounds, 3 fouls.
M. Cutsforth: 2 points, 1 re-
bound, 1 foul. L. Nichols: 1
point, 1 assist, 1 rebound, 3
fouls, 3 turnovers. K. Spiv-
ey: 2 points, 2 rebounds, 1
fouled. S. Jensen: 1 steal.
H. Wenberg: 2 rebounds, 4
fouls, 1 turnover. K. Hen-
richs: 3 points, 2 rebounds,
3 fouls, 1 fouled.
The girls’ varsity Mus-
tangs closed out the week
ranked #29 in 2A with a
record of 2-7. They will
finish out the year with a
tournament at the Pendleton
Convention Center Dec.
28-30. Wednesday, Dec. 28,
sees them face off against
Toledo at 3 p.m. before
going up against Knappa
at noon on Dec. 29. Their
last game of the year will be
against Vernonia at 4 p.m.
on Dec. 30.
Mustang wrestling takes top spots
at Echo, Elgin
Brown, Cunningham claim top spots in their
weights
Heppner High School
Wrestlers were in Echo on
Dec. 14 for a tournament
with Echo/Stanfield, Riv-
erside, Irrigon, Umatilla,
Hermiston, La Grande and
Imbler.
Placing for the Mus-
tangs in their weight classes
were Zach Brown, first;
Saul Lopez, second; Cade
Cunningham, second; Jai-
me Cavan-Harris, third;
Austin Willis, fourth;
Landon McMahon, fifth;
Tyelor Moore, fifth; Owen
Guerra, sixth; Journey Ca-
van-Harris, third; Loren
Trujillo, fifth; and Kylie
Holden, fifth.
The Mustangs then
traveled to Elgin for a tour-
nament Dec. 16-17. The
two-day tournament had
wrestlers in Round Rob-
in-style pods on day one
and then more traditional
brackets on day two.
Placing for the Mus-
tangs were Cade Cunning-
ham, first at 220; Zach
Brown, third at 145; Saul
Lopez, fourth at 152, Kylie
Holden, second at 151;
Journey Cavan-Harris, third
at 114; and Loren Trujillo,
third at 103.
Other HHS wrestlers
were Chace Jones, Brayden
Desclos-Curtis, Jaime Ca-
van-Harris, Owen Guerra,
Landon McMahon, Tyelor
Moore, Haydn McMahon,
Austin Willis.
The Mustang wrestlers
will finish out the year by
traveling to the Pendleton
Red Lion Invitational on
Dec. 21 and then to Riv-
erside High School on
Dec. 29.
Mustangs move up rankings in
basketball preseason
The Heppner Mustang
boys varsity basketball
team continues to have a
good preseason as they
recently won three of their
last four games. The overall
record for the Mustangs is
7-2 and they are currently
the fifth ranked team in the
OSAA 2A State Basketball
rankings.
The Mustangs hosted
the Echo Cougars and beat
them for the second time
this season by the score of
69-59. The game was tied
after the first quarter but
then the Mustangs pulled
out to a 10-point lead at
the half. Heppner led by 11
after three quarters and held
the lead the rest of the way
to get the 10-point victory.
Trevor Nichols had the
hot hand for the Mustangs
and finished with a game
high 25 points. Tucker Ash-
beck followed with 12, and
with nine points each were
Cameron Proudfoot and
Caden George. Landon
Mitchell added six points,
David Cribbs had five and
Thomas Bales rounded
out the scoring with three
points.
Last Thursday the Mus-
tangs traveled north to take
on the Riverside Pirates and
came away with another
victory, this time by the
score of 50-16. Heppner led
13-2 at the end of the first
quarter and never looked
back, leading 30-9 at half-
The Heppner Mustang
Junior Varsity (JV) boys
basketball team won its last
two games to remain unde-
feated on the season with a
7-0 record. The Mustangs
hosted the Echo Cougars
and won by the score of
54-34 and then traveled
to Boardman and beat the
Riverside Pirates 44-34.
In the game against
the Cougars, the Mustangs
jumped out to a 24-5 lead
after the first quarter. They
led 33-14 at the half and
41-21 after three quarters of
play. Both teams scored 13
points in the fourth quarter
to give the Mustangs the
54-34 win.
Heppner was led in
scoring by Thomas Bales,
who poured in 15 points.
Owen Cunningham fol-
lowed closely with 14 and
Mason Orem finished with
13. Conner Wilson had
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points and Ashbeck had
six. Proudfoot and Mitchell
were next with five each,
and with two points each
in the game were George,
Bales and Mason Orem.
The lone loss for the
Mustangs during the week
was in their game with
South Wasco County. The
1A State Championship
runner-up from last season
beat the Mustangs by the
score of 61-47. A slow first
quarter for the Mustangs
proved to be costly as they
could never get any closer
than six points during the
first half. Heppner trailed
by 10 points at halftime
and also after three quarters
of play.
Nichols led the team
with 13 points and Mitchell
followed with 12. Cribbs
had nine points and with
five each were Ashbeck
and Bales. George had three
points to round out the scor-
ing for the team.
The next game action
for the Mustangs will be
on Dec. 28, 29 and 30 at
the Pendleton Convention
Center. The Mustangs will
play the Toledo Boomers
at 4:30 p.m. on Wednesday
the 28 th . Then on Thursday
the 29 th they will play the
Knappa Loggers at 1:30
p.m. and on Friday, Dec.
30, the Mustangs will play
the Vernonia Loggers at
5:30 p.m.
Mustang JV basketball
remains undefeated
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time and 41-13 after three
quarters.
A balanced scoring at-
tack was led by Nichols
with 14 points, and Cribbs
followed with 12. Mitchell
was next with eight, Ash-
beck had seven, Proud-
foot four, George three and
Bales finished with two
points in the game.
This past weekend the
Heppner Mustangs hosted
two outstanding teams—the
third-ranked 2A team in the
state, the Central Linn Co-
bras, and the eighth-ranked
1A team, the South Wasco
County Redsides.
In a hard-fought game
with the Cobras, the Mus-
tangs trailed at the half
29-24, but then used a big
third quarter to take the lead
43-35. Central Linn fought
back and tied the score at
48-48 with just over two
minutes left in the game.
Neither team scored again
until the Mustangs scored
a bucket with 1:32 left in
the game. The Cobras tied
the game at 50 and then
Heppner scored again to
lead 52-50 with just under
a minute to go. Cribbs was
fouled twice and made all
four of the free-throws, the
last two with only :15 sec-
onds left in the game. That
gave the Mustangs the win
by the score of 56-50.
Nichols led the Mus-
tangs in scoring with 18.
Cribbs followed with 16
five points, while Jackson
Coiner had three. With two
points each were Caleb
George and Cooper Wight.
Against the Pirates,
both teams finished the first
quarter with 11 points. Hep-
pner led the contest 16-15
at halftime and 27-23 after
three quarters. The Mus-
tangs outscored the Pirates
17-11 in the fourth quarter
to secure the victory 44-34.
Bales led the team
with 17 points in the game.
Wight was next with 12
and Coiner finished with
eight points. Joseph Albitre
had three, and with two
points each were Orem and
George.
The next action for the
JV team will be a league
contest at John Day on Jan.
7 against the Grant Union
Prospectors.