SIX - Heppner Gazette-Times, Heppner, Oregon Wednesday, February 22, 2023
Mustang girls end season
Mustangs take second at
districts, head to state playoffs strong, place fourth in districts
Tucker Ashbeck, All-Confer-
ence First Team
Landon Mitchell, All-Con-
ference First Team
The Heppner Mus-
tang boys basketball team
punched its ticket to the
OSAA 2A State Basket-
ball playoffs with a sec-
ond-place finish at the Blue
Mountain District Tourna-
ment. The Mustangs (19-
5) won their first game at
districts, beating the Grant
Union Prospectors 78-47,
but then lost to the Stanfield
Tigers in the district cham-
pionship game by the score
of 59-52.
Heppner will start its
journey to the final eight
championship site, the
Pendleton Convention Cen-
ter, by travelling to play the
Oakland Oakers this Sat-
urday, Feb. 25. Game time
has been set for 3 p.m. at
Oakland High School. The
Oakers tied for third place
in their conference but then
battled through to win their
district championship and
get to host a first round
playoff game. They finished
as the eighth-seeded team
into the state playoffs, and
the Mustangs are seeded
ninth.
At the BMC District
Tournament, Heppner start-
ed out fast against the Pros-
pectors. The Mustangs led
15-6 at the end of the first
quarter and stretched the
lead to 38-21 at halftime.
Another big scoring quar-
ter of 23 points in the third
quarter put the game out of
reach when the Mustangs
now led the game 61-35.
Heppner also outscored
Grant Union 17-12 in the
fourth to win by the score
of 78-47.
A balanced scoring at-
tack that had five Mustangs
in double figures was led
by Tucker Ashbeck with 17
points. Ashbeck recorded
another double-double in
the game as he also fin-
ished with 15 rebounds.
Trevor Nichols was next
with 16 points, which in-
cluded four three-point-
ers. Caden George finished
with 12 points, and with
10 points each in the game
were David Cribbs and
Landon Mitchell. Cribbs
also hauled down five re-
bounds, and Mitchell re-
corded eight rebounds and
four assists in the game.
Cameron Proudfoot fin-
ished the game with nine
points, and with two points
each were Mason Orem and
Owen Cunningham.
That win moved the
Mustangs into the district
championship game against
the Stanfield Tigers. The
teams had split their regu-
lar season matchups with
each team winning on the
other team’s home floor. A
packed house of blue and
gold filled the convention
center with excitement.
The game saw Stan-
field get off to a hot start
shooting the ball and that
continued for most of the
game. Stanfield jumped out
to a 19-14 lead at the end of
the first quarter. The Tigers
doubled up the Mustangs
14-7 in the second to lead
33-21 at halftime. It was a
better second half for the
Mustangs as they outscored
the Tigers 31-26, but it
wouldn’t be enough to get
any closer than the final
score of 59-52.
Heppner was led by
David Cribbs, All-Confer-
ence Second Team
Trevor Nichols, All-Confer-
ence Honorable Mention
Nichols with 16 points,
which included four
three-pointers. Ashbeck
was next with 11 points
and seven rebounds. With
eight points each in the
game were Proudfoot and
George. Cribbs finished
with five, and Mitchell had
four points to go along with
nine rebounds.
The BMC All-Confer-
ence teams were announced
after the game. These
awards are voted on by the
coaches in the conference
and a coach cannot vote for
his own players. Heppner
was honored to have four
players that received rec-
ognition. Tucker Ashbeck
and Landon Mitchell were
chosen to the first team. Da-
vid Cribbs was voted onto
the second team, and Trevor
Nichols was an honorable
mention selection.
Idaho House passes
Greater Idaho bill
The Idaho House of Repre-
sentatives voted in favor of
the “Greater Idaho” bill last
week. The bill, numbered
HJM 1, authorizes Idaho
legislators to begin talks
with Oregon about relocat-
ing the state line they share.
During debate on the floor
of the House, proponents of
the bill cited the desirability
of applying Idaho law to
eastern Oregon as a way to
push Oregon drug laws far-
ther away from Idaho’s cur-
rent population. They also
cited an economic analysis
published last week for the
Claremont Institute which
shows that rural Oregon
counties would be a net
benefit to Idaho financially.
A press release on the
Greater Idaho movement’s
website, greateridaho.org,
said, “We are asking Ore-
gon Legislature leaders to
give this idea a hearing in
Oregon. Eastern Oregon
deserves a chance to pres-
ent this proposal to Oregon
state leaders.”
Lily Nichols fights for the ball
against Weston players
Hadlie Nation, All-Confer-
ence Honorable Mention
Hallee Hisler, All-Conference
Second Team
By Tylynn Cimmiyotti
The Heppner Mustangs
girls basketball ended the
season strong at Districts,
finishing as the fourth-
ranked Blue Mountain Con-
ference girls team. They
came out on top Friday to
beat the Irrigon Knights for
the first time this season and
fell by only three points to
Weston-McEwen Saturday
night.
In all-conference selec-
tions, Hallee Hisler made
second team and Hadlie Na-
tion received an honorable
mention. These awards are
voted on by the coaches in
the conference, and coaches
cannot vote for their own
players.
The girls and their de-
fense showed up to shut
Irrigon down on Friday
night. They outscored Irri-
gon 14-7 in the first quarter
and tied 9-9 in the second
quarter, ending the first half
in the lead, 23-16.
Irrigon fought back in
the third quarter (5-10),
Heppner just narrowly
keeping their lead, but Hep-
pner did not let their intensi-
ty slip, and they finished the
fourth quarter outscoring
Irrigon 11-6. The final score
was Heppner 39, Irrigon 32.
Hallee Hisler led the
Mustangs with nine points
and seven rebounds, and
Hailey Wenberg added
eight points and nine re-
bounds to lead their team
to victory over the Knights.
Stats: Zandra Master-
son: 6 rebounds, 3 fouls,
5 points, 3 assists, 8 turn-
overs, 2 blocks, 4 steals.
H. Hisler: 7 rebounds, 3
fouls, 9 points, 1 assist, 6
turnovers, 3 steals. H. Na-
tion: 3 rebounds, 2 fouls, 4
points, 1 assist, 2 turnovers,
2 steals. K. Spivey: 6 re-
bounds, 4 points, 1 assist, 2
turnovers, 1 block, 1 steal.
H. Wenberg: 9 rebounds,
2 fouls, 8 points, 8 turn-
overs, 2 steals. A. Gerry: 1
rebound, 4 points. M. Cuts-
forth: 3 rebounds, 2 points,
1 assist, 4 turnovers, 1 steal.
K. Henrichs: 3 rebounds, 2
fouls, 3 points, 2 turnovers,
2 steals.
The Heppner Mus-
tangs met the Weston-McE-
wen TigerScots for their
season’s final game on Sat-
urday afternoon.
The Mustangs came out
looking tired from the day
before and ended the first
half trailing by 15 points,
but the second half was a
whole new game. Heppner
outscored the TigerScots in
both final quarters, quickly
closing the gap.
The last three minutes
of the game were absolute
nailbiters. Heppner was
only down by two points,
running a full-court press to
keep the ball on their side of
the court and working hard
not to foul since Weston
McEwen was already in
the bonus.
Heppner was not going
down without a fight. In
the game’s final minutes,
Weston scored one point
on the free throw line, and
Heppner could not get an-
other shot in. In the end,
though, it still felt like a
team that was on top. The
Mustangs came from the
back and were within reach
of a win. Not one time did
the Mustangs stop pushing
for that W. The final score
was 43-46, Weston-McE-
wen.
Hallee Hisler once
again led the Mustangs with
20 points and 13 rebounds.
Hadlie nation added 12
points, nine rebounds and
seven steals to help the
Mustangs out.
Stats: Zandra Master-
son: 7 rebounds, 4 fouls,
3 points, 2 assists, 6 turn-
overs, 2 steals. H. Hisler:
13 rebounds, 5 fouls, 20
points, 6 turnovers, 4 steals.
H. Nation: 9 rebounds,
3 fouls, 12 points, 1 as-
sist, 4 turnovers, 7 steals.
K. Spivey: 1 rebound, 1
foul, 5 points, 1 turnover,
1 block, 1 steal. H. Wen-
berg: 8 rebounds, 2 fouls, 1
point, 3 assists, 5 turnovers,
3 steals. A. Gerry: 3 re-
bounds, 2 fouls, 1 turnover.
M. Cutsforth: 1 turnover.
L. Nichols: 3 turnovers.
K. Henrichs: 5 rebounds,
4 fouls, 2 points, 1 assist, 3
turnovers, 3 steals.
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