A10 • HERMISTONHERALD.COM
SATURDAY, JANUARY 3, 2015
SPORTS
Knights surge past upset-minded Vikings
completed the game on a
33-9 run.
“I feel like we (usually)
Depth ruled the day for come out and execute well
the Irrigon Knights Tues- and compete,” Umatilla (6-
day.
5) coach Derrek Lete said.
After trading leads with “Tonight, for whatever
Umatilla through one half, UHDVRQZHFDPHRXWÀDWLQ
reserve guard AJ Timpy got the second half. Irrigon is
the nod for a rare second DWHDP\RXGH¿QLWHO\GRQ¶W
half start, and the sharp- want to do that to or they’ll
shooter didn’t disappoint.
light the scoreboard up.”
Timpy drilled a trio of
Foul trouble hindered
three-point shots in the WKH .QLJKWV LQ WKH ¿UVW
opening minutes of the half. Junior Fredy Vera
second half to blow open was the only Irrigon start-
the game, and the Knights er not sidelined with more
cruised from there, running than one foul. His eight
away to a 67-34 romp of the points helped Irrigon carry
9LNLQJVRQWKH¿QDOGD\RI a diminutive lead into the
the Les Schwab Shoot-Out break.
at the Pendleton Conven-
Vera didn’t slow down
tion Center.
in the second, scoring
The Knights (8-0) held SRLQWV WR ¿QLVK ZLWK D
just a 25-21 halftime edge, game-high 24 points. Vera
but Timpy’s third consecu- led four Irrigon players
tive three-pointer made the LQ GRXEOH ¿JXUHV $GULDQ
count it 34-25.
Romero had 13, Tipmy 12
“He had a tremendous and Anthony Landeros 11.
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Umatilla senior guard
dent shooting the ball, and Eric Garcia led all scorers
with him he’s always ready ZLWK¿UVWKDOISRLQWVEXW
to go,” coach Mike Thomp- the Knight defenders held
son said of the senior guard. him to four second half
EO MEDIA GROUP PHOTO BY E.J. HARRIS
The perimeter shooting points on 2-for-8 shooting.
prowess placed the mo- Umatilla scored just 13 Irrigon’s Freddy Vera puts up a shot surrounded by a host
mentum squarely in the points in the last 16 minutes of Umatilla defenders on Tuesday in the Knights’ 67-34 win
against the Vikings in Pendleton.
Knights’ corner and they of play.
BY ERIK SKOPIL
EO MEDIA GROUP
GIRLS:
continued from page A1
beating themselves with fouls and
turnovers. Now 9-2, consistent play
is a constant, not a hope.
“We’re putting things together for
longer periods of time, and we’re do-
ing it with a lot of bench support, a
lot of role players,” Hoffert said.
That bench support, though, is
the biggest mark of improvement
for Hermiston. In its second game
in Lake Oswego, Hermiston played
Iolani, a Hawaii Division II power-
house from Oahu, and came out on
top after two overtimes.
The Raiders, according to Hof-
fert, were the fastest team Hermiston
will see all year and probably the
smallest, too. Early on, Hoffert said
the Lady Bulldogs were in “survival
mode” due to Iolani’s relentless press
and dribble drives. The Raiders’
SPORTS:
continued from page A1
scholastic sports in
Austria aren’t that prevalent
or competitive. Most sports
are club-based and practice
only about three times a
week with sporadic games.
Schools there, she said, are
“mostly for learning and
boring” and don’t really
have competitive athletics
programs. It’s nothing like
the athletics schedules for
athletes in the States with
practices or games six days a
week, she said.
“I just didn’t expect it,”
she said. “I didn’t think about
having practice every day af-
ter school.”
In the fall, Katterbauer
was assigned to the junior
varsity volleyball team and
didn’t get much playing
time early on. She admitted
she wasn’t as good as her
teammates, mostly due to
her inexperience. She said
it amazed her how competi-
tive sports are in this country
and how hard people work at
them.
“Here, people build their
life on their sports,” she
said. “They’re crazy about
sports.”
Competing in sports
made her transition in Amer-
ica easier, however.
When she came to Herm-
BOYS:
continued from page A1
taining that,” McElligott
said.
Overall, though, the
tournament featured one
positive. Hermiston dou-
bled its win total in Bar-
ECHO:
continued from page A1
gles stand out.
“Those are going to be
fantastic basketball games,
as they always are,” Bra-
depth was also an issue. They went
10-deep, and there was no drop-off
in athleticism or skill.
“We went with a smaller, quicker
lineup, and it slowed them down,”
Hoffert said. “It took away some of
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half.”
Hermiston closed, and Sara Ramirez
hit a 3-foot runner at the buzzer to send
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riod was back-and-forth, with Hermis-
ton getting a good look at the buzzer to
potentially win it. It didn’t go down, and
Hermiston won anyway in the second
extra period.
“In the second overtime, I thought
our conditioning, our bench, our depth
won the game for us,” Hoffert said.
“We seemed quicker, fresher, quicker to
loose balls, quicker to rebounds. We felt
good about the fact that we were able
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strong with girls who typically don’t
get a lot of minutes and get put in that
position.”
Sandwiched around the win over Io-
lani were double-digit wins over North
Medford (54-41) and Roseburg (43-28)
and the championship completion over
Centennial 43-37 on Tuesday.
Those size and lineup adjustments
will pay huge dividends for the Lady
Bulldogs. Against Iolani, Sydney
Moore, a reserve guard, played the en-
tire fourth quarter and most of the over-
times. Rileigh Andreason gave good
minutes.
“I’ve coached a lot of years,” Hoffert
said. “I’ve had a lot of great basketball
team, but I’ve never had a team that the
bench was more valuable to us than this
year. For them to show us that they can
do that, that they can come back, it gave
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those girls can come in and win games.”
Hermiston plays today at Kennewick
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a 7 p.m. tilt Tuesday.
iston, Katterbauer was not
familiar with Oregon. She
knew what and where Cal-
ifornia is, and a couple of
other major, internationally
known cities, but had never
heard of Oregon or Herm-
iston. So when she came,
she had no friends, no idea
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ball, however, gave her that
opening.
“I had some people to
hang out with from the very
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an exchange student it’s kind
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friends, but with playing a
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friends and to make connec-
tions with people.”
Wang, an exchange stu-
dent from Italy, had a similar
experience playing soccer
for the Bulldogs.
He played club soccer
since he was a child, but was
also surprised by the sched-
ule and also saw differences
in athleticism.
“I’m not saying it’s tough,
but it’s something that’s
more into your life rather
than just something that you
do for fun,” Wang said. “Not
that my team back in Italy’s
bad, but we do only one, two
practices per week, and there
are teams that do three, four,
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and the goals of the team.”
Wang also sees other dif-
ferences between soccer here
and in Italy. He said here,
players are more disciplined
and humble. Back in Italy, he
said, “We’re just playing for
chill” or fun.
“And we go there, and we
chill,” he said. “Sometimes
our coach gets mad, (but)
there is no discipline.”
Wang said, instead of soc-
cer in the fall, he wished he
had played football instead.
He acknowledges that some
of that desire came from
seeing the football team win
the state championship, but
he also wished he had tried
something he’s never done
before.
“I’ve been playing soccer
for so many years,” he said.
“And next year when I’m
going back (to Italy), I’m not
planning on playing soccer
anymore. And even this year,
if I was still in Italy, I would
not have chosen to play soc-
cer.”
Both Katterbauer and
Wang are now dedicated to
swimming.
“I mainly picked swim-
ming because I’m not very
good at basketball,” Katter-
bauer said. “Because every-
body was like, ‘Oh yeah,
basketball is the most com-
petitive sport ever. If you
go for basketball you have
to put everything in it.’ But
swimming...”
“It’s relaxing,” Wang
chimed in.
“No it’s not relaxing at
all,” Katterbauer said with
a laugh. “I feel like swim-
ming is a sport like running
because it’s just ... keep
going and long distances
and sprinting. I didn’t pick
cross country because I’m
not good at that stuff... I
mean, I enjoy it, though. I
enjoy going to practice, go-
ing with my friends, stuff
like that.”
They
were,
again,
stunned by the competi-
tive nature of the sport and
the amount of training in-
volved. Katterbauer smiles
when she talks about the
heavy 45-minute regimen
of daily swim practices,
with constant laps and core
training.
Although she is swim-
ming, so far, Katterbauer
hasn’t gotten to enjoy one
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from Salzburg in the Aus-
trian Alps, and skiing is
universal pastime there.
Katterbauer hopes to
sample the mountains in
the U.S. this winter, while
Wang from northern Italy,
went skiing with the HHS
outdoor club.
“Back home, I’m a good
skier,” Katterbauer said.
“My host family, we have
some friends who do ski-
ing, so they said I could
go with them. I will have a
chance to go skiing.”
low and sit with a record
of 2-7.
“I think we’ve been
headed in the right direc-
tion the last four days,”
McElligott said. “I think
we’re headed in the right
direction. We just have to
get better in every aspect
of the game, offensively
and defensively. I think
the team we have now that
I saw these last few days is
still a far cry from where
we will be and where we
should be.”
These next three games
for Hermiston will say
a lot. It’ll be a jungle for
the Bulldogs, as they face
Lions, Tigers and a Storm.
Today Hermiston travels
to Kennewick to take on
the Kennewick Lions at
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La Grande to take on the
Tigers at 7 p.m. Tuesday,
then host the Summit
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10.
zil said. “We’ll probably
play again at districts, and
that’ll be an epic battle, and
we might see them again at
Baker (at the state tourna-
ment). If we play them four
times, I guarantee nobody’s
going 4-0.”
After a perfect run to
open the season, Echo lost
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the hands of top-ranked
Country Christian, but Bra-
zil said the Cougars aren’t
fazed by the loss.
“You never want to
lose,” Brazil said. “Yeah,
we wanted to win (Tues-
day), but we’re not looking
at that as ‘Oh, this great
undefeated streak has come
to end.’ We got off to a hot
start, ran into a good team
and got beat. But we gave it
EO MEDIA GROUP PHOTO BY E.J. HARRIS
Irrigon’s A.J. Timpy (3) and Adrian Romero put pressure on
Umatilla’s Danny Ayala on Tuesday in the Knights’ 67-34 win
against the Vikings in Pendleton.
Echo girls no
longer undefeated
The Echo girls basketball
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of the year Tuesday, losing
to Country Christian 57-51
in the Cougar Den in Echo.
Kelsey Ranger had 17 points
and six steals, and Elizabeth
McCarty had 15 points and
11 rebounds for Echo.
“We gave them a hell of a
game,” Echo coach JD Bra-
zil said. “They’re a really
good team. They’re the No.
1 team in the OSAA rank-
ings and No. 2 in the coach-
es poll.”
Echo (10-1) shot 53 per-
cent from 3-point land, sink-
ing eight of 15, but shot just
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as a whole, going 16 of 56.
Meanwhile, Country Chris-
tian (8-1) shot 40 percent
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percent from 3.
Echo also missed 15 free
throws and had nine shots
blocked.
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have liked to have made
more free throws,” Brazil
said. “The blocked shots
I’m not concerned about.
The free throws missed,
yeah, I don’t like that. If
we’re going to attack and
go to the line, we need to
capitalize.”
After being tied at the
half, Country Christian
locked down the defense
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in the third quarter. It was
the lowest quarter point total
by the Cougars this season.
Echo won the fourth
quarter 15-14 but couldn’t
cut into the seven-point lead.
“All in all, it was a good
performance,” Brazil said.
“I’m not a moral victory
guy, but this was a barome-
ter game. To be with a team
that could very well win it
all this year, it makes us feel
good about our chances.”
Country Christian 2, Echo
8. Free throws — Country
Christian 3-8, Echo 11-26
Fouled out — A. Farner
(CC). Fouls — Country
Christian 24, Echo 11.
hell ... It’s not like the sea-
sons over. Some days you
win. Some days you lose.”
Being new to the OOL, as
Echo came over from the Big
Sky League with Helix and
Nixyaawii, the Cougars ar-
en’t sure what to expect from
the other teams they will play.
“I think what we’re go-
ing to have for a league
title, barring catastrophes,
injuries, (whatever), I think
we’re going to have a cou-
ple teams in the mix,” Bra-
zil said.
Umatilla girls strong af-
ter break
The Umatilla girls bas-
ketball team is in good shape
after holiday break, beating
River View (Washington),
Lost River, Union, Irrigon,
Nixyaawii and losing to sec-
ond-ranked Kennedy by just
two points.
On Dec. 23, Umatilla
beat River View 38-26 and
followed that up with a
46-38 win over a previous-
ly undefeated Lost River
team Monday to kick off
the Enterprise Tournament
in Pendleton. Against the
Raiders, Aleesha Watson
had 16 points and 10 re-
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on the offensive glass. Sid-
ney Webb tacked on another
12 points on 4-10 shooting
from 3-point land.
In the championship of
the Enterprise tournament in
Pendleton, Umatilla topped
Irrigon 43-18 in a rematch of
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year. Watson again led the
Lady Viks in scoring with
13 points. Brenda Campos
was the other Lady Viking
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and Courtney Dohman
grabbed 11 rebounds.
On New Year’s Day,
Umatilla traveled to Salem
for the Salem Academy
Tournament and drew sec-
ond-ranked 2A Kennedy
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had 19 points and nine re-
bounds, Dohman had 16 and
8 and Webb had 11 points
and three assists. Kennedy
led 30-22 at the half, but the
Lady Viks stormed back in
the third behind 10 points
COUNTRY CHRISTIAN 57, ECHO 51
from Watson, with six of
CC (8-1, 2-0) 14
17
12
them coming on free throws.
14
57
Echo (10-1, 2-0)
13
18
Umatilla’s fourth-quarter
5
15
51
rally came up just a basket
short, however, and Kenne-
Country Christian — D. dy handed Umatilla its third
Grandle 0, M. Lewandows- loss of the season.
Friday, in the consolation
ki 12, C. McGrath 8, S. Ross
0, A. Farner 0, A. La Pointe bracket, Umatilla topped
4, K. Nofziger 15, M. Halv- local 1A power Nixyaawii
erson 8, M. McGrath 0, A. 51-24 in Pendleton. Umatil-
Cunningham 4, A. Barden 6. la had three girls in double
Echo — E. Parks 3, K. ¿JXUHV:HEE'RKPDQ
Ranger 16, D. Tarvin 0, T. (10) and Iri Campos (10).
Swaggert 3, H. McCarty 8, Dohman, Campos and Kas-
L. Cox 0, G. Strofe 6, E. sandra Galbraith all had six
McCarty 15, L. Wiggins 0, UHERXQGV :DWVRQ KDG ¿YH
and Galbraith swiped six
B. Millbroot 0, H. Reese 0.
SRLQW ¿HOG JRDOV ² steals.