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WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 7, 2015 HERMISTONHERALD.COM • A7 SPORTS Jaguars nip Cougars in hard-fought battle handily, 71-46. Echo head coach JD Brazil said TCP just didn’t play well that The Echo girls basketball night, and it could have giv- WHDP KDV VXVWDLQHG LWV ¿UVW en his squad a “false sense of losing streak of the season, security” Saturday. albeit a small one. “I’m not gonna say we The Tri-Cities Prep Jag- took ’em lightly because uars knocked off the Cou- we didn’t,” he said after the gars 66-55 in Echo Saturday game. “We had our game behind 29 points from Devin plan. We followed it. Some Hirsch and 13 points and of those things worked ex- 14 rebounds from Corinne actly like I thought they were Barnett. For Echo, Elizabeth gonna work, but you can’t McCarty had 20 points and plan for us shooting our- 11 rebounds in the loss, and selves in the foot.” Kelsey Ranger tacked on an- Mistakes plagued the other 18 points. Cougars all evening. For “We didn’t necessarily long stretches, they couldn’t play bad,” McCarty said. get a layup to fall. They “We just didn’t play our best. committed 22 turnovers and We just gotta go back to the shot just 4 of 9 from the free- drawing board and take a throw line. break and see where things With all those negatives, went wrong. We’re gonna however, the Cougars were EH¿QH:H¶UHJRQQDEH¿QH still in the game until midway We’re not worried.” into the fourth quarter when Echo has now lost two TCP took a 16-point lead that VWUDLJKW LWV ¿UVW WZR ORVVHV Echo couldn’t shrink. of the season, and has a re- Despite what Brazil cord of 10-2. Tri-Cities Prep FDOOHG D ³ÀDW´ ¿UVW TXDUWHU is 7-3. the Cougars took an early Echo drove up to Pas- 7-2 lead on baskets from Mc- co, Washington, on Friday Carty, her sister, Hannah, and to watch the Jaguars play a free throw by Erika Parks, Connell, a 1A Washington but TCP came roaring back school, and Connell won with six unanswered points BY SAM BARBEE HERMISTON HERALD behind four from Hirsch. Echo up 16-12, and the Cou- 7KH¿UVWTXDUWHUHQGHGZLWK gars forced four turnovers in SAM BARBEE PHOTO Echo’s Elizabeth McCarty (center) and Tri-Cities Prep’s Emma Slahtasky (left) battle for a rebound as Jaguar Bela Ghirado (5) watches during the second half of TCP’s 66-55 win over the Cougars on Saturday in Echo. the period. TCP was held to 5 of 21 shooting in that period, but the Jaguars wouldn’t stay down for long. TCP started to take con- trol in the second quarter. The Jags made four of their ¿UVW ¿YH VKRWV LQFOXGLQJ D 3-ball from Hirsch, and took a 21-18 lead two minutes into the quarter before a timeout. Echo was in a zone then, and TCP shot the Cougars out of it. The next possession, Maddie Hill hit another 3 for TCP, and Brazil took another timeout. Out of the timeout, Echo turned it over on three- straight possessions, giving TCP four points and a 28- 18 advantage. With 2:31 re- maining in the half, McCarty converted on a 3-point play WR FXW 7&3¶V OHDG WR ¿YH DW 28-23, but an Emma Sla- htasky 3-ball minutes later took that momentum right away. Ranger scored the last three points of the half to JLYH (FKR D ¿YHSRLQW KDOI- WLPHGH¿FLWDW The beginning of the third quarter was Echo’s turn to shoot well. The Cougars PDGHWKUHHRIWKHLU¿UVWIRXU shots that period, and Rang- er’s layup tied it at 32 with 5:37 left. TCP then went on a 12-2 run to take a dou- ble-digit advantage and the lead for good. Echo again EDWWOHG EDFN WR D ¿YHSRLQW GH¿FLW WR HQG WKH TXDUWHU DW 47-42. The wheels came off the Echo wagon in the fourth quarter, however. Down three with 5:28 re- maining, the Cougars, again, started well, but, again, three-straight turnovers led to seven Jaguar points and a nine-point lead for TCP. Echo never got any closer. “We’ve got a short mem- ory,” Brazil said. “Our girls are gonna be angry at how they played. I went into the locker room (after the game), and in years past I would’ve said, ‘Look, this was the issue. This was the issue,’ And these girls are in there in the locker room saying, ‘We need to do better at this, this and this. This is where it EURNHGRZQ¶:H¶UH¿QH´ Echo begins its league play in earnest with a 6 p.m. matchup Friday against the visiting Joseph Eagles. WEEKEND RECAP EO MEDIA GROUP STAFF GIRLS BASKETBALL HERMISTON 85, KENNEWICK 56 Sidney Webb led all scorers with 11 points. Courtney Dohman and Iri Cam- pos each chipped in with 10. The normally adept Nixyaawii perim- eter shooters were held without a 3-point PDNHIRUWKH¿UVWWLPHDOOVHDVRQDQGWKH Golden Eagles dropped their third con- secutive game after starting the season with seven wins. Hermiston led by one at halftime and traded the advantage for much of the sec- ond half. The Bulldogs have three nonleague contests remaining: a road game against Summit Saturday, a home game against Sunnyside Tuesday and they host La Sal- le Prep Jan. 16. Columbia River Confer- ence play begins against The Dalles on Jan. 23 in The Dalles. League play at 5:30 p.m. Saturday at Nyssa. WRESTLING At Nampa, Idaho, Hermiston wrestlers Bob Colman and Sam Colbray each won Jansen Edmiston went 10 of 17 from WKHLU ZHLJKW FODVVL¿FDWLRQ DW WKH PHJD 3-point land, and Hermiston made 17 3s 49-team Rollie Lane Invitational on Sat- as a team to wax Kennewick 85-56 Sat- urday. urday in Kennewick. Coleman used two sudden victo- CRESWELL 68, The win was the Bulldogs’ 10th ry wins to earn the top medal in the straight, which improved their record to KENNEWICK 46, 170-pound weight class at the Idaho UMATILLA 65 10-2. As of Monday, they were ranked super tournament. Coleman beat fellow At Salem, for the second straight day, Bulldog Brock McDonough in the over- ¿UVWE\WKH26$$$IWHU7XHVGD\¶VJDPH HERMISTON 39 the Vikings played extra basketball with time period and then did the same to at La Grande, the Bulldogs have two non- At Kennewick, the Bulldogs hung one of Class 3A’s best teams, and, for Brendan Harkey of Crook County. He league contests remaining: a home game against 10-0 Sunnyside on Jan. 13 and a tough against one of the top Washington the second straight day, they dropped won the championship match by 9-2 de- road game against fourth-ranked La Salle schools before turnovers did them in late a heartbreaker at the Salem Academy cision over Kyle McCullough of Capital Tournament on Saturday. Both Andrew (Idaho). on Jan. 16. League play begins Jan. 23 Saturday. Playing in a tied ball game midway Jaime and Eric Garcia failed to convert against The Dalles in the Dawghouse. The defending state champion Colbray through the fourth quarter, Hermiston (2- layups in crucial spots for Umatilla (6-7). won all three matches at 195 Saturday by 8) threw it away on four consecutive pos- Jaime, who had a season-best 16 points, major decision or pin. He defeated Gun- UMATILLA 51, sessions, and the savvy Lions (7-1) took missed a go-ahead point-blank look with ner Robirts of Crook County by a 10-2 advantage to slink off with a narrow win. ¿YH VHFRQGV UHPDLQLQJ LQ UHJXODWLRQ ,Q PDMRUGHFLVLRQLQWKH¿QDOERXW NIXYAAWII 24 Hermiston coach Jake McElligott was overtime, Garcia missed a driving layup The win was Colbray’s second at a At Salem, miles away from home, the pleased with the team’s effort, especial- that would have knotted the score at 67 in major tournament of the season at 195 area schools met in a consolation-bracket ly the play of posts Keegan Crafton and the waning seconds. pounds. Colbray also took medalist hon- contest at the Salem Academy Tourna- Trey Neal, who combined for 20 points Nyssa defeated Umatilla in overtime ors at the Tri-State Invitational in De- ment, however the Vikings (10-3) made and helped the Bulldogs win the re- on Friday. The loss is Umatilla’s third cember. short work of the Golden Eagles (7-3) bounding battle by three. overtime defeat this season. Both wrestlers were a perfect 7-0 Friday. “I thought we played well. We had the “I’m proud of the guys for compet- during the two-day meet. Nine Umatilla players recorded at rebounding edge,” he said. ing,” Viking coach Derrek Lete said. “It’s $QG\ :DJQHU ¿QLVKHG VL[WK SODFH LQ least one steal and four had more than Crafton had 14 points and 12 re- just the little things that are going wrong the 126 pound competition. three, as the Vikings totaled 23 for the bounds. Chase Knutz nailed four 3-point that cost you the game. A missed layup +HUPLVWRQ ¿QLVKHG ¿IWK LQ WKH WHDP game. Kasandra Galbraith had a team- VKRWV WR MRLQ &UDIWRQ LQ GRXEOH ¿JXUHV here or there.” FRPSHWLWLRQ 3RVW )DOOV WRRN ¿UVW SODFH best six swipes. with 12 points. Umatilla begins Eastern Oregon and Crook County was second. BOYS BASKETBALL WATSON: continued from page A1 ways the ball in her hand, no matter what sport she’s playing,” Bow said. On the court, Watson could be described as a stat-sheet stuffer. She scores; she distributes; she gets steals, rebounds, etc. She’s had scoring games of 16, 19 and 23 points. She’s racked up 10 steals in a game and 10 rebounds once, too. “Things that we’re HOOPS: continued from page A1 interesting, are on top of the Eastern Oregon League. They have a loss to Nyssa, but it was at a tournament in Salem and, therefore, counts as a nonleague game. I have that one circled on my pretend calendar because the Vikings lost by three in overtime, and head coach Derrek Lete said it was a game they should have won. It’s provided some motivation to win those kind of games that can carry through the league schedule. Nyssa is 5-5, Riverside is 5-7 and Vale is 2-7, as of Monday. Also, Umatilla has hung with Irrigon twice, although the scores don’t indicate that. If Umatilla can parlay these disappointments, for lack of a better term, into some success, I like them in the EOL. running, she’s usually our No. 1 option everywhere we go,” Bow said. “We know that. Other teams know that. We run our offenses through her first and, hopefully, get her the first best look we can. Then she kind of becomes the distributor from there. Like last game (against 1\VVD ZH SXW ¿YH JLUOV LQ GRXEOH ¿JXUHV EHFDXVH once (opponents) lower her abilities, take her away a little bit, other girls stand right out.” Watson said she does whatever is necessary to make the team win. If she scores 30 points and the Lady Viks lose, she’s un- happy. If she scores four and they win, it’s a good night. “I don’t really look at what I do,” she said. “It’s more of a team thing. I want to help out as much as I can (for) the team. I want to do everything that I can to EHQH¿W WKH WHDP MXVW ZRUN as hard as I can, every day be in the gym ready to go, get to work, get the work done that I need to, to make sure I’m ready to play.” After this season, Wat- son has two more years left to play high school basket- ball. Beyond that, though, opportunities are already beginning to present them- selves for her to continue her basketball career. Bow says interest in his soph- omore guard is beginning to mount, and he believes she can play small-school college basketball, if every- thing goes smoothly. “I’m talking to multiple people, and the interest is out there,” Bow said. “She would love to play. We just gotta keep her on track and hope she stays injury-free, and good things can happen to a kid like that.” “If I can (play in col- lege), then, yeah, I want to go there,” Watson added. “I want to play (in) college if I can. If I have the opportuni- ty, I think it would be really cool.” Her immediate priority, however, is high school ball and helping the 11-3 Uma- tilla Lady Viks team to the playoffs. With league play be- ginning this week, Wat- son is optimistic about her squad’s chances to make noise in the 3A ranks. “I feel very good about (this season),” she said FRQ¿GHQWO\³,WKLQNZH¶UH gonna go far. As long as we keep playing the way we’re playing and mak- ing sure we keep the same goal in mind, make sure we’re where we want to go and just keep doing what we’re doing, I think we’re gonna do really good this year. I think we’re gonna go far.” Now, go south on 395 to 6WDQ¿HOG With Daniel Sharp pulling double duty with the boys and girls, it’s a wonder the boys play as well as they do. Not that Sharp is any less of a coach, but that’s a lot of work. At the Bouncin’ Cancer series, he coached four games in two days. That’s a ton of basketball. Sometimes I think the players sense how tired he is and sort of feed off that. I’ve never thought about people feeding off a negative deal, but I guess it’s possible. $Q\ZD\WKH6WDQ¿HOG ER\V¿QGWKHPVHOYHVLQ a tough league this year. Irrigon is good. Heppner is good. As of Monday, Weston-McEwen is 5-5 but dangerous. The Tigers, as I’ve written before, have a good mix of size and speed and can really score. Their only problems are limiting turnovers and playing sound defense. Those two things will be huge factors against Irrigon and Heppner. I don’t know much about Heppner, but Irrigon thrives off of turnovers and transition VFRULQJ6WDQ¿HOGFDQEHDW both teams, in my opinion, but it’ll have to play its best to do so. ,OLNHWKH6WDQ¿HOG girls, too. They get better every time I see them play. They’ve already tripled their win total from last season and will undoubtedly get a few league wins this year. Sharp is building that program from the ground up, and in a couple years I think it will be very competitive in the Columbia Basin Conference. Now, we head across I-84 to Echo. The girls have lost just twice, to a very good Country Christian team and to a Tri-Cities Prep team that has a very good scorer. They’ve gotten a taste of their new league and waltzed through. The Old Oregon League will come down to Nixyaawii DQG(FKRDQGWKH¿UVWRI two league matchups is coming Saturday. Those two games, the other landing on Feb. 6, will decide the league title. The Echo boys round out the group of opposites. As the girls sit atop the proverbial ladder, the boys are still climbing it. A nice win over Tri-Cities Prep on Saturday — a team that EHDW6WDQ¿HOG²KDVWKHP in a good place mentally heading into the league schedule. Head coach Ben Campbell said a couple weeks ago that he is happy with where they are and happy to be focused on basketball rather than off- the-court issues. I don’t blame him. Echo is going to be competitive in a league with only one .500 team (Nixyaawii at 6-6). Look for Echo to possibly make some noise. So that’s it. Thanks for bearing with me. In about a month and a half, the playoff picture will be set, and we’ll talk about that then. Plus, it’ll start to get warmer, and I can’t argue with that. —Sam Barbee is the sports reporter for the Hermiston Herald and can be reached at (541) 564- 4542 or sbarbee@hermis- tonherald.com