A10 • HERMISTONHERALD.COM
SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 14, 2015
SPORTS
Umatilla sends seniors off with win over Riverside
Paz sparks run
with six in second
BY SAM BARBEE
HERMISTON HERALD
Thursday was senior
night for the Umatilla girls
basketball team, but a cou-
ple of juniors stole the
show.
Courtney Dohman had
a double-double with 13
points and Mari Paz scored
six-straight points in the
second quarter to rally the
eighth-ranked Lady Viks
past the Riverside Pirates
47-26 at The Pit.
Down 12-11 late in the
second quarter, Paz hit a
pair of free throws and a
pair of run-out layups to
start an 11-0 run that bled
into the third quarter to
give her team control of the
¿nal matchup with the rival
Pirates.
With the win, Umatilla
(18-5, 6-2 Eastern Oregon
League) is a game and a
half back of the Vale Vi-
kings, who play Nyssa on
Friday and Umatilla on Sat-
urday, for ¿rst place. River-
side (9-14, 0-8) falls further
behind.
“We started running our
sets ¿nally,´ Umatilla head
coach Scott Bow said. “We
struggled in the ¿rst half
trying to get our sets run,
and I told my girls ... ‘Let’s
start working on our stuff.’
It still didn’t happen.´
Then, after Riverside
head coach Kevin Gilber-
ton called his second tim-
eout of the quarter, Bow
gave it to his team straight.
“I said, ‘If we’re not
gonna run my sets, then I’m
no help,´ the seventh-year
coach said. “Until I can
help you, we’re not gonna
BONDS:
continued from page A9
There are obviously
more fans like Ross and
Harlan. They sprinkle
the east stand of The
Dawghouse, and they
know the drill. They
prompt the introductory
music by standing and
essentially start the
DROTZMANN:
continued from page A9
her father attended, but, like
her dad, she is considering
optometry as a career choice,
and she didn’t want to spend
eight years at one school.
Lin¿eld caught her atten-
tion when Vaughn called and
she heard about the program’s
success. She said what really
sold her was the town of Mc-
Minnville itself.
McMinnville is a little
town nestled in the hills of
the Willamette Valley. Drot-
zmann said she felt at home
four hours away.
“Before I went (on my
visit), my parents and I went
and (visited) downtown Mc-
Minnville, and it’s not like
(Hermiston’s) downtown,´
she said. “It’s more like a
cute downtown. I just fell in
love with it. Then I went to
the campus, and it’s old, and
it’s pretty, and it’s green there.
Everything is growing.´
She said, despite the small-
town feel of McMinnville,
the campus is large, “like Or-
egon or Oregon State,´ which
she liked.
Drotzmann, though, un-
derstands that there are few-
er opportunities to continue
playing softball after college,
so it was important that she
Umatilla’s Aleesha Watson (40) attacks the hoop as River-
side’s Abby Hernandez (50) and Sadie Hasbeel (20) defend
GXULQJWKHÀUVWKDOIRI8PDWLOOD·V7KXUVGD\QLJKWRYHU
the Pirates.
work.´
Umatilla did, in fact,
start running its set plays,
and the Vikings went from
being down one to up eight
by the end of the second
quarter.
“$t ¿rst, you want to be
mad at yourself, but you
have to remember it’s only
(the) ¿rst, second quarter,´
junior Sidney Webb said.
“You gotta get through this.
You gotta focus. It’s too
early in the game for you to
do that. You just gotta play
your game. You gotta let it
go.´
Umatilla cruised the re-
mainder of the game. Aside
from a three-pointer from
Sadie Hasbell on River-
side’s second third-quar-
ter possession that put the
count at 22-15, Umatilla
didn’t trail by fewer than
double-digits the entire sec-
ond half.
Riverside was without
key player in junior Jenna
Shimer, and Ellie Sanchez
went down in the third
quarter with an unfortu-
nate knee injury. That left
the Pirates signi¿cantly
short-handed and under-
sized at the block.
“When you’re down
to being 5-foot-6 against
5-foot-11 and 5-foot-8,
5-foot-9 athletic girls (it’s
tough),´ Gilberton said.
“I’m proud of ’em. (The
Vikings are) eighth for a
reason. They’re big, they’re
poised and they want to
win.´
As far as the league
standings are concerned,
Umatilla needed to win
Thursday night after con-
secutive losses to Vale.
“The kids didn’t real-
ly see them as losses, and
I didn’t really see them as
losses, either,´ Bow said.
“Vale is Vale. I challenge
anyone else in the state to
go after Vale and see what
they get.´
Both Bow and Webb
said the win Thursday was
important not because the
team had to rebound from
its last two games against
Vale but because it was im-
portant to send the seniors
off in style. Both said the
Viking girls are very close,
and Thursday night was
emotional.
Bow suggested the girls’
emotions might have con-
tributed to the their slow
start, as the Vikings only
scored seven ¿rst-quarter
points. In the second quar-
ter, the emotions turned
to pride, and the Vikings
weren’t playing for a win
— they were playing for
the seniors: four-year var-
sity players Iri Campos and
Kassandra Galbraith and
reserves Berenice Chavez
and Kelly Barajas.
“I think it meant more
than anything tonight be-
cause we’re a very close
team this year,´ Webb said.
“We just connected very
well. We bonded more like
a team, but as sisters in a
way. This season’s been
great. We had fun enjoy-
ing each other and playing
our game. I think it meant
a lot.´
Umatilla got off to a
rough night shooting, cash-
ing in on just 3-for-18 from
the Àoor in the ¿rst quarter
and 0-for-7 from deep in a
quarter that ended at a 7-7
draw. The Lady Viks didn’t
shoot much better in the
second, going just 5-for-
14 from the Àoor, while
Riverside posted 3-for-10
and 1-for-8 in the ¿rst half.
Umatilla was 25 percent
shooting, Riverside 22 per-
rhythmic clapping as the
Hermiston starters are
introduced. They live and
die with the Bulldogs.
In a sports age where
loyalty is hard to come
by, these folks are a
model of loyalty. They
are people who have
created allegiances to
institutions that have
become like family
bonds. I have it with my
high school and for my
university. Ross, Harlan
and the rest of the east-
standers have developed
that bond with Hermiston
High School, like others
have done at other
schools, like I have done.
The bond with
Hermiston High they’ve
formed is a strong one,
not likely to be discarded
or destroyed. It’s a bond
that goes past athletics
and into family, past
basketball and into
parenthood.
They are fans, but they
are more than that, too.
And it comes back to
knowing from where you
SAM BARBEE PHOTOS
Umatilla senior Berenice Chavez chases and tries to save a loose ball during the second half of
Umatilla’s 47-26 win over Riverside on senior night Thursday in Umatilla.
¿nd a school that correspond-
ed with her academic plans.
Her father made that point,
too.
“I’m excited for her to
continue her collegiate ca-
reer playing softball,´ Dave
Drotzmann said, wearing a
red Lin¿eld shirt. “For us, all
along, it’s been about the col-
lege education. There’s not a
large professional circuit for
softball players beyond col-
lege, so it’s more about the
education. So to have the
opportunity to play college
softball for a successful pro-
gram like Lin¿eld and get the
quality education like you get
at Lin¿eld, I couldn’t be more
proud.´
Drotzmann said she isn’t
nervous about her next step
after high school.
Drotzmann’s best friend
was recently accepted in
Lin¿eld, so “at least I have a
roommate,´ she said.
“Abi’s a mature kid,´
her father said. “She works
hard. She studies hard. She’s
gonna be successful. So I’m
not worried about her going
away. I’m worried about try-
ing to make all the games. So
there’s nothing on her part
I’m worried about. It’s the
other side of the state, so (it’s)
just being able to get there
and watch games and see her
continue her career.´
cent.
Riverside managed to
stay close because of its
better 3-point shooting. The
Pirates canned one in the
¿rst half and three in the
second.
The Umatilla run led by
Paz in the second, however,
and Sanchez’s injury in the
third, plus signi¿cantly bet-
ter shooting from Umatilla
made a comeback bid too
dif¿cult for the Pirates.
Umatilla heads to Vale
on Saturday for the ¿nal
game of its regular sched-
ule. Tip-off is set for 5 p.m.
(MT).
———
came.
— Sam Barbee is the
sports reporter for the
Hermiston Herald. He
can be reached at sbar-
bee@hermistonherald.
com
UMATILLA 47, RIVERSIDE
RHS
7
5
7
7
26
UHS
7
13
17
10
47
Riverside — L. Mashos 11, K. McCullough 0, B.
Lomas 0, S. Hasbell 13, P. Pena 0, M. Camp 0,
S. Wightman 0, E. Valasco 0, E. Sanchez 0, A.
Hernandez 2.
Umatilla — B. Chavez 0, M. Paz 9, K. Barajas
0, I. Campos 8, B. Campos 0, S. Webb 3, K.
Galbraith 10, C. Dohman 13, A. Watson 4.
SRLQW¿HOGJRDOV²5LYHUVLGH8PDWLOOD
Free throws — Riverside 4-13, Umatilla 7-19.
Fouls — Riverside 14, Umatilla 13.
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SAM BARBEE PHOTO
Hermiston senior Abi Drotzmann signs her National Letter of In-
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