SPORTS
SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 28, 2015
HERMISTONHERALD.COM
A9
PREP WRESTLING • PREP BASKETBALL • SCHEDULE
In good shape Bulldog grapplers have good first day at state
W
hen this season
started, I didn’t
know what to
expect from the Hermiston
girls basketball team. I
knew the Lady Bulldogs
were good — they had
placed third in the state
tournament the season
before. I knew they had
players; Jansen Edmiston
and Sara Ramirez are for
real, and there is good
young talent in Maddy Juul
and Kynzee Padilla, among
others.
But then the Bulldogs
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Part of it was working in
new rotation players Juul,
Tavin Headings and others.
Part of it was a tough early-
season schedule. Beaverton,
which is 20-4 and ranked
third in 6A this season, is
a consistently good team.
Kamiakin from Kennewick
is 14-6 and the top seed in
the Washington regional
bracket.
I wondered then that
maybe this was a season
Hermiston would have to
endure, maybe it was a
re-building effort, not a re-
tooling year.
I pointed out that the
offense just wasn’t working
well yet. Edmiston looked
like she was trying to do
too much. Ramirez wasn’t
shooting lights out like
she’s capable of doing, and
those new rotation players
hadn’t quite found their
roles yet. Plus, Headings,
who has really come on
lately as a sharpshooter,
was still getting back into
the swing of the sport after
taking a year off to swim.
You know what? I
couldn’t have been more
wrong. Man, these girls can
play.
The only loss since their
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(Washington) team that
went 19-2 and somehow
didn’t make it out of its
district tournament. The
Bulldogs’ 21-1 run includes
a win over then-top-ranked
La Salle Prep, which is
now the second-ranked
team (most likely) behind
Hermiston headed into the
postseason.
And, as much as
Edmiston and Ramirez
do, the emergence of other
key players has elevated
Hermiston from merely
really good into a legitimate
title contender.
Let’s, though, start with
Edmiston, since things
usually start with her on the
court.
During that oh-so-brief
losing skid, Edmiston was
trying to do too much.
She would get into the
lane — something she’s
very adept at doing — then
force a pass to someone
who was kind of open
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most-open receiver. It
created turnovers and
runouts for Kamiakin and
Beaverton, and both teams
made the Bulldogs pay.
As the season progressed,
though, Edmiston became
increasingly fundamental
with her play, to the point
where she is dominating
stretches of games.
Tuesday night against
Pendleton, Edmiston was
doing Edmiston things:
SAM BARBEE
FROM THE SIDELINES
Sports reporter
jumping passing lanes,
dropping easy passes into
the laps of her teammates
and scoring. The emotional
lift she provided was
obvious, and Hermiston
rode that energy like a
horse to a convincing nine-
point win to close out its
schedule.
Like Edmiston, it looked
like Abi Drotzmann didn’t
have it for whatever reason,
early on. Easy shots found
their way out instead of
in. Sometimes she was
out of position on defense,
even just slightly, and the
Beavers or Braves used that
extra space to score.
Recently, though,
Drotzmann has been
invaluable. It all seemed
to come together for her
after she signed her letter
of intent to play softball
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was always in the right spot
as Edmiston drove, ready
for a dump-off and layup,
which she’s been very good
at doing. When Drotzmann
gets in the eight- to 12-point
range, Hermiston is close
to unbeatable because
that means Edmiston is
breaking people down off
the dribble and drawing
all the defensive attention,
leaving Drotzmann
standing on the block with
a huge smile and an open
lane.
I don’t have enough
space to go through
everyone, and I would if I
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Headings. When she’s on
from three-point range, you
can’t affect her shot. It’s a
quick release, and she has
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that has grown since the
beginning of the year.
Gone is the timid shooter
who only pulled if she had
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nervous player who doesn’t
want to make a mistake.
Gone is the “I’m just happy
to be playing basketball
again” attitude. Here is the
“You give me an inch, and
I’m shooting” Headings,
who is a dangerous
weapon. You pair that with
Ramirez, who has a similar
attitude, with Edmiston off
the bounce, Drotzmann on
the block, Padilla slashing
and Juul doing a bit of
everything, that’s a good
variety of scoring threats
for a team that can play
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I was wondering
about this Hermiston girls
basketball season because
I was only using those two
losses as evidence. The
sample size was very small,
and maybe I was a bit quick
to indict them. But the
Bulldogs are for real and,
in my mind, the favorite
to win a state title. If they
get La Salle in the state
championship game (which
would be an amazing story
line), it could be one of the
best high school basketball
games this state has seen.
— Sam Barbee is the
Hermiston Herald sports
reporter. He can be reached
at sbarbee@hermistonher-
ald.com
GO SEE IT
Saturday, February 28
Girls Basketball
Umatilla @ Amity, 6 p.m.
Sunday, March 1
No events scheduled
of reasons.
Barnett
ousted
the
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170-pound Coleman from
Hermiston junior Bob state last year with a 6-2
Coleman was one of consolation-round victory.
six Bulldog wrestlers to The rivalry continued onto
emerge unscathed from Fri- the gridiron. This time,
day’s opening two rounds Coleman and the Bulldogs
at the OSAA State Wres- not only knocked off Bar-
tling Championships at Me- nett’s Pioneers in the open-
morial Coliseum.
ing round of the state play-
While Coleman’s pas- offs, but a Coleman tackle
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might be reward enough, too.
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Knotted in a hotly con-
Spencer Barnett of Sandy tested rematch Friday,
was satisfying for a variety another blow to the head
BY ERIK SKOPIL
Tuesday, March 3
Boys Basketball
Hermiston vs. TBD in play-in game, TBD
Wednesday, March 4
No events scheduled
their opening matches, but
only Liam Tarvin (113),
Andy Wagner (120), AJ
Tuia (132), Coleman, Sam
Colbray (195) and Jesee
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in the defeats were a pair of
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iston coach Shaun Williams
highlighted as pivotal —
CJ Hendon’s (126) and
John-Henry Line’s (182).
Still, all 15 Bulldogs re-
main alive in the champion-
SEE BULLDOGS/A10
GUTIERREZ’S PAIN
PROVES TO BE A BLESSING
Senior wouldn’t
take back gruesome
knee injury
BY SAM BARBEE
HERMISTON HERALD
The day was almost
over. The Hermiston girls
basketball team was run-
ning a clinic in June, and it
was coming to a close. Se-
nior-to-be Jazmin Gutierrez
took an entry pass in the
last drill of the last day of
camp, spun right, jumped
and came down awkwardly
on her right knee. It buck-
led and popped and she fell
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“I thought my knee got
caught on the other girl,”
Gutierrez said at practice
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popped into my head was
I’m not going to be able to
go on my mission trip that I
fundraised for all summer.”
Initially, the doctor told
Gutierrez it was just a me-
niscus injury, something
that would require surgery
but would have her ready
for basketball season.
But after an MRI, the
full scope of the damage
was revealed. Gutierrez’s
anterior cruciate ligament,
which connects the upper
and lower portions of the
knee, was completely gone.
She also partially tore her
lateral collateral ligament,
which also holds the knee
together, and sprained her
medial collateral ligament
and had a bone contusion.
She had to be off her feet
for months, and basketball
season was in serious jeop-
ardy.
Gutierrez’s doctor had
a colleague in Sacramen-
SAM BARBEE PHOTO
Hermiston senior Jazmin Gutierrez suffered a gruesome knee injury in June, rupturing her
ACL, partially tearing her MCL and LCL and bruising a bone in her knee.
to, California who special-
ized in ACL replacements,
which is exactly what she
needed. So she went down
there, had a cadaver ACL
surgically inserted and was
off crutches in a week and
started physical therapy in
two, which took her three
months to complete.
“It was really hard pro-
cess to sit and wait, but I
gained patience and char-
acter, and I learned that
my teammates need me to
support them either way,”
Gutierrez said.
Head coach Steve Hof-
fert was in another gym
when Gutierrez injured
her knee, and some players
went to get him. He said
when he saw Gutierrez on
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he couldn’t help but feel a
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“At the time, we planned
on Jazmin being either
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was something she worked
for, and she was getting to
the right place, and it was a
disappointment for us.”
Gutierrez was preparing
to take over for graduate
Shelby Sanders at the block
and said she was ready to
work on her game and help
her team on the court.
SEE GUTIERREZ/A10
Vikings ready to tackle Warriors
BY SAM BARBEE
HERMISTON HERALD
After the Umatilla girls
basketball team beat Nyssa
to clinch its spot in the state
playoffs, head coach Scott
Bow had a surprise for his
players.
He handed out blue long-
sleeved shirts that read,
“Rose to the Occasion,” a
play on orange “Rise to the
Occasion” warm-up shirts
the Lady Viks have been
wearing all season.
The gesture was meant
to acknowledge the Lady
Viks reached their goal of
advancing further into the
playoffs, a goal they had set
before the season.
No. 12 Umatilla is hop-
Monday, March 2
No events scheduled
turned things up a level.
Barnett elbowed Coleman
on an escape, providing
enough ammunition for
Coleman to reverse last
year’s state result and beat
Barnett 7-3 to stay unbeat-
en in Portland.
“I’m a very mild-man-
nered guy, but when you
make me mad I kind of get
mad,” Coleman said.
The Bulldogs state ti-
tle defense opened with
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with a sputter. Thirteen of
15 Bulldog wrestlers won
ing it can rise to another
occasion with its play-
in round matchup with
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today in Amity. The War-
riors are 20-5 on the year
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West Valley League behind
third-ranked Dayton.
On paper, these two
squads are similar. Umatil-
la has scored 1,277 points
and allowed 893. Amity has
netted 1,272 and allowed
983. Both teams’ longest
winning streaks have been
seven games or more, and
their longest losing streaks
were just two.
That’s where the similar-
ities end.
Umatilla employs an
up-tempo style and can run
various sets on offense or
schemes on defense. Amity,
on the other hand, has its
system and sticks to it. The
Warriors possess serious
size down low and run an
aggressive 1-3-1 zone.
“I know that their posts
are pretty big, and they go
strong to the hoop,” senior
post Iri Campos said. “They
have really good weak-side
rebounds, too. They’re ag-
gressive.”
At practice Thursday,
Umatilla was working on
how to attack the Amity
zone. The Warriors allow
easy-entry passes into the
corners and short corners
due to a lack of lateral
quickness from the posts.
So the Vikings’ offensive
game plan today is to swing
the ball around the perim-
eter and get the defense
moving so they can free
up opportunities for open
jumpers.
When the Warriors
played Eastern Oregon
League rival Nyssa, Bow
said he was impressed with
the looks the Bulldogs got
on Amity’s tough 1-3-1.
“I was very impressed
with how many great looks
Nyssa got on ’em,” Bow
said. “To put that in per-
spective, we should have
a lot of opportunities to
shoot the ball and do a lot
of things against them.”
Defensively, the Lady
SEE VIKINGS/A10
SPORTS IN BRIEF
Mixed Martial
Arts action coming up
and doors open an hour before the
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ton at 7 p.m. March 21 at Hermiston Hermiston Little League
+LJK 6FKRRO 7KH ¿JKW FDUG LV D sign-ups are open
fundraiser for the Hermiston wreslt-
Registration for Hermiston Little
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over Oregon and Washington licensed League is now open. People can sign
through the Oregon State Athletic up at HermistonLittleLeague.com or
Commission. Ticket prices are $20, at a walk-in registration sessions from
5:30 p.m. to 7:30 p.m. Tuesday at the
Hermiston Convention Center. Prices
range from $35 to $75 depending on
the level of the child, and discounts
and payment plans are available and
can be seen at HermistonLittleLea-
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cate is required if a child is new to the
league. Opening ceremonies kick off
the 2015 season April 4 at the Field
of Dreams.