WEDNESDAY, MARCH 9, 2016
HERMISTONHERALD.COM • B1
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HERMISTON HOPES EXTRA
TIME LEADS TO NEW TITLE
By SAM BARBEE
Staff Writer
It’s a very natural thing to go
home when practice ends. As a
player, you’ve already gotten in
a good workout, you’ve learned
about the next team you’ll play
and have prepared for them. Af-
ter the two hours are up, it’s time
to go home, eat, shower and do
homework.
That hasn’t necessarily been
the case for the No. 5 Hermiston
girls basketball team (23-5), who
have been putting in extra work
after practice to prepare for the
state tournament which starts
Wednesday at Gill Coliseum in
Corvallis. The Bulldogs take on
the No. 4 Corvallis Spartans (20-
5) at 3:15 p.m. on Wednesday.
“We’re just excited. We’ve
been putting forth a lot of effort
and work and we’re excited with
the results that we got last year,”
sophomore Rileigh Andreason
said. “So we’re ready to be back
and prove everybody wrong.”
That extra work is a function
of coming up short in recent
years. Three years ago, the Bull-
dogs turned in their program’s
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phy, with a loss to Corvallis on
the way. Last year, the Bulldogs
did themselves one better with a
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Spartans.
This is the last go-around for
four-year varsity players Jansen
Edmiston and Sara Ramirez.
They were present for the third-
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last year’s tantalizingly close
loss to La Salle Prep. With their
experience in hand, they hope
their senior season can be the
most memorable.
“I’m more determined, more
focused than excited,” Edmis-
ton said. “It’s my last year. It’s
our last year. Mine and Sara’s
and Kiana’s ... We don’t plan on
losing a game. But if we do, we
won’t give up.”
“It’s shocking to think about
(that’s it’s the last one) because
it’s kinda sad,” Ramirez added.
“But I don’t feel any pressure.
It’s just like any of the other
three years. We’re gonna go and
play as hard as we can and come
up with what we can.”
The Bulldogs enter as the
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record, but because of how
the OSAA ranks its teams. An
important calculation in the
OSAA’s equation is the Col-
ley Ranking, which depends on
STAFF PHOTO BY E.J. HARRIS
Hermiston’s Jansen Edmiston shoots the ball guarded by Liberty’s
Andrea Gallegos in the Bulldogs’ 71-48 win against the Falcons on
Friday in Hermiston.
STAFF PHOTO BY E.J. HARRIS
Hermiston’s Hayden Meyers shoots the ball followed by Liberty’s Alyssa
Grenfell in the Bulldogs’ 71-48 win against the Falcons on Friday in
Hermiston.
playing teams within your divi-
sion. Because Hermiston played
a number of games in Arizona,
and therefore didn’t play any 5A
Oregon schools — plus playing
in the elite division in Lake Os-
wego against some 6A teams —
Hermiston doesn’t have the Col-
ley Ranking other schools do. So
they’re ranked lower.
Hermiston doesn’t take it as a
sign of disrespect. They under-
stand it’s math and doesn’t mean
much outside of who plays who.
They do recognize, though, that
it takes a bit of pressure off them,
internally and externally.
“That’s a little motivation for
us, because we feel like we’re a
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the coaches,” Hoffert said. “We
still have to go out and prove
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or second is not there. The talk
from the girls hasn’t been like
it’s been in the past because
we’re not ranked one or two.
We’re not expected to be in the
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ing to use that to our advantage.”
Now the Bulldogs once again
see the Spartans in their home
city. There is certainly familiar-
ity between these squads, but
it’ll be a tad different this year.
Corvallis is generally similar to
Hermiston: not exactly small,
but not exactly tall, either, with
good guard play and lots of ath-
leticism. This year, however,
Corvallis brings some size to
the equation, which Hermiston
is lacking. Though if Hermiston
has its way, it won’t be a detri-
ment.
“They’re big, they try to run,
believe it or not, they try to push
See TITLE, B3
Tradition never graduates for
Hermiston girls basketball
Y
ou might see the phrase
DERXW(GPLVWRQDQGKRZGLI¿FXOW
around a Hermiston
it was to become the starting
girls basketball game.
point guard as a freshman and
I’ve seen it on T-shirts, mostly,
everything that went into that. By
sported by the girls, coaches
all accounts, she handled it really
and their families, but you can
well, and has worked her way to
catch it on a banner from time
being one of the best guards in the
to time. “Tradition never
state.
graduates.”
Ramirez is quiet, but she
It’s catchy, and I liked it
plays loud. At practice, she
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shoots. When the team’s
It’s simple; just three words.
doing a drill and she’s on
But it also looks back and
the sideline, she shoots.
forward simultaneously,
When practice is over, she
which means it’s
shoots. In games, when
Sam
exceedingly well-crafted.
open, you guessed it. She
Barbee
And so, with the 5A girls FROM THE
shoots. And boy is she good
state basketball tournament SIDELINES
at it.
starting today, that phrase
These two have given a
could mean more than in years
stability over the four years that
past. If Hermiston wins, then
is invaluable. Head coach Steve
it would take on a whole new
Hoffert didn’t have to worry about
meaning.
who would distribute and who
Hermiston has boasted some
would score. Those two already
pretty good players recently.
existed and would for four years.
Maloree Moss started all 33
It was just who would go around
games for Eastern Oregon this
them.
season as a senior. But Jansen
If this isn’t the best roster
Edmiston and Sara Ramirez have
Ramirez and Edmiston have been
been bedrocks for this program.
on, than it’s very close.
Edmiston is a four-year starter
Yeah, the ranking isn’t
at point guard. Just that fact in
what it was last year, but the
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Bulldogs closed out their league
basketball story I wrote here was
schedule convincingly — with
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game against Pendleton — and
I’ve been impressed with them all
year.
Led by the seniors —
including Kiana Heehn, can’t
forget her — this Hermiston team
can run the table in Corvallis.
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URXQGDQGDUHFRQ¿GHQWWKH\FDQ
advance. I don’t sense any over-
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next-round.
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basketball team that knows it’s
good, but also knows it has to go
play. This is why Hoffert took
the team to Arizona to play really
good teams. It’s for this week.
Hermiston did well there. They’ll
do well here.
I’m not saying they’ll bring
KRPH WKH EOXH WURSK\ WKH ¿UVW
for the program. I’m saying they
have a good chance. A really good
chance.
— Sam Barbee is a sports re-
porter for the Hermiston Herald
and East Oregonian based out of
Hermiston. He can be reached by
email at sbarbee@hermistonher-
ald.com or on Twitter @SamBar-
bee1. Follow Herald Sports @
HHeraldSports.
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Falcons on
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Big third quarter
propels Hermiston
into state
quarterfinals
By MATT ENTRUP
Staff Writer
Going into halftime, the
Liberty Falcons had to be feel-
ing good about their chances
of making a run at the Hermis-
ton Bulldogs during the second
phase of action in Friday’s 5A
girls basketball state playoff
game.
By the time Hermiston junior
Hayden Meyers sank a jump-
er in the lane to close the third
quarter, the only hope the Fal-
cons had left was keeping the
score respectable.
But even that, apparently,
would be wishful thinking.
When the Bulldogs were do-
ing their thing there was nothing
the Falcons could do to slow
them down, and Hermiston
turned a dominant second half
into a 71-48 rout for a return to
Corvallis and the state bracket’s
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“It’s so exciting for all of us,”
said junior Kynzee Padilla. “Our
seniors deserve it so much, and
our whole team deserves it be-
cause we work so hard.”
The Bulldogs (22-3) were
in control the entire way, but
a lapse in the second quarter
allowed the Falcons (13-12)
to cut a nine-point lead to one
when Kenzie Pimentel sank a
three-pointer to make it a 24-23
ballgame with 3:39 left in the
frame.
“We talked all week about
the certain things we have to
do,” said Hermiston coach Steve
Hoffert. “In the second quar-
ter we didn’t do those certain
things. We did the things that al-
lows Liberty to keep themselves
in the basketball game.”
Hermiston put its foot down
there, though, and following a
Liberty timeout went on a 10-2
run to regain their buffer before
halftime.
Bulldogs junior Rileigh
$QGUHDVRQ VFRUHG ¿YH RI KHU
team-high 15 points during the
three-minute stretch, and Herm-
iston took a 34-25 lead into the
locker room.
“We just needed to step up
our defense,” she said. “We had
a lot of open looks and people
on the boards the whole time.”
STAFF PHOTO BY E.J. HARRIS
Hermiston’s Sara Ramirez shoots
the ball in front of Liberty’s Cami
Smotherman in the Bulldogs’
71-48 win against the Falcons on
Friday in Hermiston.
The second half couldn’t
have started much worse for the
Falcons, or much better for the
Bulldogs.
Hermiston
senior
Sara
Ramirez stole a lazy inbound
pass to open the third quar-
ter, and when her three-pointer
bounced out Andreason was
there for the putback. Hermis-
ton went on a 6-1 run over the
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two Liberty timeouts, which did
nothing more than delay the in-
evitable.
With Hermiston shredding
the Liberty press and dominat-
ing the offensive glass the lead
quickly ballooned, and Meyers’
basket with four seconds left in
the third made it 54-32.
“We cracked down on no
turnovers and smarter shots in
the second half,” said senior
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with 13 points and a team-high
nine rebounds. “We’d been
practicing for a couple days how
to break (the press). We’d seen
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play Pendleton who they played
in their play-in game, so we just
studied them for a couple days
and knew how to do it.”
Hoffert said the third quarter,
during which the Bulldogs out-
scored Liberty 20-7, went even
better than he could have hoped.
“It was the game plan, two
times better than we did it in
practice,” he said. “We exe-
cuted everything defensively,
offensively, and it just sort of
clicked.”
See BULLDOGS, B3