WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 13, 2017
HERMISTONHERALD.COM • A11
SPORTS
Hermiston girls show promise
By ALEXIS MANSANAREZ
STAFF WRITER
I
t was a tale of turnovers for the Herm-
iston girls basketball team. The Bull-
dogs gave up 26 turnovers to the Chi-
awana Redhawks, who capitalized
on each to run away with a 58-43 win
Friday.
Hermiston was coming off of its first
win of the season, a 55-38 victory over
Handford (WA) on Tuesday and in the
Bulldogs’ second home game of the
week, they got off to a good start minus
usual starter senior Maddy Juul.
Hermiston chipped away at a sev-
en-point deficit with the help of a
3-pointer by senior Hannah Thompson.
The 10-2 run knotted the score at 10
points apiece after the first quarter but
the Riverhawks (3-1) quickly reasserted
their dominance. Their 2-3 zone shut
down Hermiston’s offense and forced
mistakes that have plagued the young
team early in the season.
“The activity of their zone really
hurt us and some of our girls were a lit-
tle indecisive with the ball,” head coach
Juan Rodriguez said after the game. “We
were successful when we caught the ball
and when we attacked but when you’re
a little timid of them.”
Chiawana fed off Hermiston’s appre-
hensiveness and turned turnovers into
transition points and took advantage of
second-chance balls to push its lead to
28-16 at halftime.
In the first half alone, the Riverhawks
tallied nine steals and 17 rebounds —
compared to the Bulldogs’ two steals
and 12 rebounds.
Their depth off the bench also played
a factor in their ability to stay aggres-
sive, especially later in the game when
Hermiston’s depth was tested.
“What they do really well is they
bring three or four girls off the bench
that gives their starters some breaks and
right now that’s what we’re struggling
with,” Rodriguez said, “a little bit with
our youth and also just with girls step-
ping up and being able to fill roles and
give us positive minutes to give girls
breaks.”
The Bulldogs (1-4) caught a small
glimpse of the talent coming off their
bench, as senior Regan Meyers and
freshman Paige Palzinski racked up
eight combined points.
Hermiston also had spurts of aggres-
siveness that opened the lane for buckets
inside even with Chiawana’s 6-foot cen-
ter, Clair Eubanks, guarding the basket.
“Our effort is there and I think we
work hard all the time,” Rodriguez said.
“Now, we have to be able to channel that
into making less mistakes defensively.
Against a team like that, you make a
mistake, they are going to make you pay
and even when you play good defense
they are going to make a tough shot. So,
it’s just those little things that will win us
Hermiston’s Paige Palzinski (14) goes
up for a shot during Friday’s non-league
game against Chiawana.
STAFF PHOTO BY KATHY ANEY
Hermiston’s Hannah Thompson looks to pass around Mykila Burton (20), of Chiawana,
during Friday’s non-league game in Hermiston.
Hermiston’s Jordan Thomas (34) shoots over Alyssa Agundis (2), of Chiawana, during
Friday’s non-league game in Hermiston.
Hermiston’s Jazlyn Romero (22) gets
around Macey Morales (1), of Chiawana,
during Friday’s non-league game.
games down the road and that team has
a lot of athletes. I was happy with the
spurts of what we did, but then again we
have to put 32 minutes together.”
Eubanks was second behind senior
Kennedy Cartwright, who scored a
game-high 20 points on the night.
Eubanks finished with 15 of her own
with three blocks and three steals.
After a standout night for sopho-
more Jazlyn Romero on Tuesday, when
she led all scorers with 15 points and
was near perfect from the charity stripe
— missing only one of six free throw
attempts — it was a few other Bulldogs
who stepped up Friday.
Junior Madison Wilson was the most
aggressive Bulldog on defense and fin-
ished with a team-high three steals and
one block.
Junior Jordan Thomas led Hermis-
ton with 12 points, and senior Hannah
Thompson trailed with nine.
Hermiston hit the road Tuesday for
the first of two games. The results from
the match up against Cleveland were not
available at press time. The Bulldogs
will return home Friday and host Clack-
amas for a 5 p.m. tipoff.
Pirates come out of tournament 2-1
UMATILLA — The River-
side Pirates joined eight other
local schools in the Columbia
River Clash. The three-day tour-
nament began Thursday with the
girls basketball team facing Pilot
Rock. The Pirates continued their
win streak after a dramatic finish
over the Rockets. Riverside held
on to defeat the Pilot Rock Rock-
ets 38-36 thanks to a strong second
half performance from senior Sky-
lar Wightman and a bucket at the
buzzer.
Wightman had an impressive
outing with a game-high 13 points.
The Rockets outscored River-
side in the second half but a strong
opening gave the Pirates just
enough cushion to pull away with
the win.
On Friday, the Pirates stayed
unbeaten on the season with a
45-14 win over Stanfield.
Abby Hernandez scored a game-
high 18 points to lead the Pirates
and Alondra Caldera notched six
points.
When Faith Bible and Riverside
met Saturday, only one would keep
their undefeated record. Unfortu-
nately for the Pirates, it was the
Faith Bible Cougars that came out
of the weekend unscathed.
Faith Bible’s 40-35 defeat over
Riverside did show the Pirates’
will to win. After a forgettable first
half, the Pirates (5-1) came out of
halftime with new found energy.
Junior Brendy Avalos led the
group with a team-high 13 points
and three 3-pointers in the third
quarter that sparked a Riverside
comeback.
“We outplayed them in the
second half,” head coach Clair
Costello said. “(They) really bat-
tled, and made it hard for (Faith
Bible).”
Down 29-9 at the break, Riv-
erside began chipping away at
its deficit to give the Cougars a
scare. Making few mistakes with
only seven total turnovers, River-
side put up a good defensive effort
racking up 13 steals. But it was no
match for Faith Bible or the pow-
erful Fajer duo — Sarah and Katie
Fajer combined for 34 total points.
UMATILLA VIKINGS
The Umatilla Vikings defended
their home floor and edged out
Union on Thursday to earn their
first victory of the season at the
Clash.
A loss 50-20 loss on Friday to
Faith Bible was a speed bump on
Umatilla’s narrow victory to close
out the tournament.
The Vikings (2-3) defeated
Stanfield 49-41 to cap of their busy
weekend of play.
STANFIELD TIGERS
At Umatilla, Mac-Hi defeated
Stanfield to notch their first win of
the season at the Columbia River
Clash tournament on Thursday
afternoon.
The Riverside Pirates stayed
unbeaten on the season with a win
over Stanfield at the Columbia
River Clash on Friday.
Abby Hernandez scored a game-
high 18 points to lead the Pirates
(5-0) and Alondra Caldera had six
points. Kylee McClure was Stan-
field’s high-scorer with seven points.
The Tigers skid continued Sat-
urday after the 49-41 loss to Uma-
tilla. Stanfield now sits a 0-7 on the
season.
ECHO COUGARS
On the first day of the Clash,
Echo was handed its second loss
of the season — a 52-14 loss to
Faith Bible.
The Cougars got over some of
their shooting woes on Friday, as
senior Marti Huff scored 23 points
but it was not enough to lead her
team to a win. Echo fell 42-34 to
Union.
Huff scored her team-high on
7-of-13 shooting and added eight
rebounds as well for the Cougars.
The Cougars (2-3) were able
to leave the Clash with one win,
a 47-25 victory over Mac-Hi on
Saturday.
Barnard leads boys to second place finish
HERMISTON HERALD
BAKER CITY — Junior Ryan
Barnard and senior Carson Wrath-
all had the best finishes of any
Bulldog at the Baker City Meet on
Saturday. In the second meet of the
young season, Barnard earned a
first place finish in the boys 100-
yard backstroke after clocking
1:00.95 and Wrathall finished first
in the 50-yard freestyle in 24:32.
The top performance added 14
points to the boys total.
The boys team finished with 67
points, good for second place and
edged out Pendleton (66) by only
one point.
The girls team rounded out
fourth place with a combined score
of 19. Despite scoring 40 points
below the third-place finisher,
Pendleton (59), the Bulldogs had
some standout performances from
two underclassmen.
Sophomore Jenna Thomas fin-
ished in third place in both the
100-yard freestyle (1:18.89) and
the 50-yard freestyle (36.38).
Freshman Georgia Steven-
son also made it into the top three
during her first year on the team.
Stevenson finished in third place
in the 100-yard backstroke with a
time of 1:17.62.
For Hermiston, along with three
other individuals who earned top
three finishes, two relay teams also
finished in the top three.
Full top three results for both
are listed below.
————
Hermiston Top-3 Finishers
Boys 200-yard medley relay
2. Hermiston (Carson Wrathall, Lane Stevenson,
Ryan Barnard, Seth Buck), 1:55.27
Boys 50-yard freestyle
1. Carson Wrathall, 24:32
Boys 100-yard freestyle
2. Ryan Barnard, 54.95
3. Lane Stevenson, 1:01.31
Girls 100-yard backstroke
3. Georgia Stevenson, 1:17.62
Boys 100-yard backstroke
1. Ryan Barnard, 1:00.95
Boys 100-yard breaststroke
2. Carson Wrathall, 1:07.43
3. Seth Buck, 1:14.07
Boys 400-yard freestyle relay
1. Hermiston (Wrathall, Buck, Stevenson, Barnard),
3:47.01
Team Scores
Combined
1. La Grande, 281; 2. Pendleton, 125; 3. Baker, 91;
4. Hermiston, 86.
Girls
1. La Grande, 161; 2. Baker, 64; 3. Pendleton, 59; 4.
Hermiston 19.
Boys
1. La Grande, 120; 2. Hermiston, 67; 3. Pendleton,
66; 4. Baker, 27.
SCHEDULE
Local slate
PREP BOYS BASKETBALL
Wednesday
Hermiston at Walla Walla (WA), 7 p.m.
Friday
Condon/Wheeler vs. Mac-Hi (at Pilot Rock),
4:30 p.m.
Ione vs. Riverside (at Stanfield), 4:30 p.m.
Umatilla vs. Gervais (at Amity), 4:45 p.m.
Putnam at Pendleton, 7 p.m.
Wallowa at Nixyaawii, 7 p.m.
Echo at Helix, 7 p.m.
Heppner at Imbler, 7:30 p.m.
Weston-McEwen at Grant Union, 7:30 p.m.
Enterprise at Pilot Rock, 7:30 p.m.
Elgin at Stanfield, 7:30 p.m.
Irrigon at Union, 7:30 p.m.
Saturday
Mac-Hi vs. Enterprise (at Pilot Rock), 2:30 p.m.
Hermiston at Lewiston (ID), 3 p.m.
Echo at Pine Eagle, 3 p.m.
Helix at Wallowa, 5 p.m.
Weston-McEwen at Imbler, 5:30 p.m.
Grant Union at Heppner, 5:30 p.m.
Condon/Wheeler at Pilot Rock, 5:30 p.m.
Cove at Nixyaawii, 5:30 p.m.
Stanfield vs. TBD (at Stanfield), TBD
Ione vs. TBD (at Stanfield), TBD
Riverside vs. TBD (at Stanfield), TBD
Umatilla vs. TBD (at Amity), TBD
PREP GIRLS BASKETBALL
Thursday
Wilsonville at Pendleton, 7 p.m.
Friday
Condon/Wheeler vs. Mac-Hi (at Pilot Rock), 3
p.m.
Umatilla vs. Gervais (at Amity), 3 p.m.
Ione vs. Riverside (at Stanfield), 3 p.m.
Heppner at Imbler, 3 p.m.
Wallowa at Nixyaawii, 5 p.m.
Irrigon at Union, 6 p.m.
Weston-McEwen at Grant Union, 6 p.m.
Enterprise at Pilot Rock, 6 p.m.
Elgin at Stanfield, 6 p.m.
Echo at Helix, 6 p.m.
Saturday
Mac-Hi vs. Enterprise (at Pilot Rock), 1 p.m.
Echo at Pine Eagle, 4 p.m.
Cove at Nixyaawii, 4 p.m.
Weston-McEwen at Imbler, 4 p.m.
Grant Union at Heppner, 4 p.m.
Condon/Wheeler at Pilot Rock, 4 p.m.
Helix at Wallowa, 5 p.m.
La Grande vs. Irrigon (at Hermiston), 7 p.m.
Ione vs. TBD (at Stanfield), TBD
Umatilla vs. TBD (at Amity), TBD
Stanfield vs. TBD (at Stanfield), TBD
Riverside vs. TBD (at Stanfield), TBD
PREP WRESTLING
Friday
Hermiston at Tri-State (ID)
Pendleton at Banks
Echo at Twin Falls (ID)
Irrigon vs. Riverside
Saturday
Hermiston at Tri-State (ID)
Pendleton at Liberty Tournament (Hillsboro)
Mac-Hi, Riverside, Irrigon, Heppner, Echo at
Mac-Hi Christmas Tournament
PREP SWIMMING
Saturday
Pendleton, Hermiston at La Grande