A10 • HERMISTONHERALD.COM
WEDNESDAy, DECEMbER 26, 2018
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BULLDOGS SURVIVE IN OT
Staff photo by Kathy Aney
Hermiston’s Jazlyn Romero (22) faces a Sunnyside defender
during Saturday’s game at the Dawg House.
Hermiston scores
two league wins
before Christmas
By ANNIE FOWLER
STAFF WRITER
Sometimes, even your
best is not enough.
Jordan Thomas scored
23 points and the Hermis-
ton girls put forth one of
their best efforts Saturday
night, but Sunnyside held
onto beat the Bulldogs
51-46 in a nonleague game
at the Dawg House.
“Sunnyside is really
good,” Hermiston coach
Juan Rodriguez said. “I
was pleased, to say the
least. I was pleased with
our defensive effort. That
is the best we have played
against a really good
team.”
In the fourth, the Bull-
dogs got 3-pointers from
Jazlyn Romero and Jayden
Ray to trim the Grizzlies’
lead to 47-43, and a free
throw from Thomas cut the
lead to three points.
Down 49-46, Thomas
and Romero missed back-
to-back shots off the glass
with 25 seconds remain-
ing. A turnover with 9 sec-
onds left, and two free
throws by Ashlee Maldo-
nado with 5 seconds left
on the clock, took away
any hope of a win for the
Bulldogs.
“We lost to a good
team, and other than that
last minute of the second
quarter, we controlled the
game,” Rodriguez said.
“We played our tempo. We
had chances to win.”
Romero added 10
points for the Bulldogs,
while Ray had seven.
The loss put the brakes
on a three-game winning
streak for Hermiston.
Hanford found out Fri-
day that it didn’t not have
the players to stop Thomas,
who poured in 26 points
— 15 in the second half —
to lead the Bulldogs to a
61-33 MCC road win over
the Falcons.
“Jordan is back in the
groove and the young girls
are learning to get her the
ball,” Hermiston coach
Rodriguez said. “I chal-
lenged Jordan at halftime.
I told her these girls should
not be able to guard you.
She was able to stay on the
court. She didn’t get tired
or get in foul trouble.”
It was all Hermiston in
the second half.
The Bulldogs went on a
20-4 tear in the third quar-
ter, getting 3-pointers from
Jazlyn Romero, Kaylee
Young and Katelyn Heide-
man, and nine points from
Thomas.
On Tuesday, Dec. 18,
the Hermiston girls picked
up their first Mid-Colum-
bia Conference win.
The Bulldogs used a
41-17 run in the second
half to pull away and beat
Southridge 67-35 at the
Dawg House.
The Bulldogs trailed
10-6 after the first quarter,
but got their act together
in the second behind six
points from Jayden Ray
and five from Jazlyn
Romero for a 26-17 lead at
the half.
Kendall Dowdy scored
seven of her nine points in
the second half, and Ray
had six as Hermiston got
scoring from all but one
player on the night.
“We need our role play-
ers to do these things,”
Rodriguez said. “Teams
are going to take away
Jordan (Thomas) and Jaz
away. They need to know
what to do.”
Of Hermiston’s 19
points in the third quar-
ter, nine came off 3-point-
ers from Dowdy, Sydney
Seavert and Heideman.
BOX SCORE
Sunnyside 10 20 13 8 — 51
Hermiston 13 10 11 12 — 46
SUNNySIDE — Weets 2, New-
house 14, Ash.Maldonado 14,
Garcia 9, Rodriguez 12.
HERMISTON — young 2,
Ray 7, Stefanie 2, Dowdy 2,
Romero 10, Thomas 23.
Staff photo by Kathy Aney
Hermiston’s Adrian Mendez (34) goes to the hoop as Alexis Espinosa of Sunnyside defends during Saturday’s game at the Dawg
House.
By ANNIE FOWLER
STAFF WRITER
A
last-second 3-pointer
by Ryne Andreason
sent Saturday’s game
into overtime, and the
6-foot-3 senior added eight
points in the extra session as
Hermiston eked out a 75-71
nonleague win over Sunny-
side at the Dawg House.
“I felt like we were wear-
ing ugly Christmas sweat-
ers there for a while,” Herm-
iston coach Casey Arstein
said. “We didn’t have the
best start, but it’s nice to get
a win going into the break.”
Andreason finished with
a game-high 29 points,
while Cesar Ortiz added 23,
including three 3-pointers.
“We were pretty tired
from Hanford (on Friday),
but we came out on top,”
Ortiz said. “We have a lot
to work on. Richland is up
next, and they are pretty
good.”
Trailing the entire game
since leading 2-0, Hermis-
ton (8-1, 4-1 MCC) took a
52-50 lead with 35 seconds
left in the third quarter on
a basket by Andrew James,
and Ortiz drained a 3-pointer
from the top of the key for a
55-50 lead.
James scored nine of his
15 points in the third, and
Ortiz also had nine as the
Bulldogs went on a 24-11
run to get back in the game.
A bucket by Jordan
Ramirez to open the fourth
quarter extended Hermis-
ton’s lead to 57-50, but the
Grizzlies were relentless.
Sunnyside (2-7) went on
an 8-1 run to tie the score at
58-58, then jumped out to a
64-58 lead on a basket by
Alex Lopez with 1:03 left in
regulation.
Ramirez hit the front
end of a one-and-one, and
Andreason followed with a
pair of free throws to pull
the Bulldogs within 64-61
with 28 seconds left.
Hermiston then pressured
the Grizzlies when they
inbounded the ball, and got
a 10-second violation called
against Sunnyside to get
possession of the ball.
Andreason drained a 3
from the top of the key with
2.6 seconds remaining to
knot the score at 64-64.
“We have a couple of
sets that give us multiple
options,” Arstein said. “We
executed decent, and Ryno
hit a nice shot.”
Andreason and James
sealed the win when James
put his quarterback skills
to work with a three-quar-
ter court pass to Andreason,
who finished with an easy
layup.
“We executed in the end,
and our intensity was up,”
Arstein said. “I was proud
our kids kept their heads
up. We saw what we need
to work on the next 13 days
— offense, defense and
rebounding.”
The thriller followed a
letdown on Friday, as Herm-
iston fell 74-62 to Hanford
for its first MCC loss.
Connor
Woodward
scored a game-high 31 points
as the Falcons knocked the
Bulldogs from the unbeaten
ranks.
“Hanford punched us
in the mouth,” Hermiston
coach Casey Arstein said.
“We didn’t play very well
defensively. I thought Han-
ford did a good job picking
their spots. We never made
the real run you need.”
Woodward, who aver-
ages 25.5 points per game,
had a season-high 45 points
against Sunnyside two
weeks ago. Friday, his point
total included three 3’s, and
an 11-of-12 performance
from the free-throw line.
“Jordan (Ramirez) did
a pretty good job on him
until he got in foul trou-
ble,” Arstein said. “But he
is going to hit his shots. We
are going to be fine. We just
have to fix some stuff.”
On Tuesday, Dec. 18,
Southridge gave Hermis-
ton a bit of a scare, but the
Bulldogs put together a solid
fourth quarter to win the
league game.
Andreason scored 21
points, and Jordan Ramirez
added 14 as the Bulldogs
went on a 19-12 run in the
fourth quarter for a 61-54
Mid-Columbia Conference
victory over the Suns at the
Dawg House.
“That is one of the slop-
piest games we have played
in two years,” Hermiston
coach Casey Arstein said.
“That has to be fixed. They
hit some shots that put us in
a tight spot, but somehow
we came out with the W.”
BOX SCORE
Sunnyside 20 19 11 14 6 — 71
Hermiston 14 17 24 9 11 — 75
SUNNySIDE — Copeland 27,
Lopez 8, Oswalt 2, Escamilla 8,
Singleterry 23, Rodriguez 3.
HERMISTON — Andreason 29,
Ortiz 23, James 15, Smith 2,
Ramirez 4, Mendez 2.
Madi Wilson signs to run track at EWU
By ANNIE FOWLER
STAFF WRITER
he first time Hermis-
ton track coach Emilee
Strot saw Madi Wil-
son run, she knew the girl
had a future in the sport.
Wednesday,
Wilson
proved her coach right, sign-
ing a letter of intent to run
track at Eastern Washington
University.
“She is a really special
kid,” Strot said. “This is a
big deal. High school ath-
letes want to go D-I, and they
have a high level of compe-
tition and a great team.”
For Wilson, she said
Eastern was a great fit for
her when she went for her
official visit.
“My first instinct was,
T
this is amazing,” she said. “I
felt at home. I loved it.”
Wilson said her scholar-
ship will cover tuition and
books. If she shows marked
improvement over the years,
the scholarship will increase.
At EWU, Wilson will put
her talents to use in the hep-
tathlon. She did a couple this
past summer, and knows she
needs to improve in the shot
put and javelin.
Wilson, who runs the 100
and 300 hurdle events, and
legs on the 4x100 and 4x400
relay teams, started running
track in elementary school.
“The high school kids put
on a meet for kids 4 years
old through fifth grade,” she
said. “I did that for as long
as I can remember. The 400
was my baby. Running track
was my sport.”
She also got a boost from
her parents. Her dad BJ
played football and was a
decathlete at Central Wash-
ington University, while her
mom, Crystal, played bas-
ketball at Lower Columbia
Community College, then
continued at CWU, where
she also competed in track.
Strot got her first look
at Wilson when she was a
freshman. With basketball
season running long, Wilson
only had a couple of prac-
tices before she hit the track.
“I didn’t know who she
was, and she missed the
first couple of weeks of
training,” Strot said. “We
brought her to a meet and
my jaw dropped. We put her
in a JV race and she crushed
it. I knew she would do great
things.”
And she has.
She has gone to state
every year since she was a
freshman, picking up her
first medal in the 4x400
relay, where the Bulldogs
placed eighth. She also went
in the 100 hurdles, but did
not place.
As a sophomore, she was
second at state in the 100
hurdles, sixth in the 300 hur-
dles, and the 4x400 relay
team finished second.
Last year, she was second
at state in the 100 hurdles
in a time of 14.98 seconds.
She was fifth in the 300 hur-
dles (46.70), the 4x100 relay
was second (49.05), and
the 4x400 team was sixth
(4:07.70).
Staff photo by Annie Fowler
Hermiston’s Madi Wilson signed a letter of intent Wednesday
to run track at Eastern Washington University.