A8 • HERMISTONHERALD.COM
WEDNESDAy, FEbRuARy 20, 2019
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Dawgs end season with loss to Shadle Park
Staff photo by Kathy Aney
Hermiston’s Andrew James (11) eyes the basket during Monday’s District 8 3A playoff game against Shadle Park in Kennewick.
Hermiston wins on Saturday to keep season alive,
but falls short on the road Monday
By ANNIE FOWLER
STAFF WRITER
I
t’s not often a team will score 80
points and lose a game, but a lacklus-
ter second quarter hurt Hermiston as
it tried to extend its season Monday.
The Bulldogs were outscored 16-11
in the second and dropped a District 8
loser-out game to Shadle Park 86-80 at
Kennewick High School.
“As a coach, you never know when
it’s the last game,” said Hermiston coach
Casey Arstein, whose team finished the
season 15-8. “That’s why you play high
school sports, to learn life lessons. With
six seniors, it’s tough. I got to be their
coach for three years, it was awesome.”
The Highlanders turned around and
played Kennewick 90 minutes after their
win. Shadle Park beat the Lions 87-81 to
earn a berth to regionals.
“I couldn’t do it, but the kids have
more energy,” SP coach Arnold Brown
said with a laugh.
Brown said he had seen film of Herm-
iston before the game, but that you never
know what you will get until you step on
the court.
“They are a loaded team,” Brown
said of the Bulldogs. “Their five guards
do a good job of penetrating, kicking it
out and hitting the 3. They can score,
and we had to score with them. They
never gave up.”
It would have been easy for the Bull-
dogs to throw in the towel when they
trailed 79-64 with 3:08 remaining in
the fourth quarter, but that is not in their
nature.
Instead, they went on a 16-7 run to
cut the deficit to single digits. In the run,
Andrew James drilled a pair of 3s and
Cesar Ortiz added two buckets inside,
but they simply ran out of time.
“We played our hearts out,” said
James, who finished with 18 points in
his final high school game. “We left it all
out there. I’m proud of everyone.”
The first quarter ended tied 24-24, but
the Bulldogs trailed 24-18 with just over
a minute to play.
James drove the lane, made the bas-
ket, was fouled and made the ensuing
free throw. Ortiz, who scored a game-
high 25 points, drilled a 3 with 36 sec-
onds left to knot the score.
The Highlanders rattled off the first
eight points of the second quarter, while
the Bulldogs struggled to score. Cole
Smith hit a free throw at 4:37 to end the
drought.
Six of Hermiston’s points in the quar-
ter came from the free throw line, as the
Bulldogs trailed 40-35 at the half.
After the break, the Hilanders started
to open things up, taking a 13-point lead
— 59-46 — with 2:04 left in the third.
Ortiz hit another 3 — he finished
with six — Jordan Ramirez sank a pair
of free throws, and Ryne Andreason fin-
ished the quarter with a bucket inside to
Staff photo by Kathy Aney
See Dawgs, Page A9
Hermiston’s Jordan Ramirez goes to the hoop during Monday’s District 8 3A playoff
game against Shadle Park in Kennewick.
Kennewick bounces Hermiston from tournament
By ANNIE FOWLER
STAFF WRITER
The Kennewick Lions are on a
mission, and the Hermiston Bull-
dogs were collateral damage Satur-
day afternoon.
Aislin Fiander scored a game-
high 26 points as Kennewick
stayed alive in the District 8 play-
offs with a 71-52 victory over the
Bulldogs (8-14) at the Lions Den.
“They played well and shot the
ball really well,” Hermiston coach
Juan Rodriguez said of Kennewick.
“I thought it would be to our bene-
fit that we hadn’t played in 12 days
and they played last night. We just
didn’t score in the first half. We
were too tentative.”
“We played really well,” Kenne-
wick coach Daron Santo said. “My
biggest concern was we hadn’t had
a real practice in over a week. We
were kind of winded against Mt.
Spokane (Friday) and I was wor-
ried about that today.”
The Lions had an 18-12 lead
after the first quarter, and it didn’t
take long in the second for the Lions
to put their game into overdrive.
Fiander had 10 of her points
in the second, including a pair of
3-pointers as the Lions pushed their
lead to 38-18 at the half.
Alexis Stein came off the bench
to score six of her 11 points in the
second quarter.
“Lexi played well,” Santo said
of his 6-foot-2 freshman. “We told
her to be aggressive, and I was hop-
ing she would,”
Stein’s play inside cost the Bull-
dogs, who saw 6-4 post Jordan
Thomas rack up three fouls.
The Bulldogs had a bit of a bite
to their game in the second half as
Jazlyn Romero scored 14 of her 23
points.
“Jaz is aggressive and they have
to honor her shot,” Rodriguez said.
Rodriguez emptied his bench
the final 2 minutes of the game, and
got a combined seven points from
Katelyn Heideman, Courtnee West
and Mia Hernandez.
“We are young,” Rodriguez
said. “I knew for us to compete, Jaz
and Jordan would have to do most
of the scoring. The program as a
whole, we are in a good place.”
Thomas, in her final game for
the Bulldogs, had seven points.
“I was here when she was a
freshman,” Rodriguez said. “We
have grown together. She is a great
kid and it will be sad not to have her
on the team, and not just because
she is 6-4.”
Hermiston 12 6 13 17 — 52
Kennewick 18 20 19 14 — 71
HERMISTON — Heideman 3, West 2, young 5, Ray 5,
byrd 1, Stefani 3, Palzinski 1, Hernandez 2, Romero
23, Thomas 7.
KENNEWICK — Av.Fiander 3, Davis 10, Ai.Fiander
26, Mcbee 12, Gebers 9, Stein 11.