A10 • HERMISTONHERALD.COM
WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 11, 2019
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Bulldogs
top Davis in
home opener
EO Media Group Photo/Ronald Bond
Hermiston’s Trent Pitney (2) looks for
a teammate after stealing the ball
From La Grande’s Nick DuVernay
Wednesday during a nonleague
basketball game in La Grande.
Hermiston boys
take down
La Grande in
season opener
By RONALD BOND
EO MEDIA GROUP
Staff photo by Kathy Aney
Jayden Ray (10), of Hermiston, shoots under pressure during a game Dec. 3 against Davis at the Dawg House.
Hermiston hits from long
range to beat La Grande
HERMISTON HERALD
Davis may have brought the height that
Hermiston lacked, but little did the Pirates
know they would be no match for two of
the Dawgs’ smallest players.
Sophomore Katelyn Heideman, a
5-foot, 4-inch guard, and junior Makaylee
Young, a 5-5 guard, each poured in a
game-high 16 points to help Hermiston
take down Davis 77-51 in its Dec. 3, home
opener for girls basketball.
The Pirates had four players at 6-foot or
taller, there was nothing they could do to
stop the Hermiston duo from pushing the
Bulldogs out front early.
“With their height, they had a disad-
vantage,” Young said of Davis. “We were
able to block them out. We came out with
straight fi re tonight.”
Heideman opened play with a 3-pointer
not 40 seconds into the fi rst quarter. From
there, Young hit back-to-back treys, and
Heideman sunk one more of her own at
the fi ve-minute mark to put the Bulldogs
ahead 14-2.
Heideman hit one more 3-pointer, and
junior guard Jayden Ray knocked down a
bucket in the fi nal seconds of the quarter
to keep Hermiston up 25-12 at the buzzer.
“They were confi dent,” Hermiston head
coach Maloree Moss said of Heideman and
Young. “They were ready to shoot the ball.
They’ve practiced and practiced. They’re
just dedicated girls. They work hard, and
that showed tonight.”
Alexis Kessell followed Heideman and
By RONALD BOND
EO MEDIA GROUP
Staff photo by Kathy Aney
Katelyn Heideman (1), of Hermiston, gets
ready to shoot Dec. 3 during a game against
Davis at the Dawg House.
Young with 12 points, while Ray had 11.
SUNNYSIDE 51, HERMISTON 46
— Hermiston suffered its fi rst loss of the
season Saturday, dropping a 51-46 game at
Sunnyside in a nonleague matchup.
A 14-6 Sunnyside run in the second
quarter kept the Dawgs down for good.
Hermiston outscored Sunnyside 19-18 in
the fi nal eight minutes, but could not over-
come their early defi cit.
Katelyn Heideman fi nished with a
team-high 16 points, three 3-pointers,
and a 7-for-7 performance at the line in
the fourth quarter for Hermiston. Kendall
Dowdy recorded 12 rebounds.
The Hermiston Bulldogs used bal-
anced scoring and a big night from
the 3-point line to hold off a pesky
La Grande squad on a night their best
player spent a lot of time on the bench
in foul trouble.
Katelyn Heideman led four play-
ers in scoring with 15 points, Jaz-
lyn Romero added 13 and Hermiston
held off every La Grande run to escape
with a 64-56 road win Monday night
in their fi nal contest before beginning
Mid-Columbia Conference play Fri-
day in Pasco, Washington.
“They’ve had to do that the last
couple of games. Jaz has been getting
in a little bit of foul trouble lately, and
we’ve had some awesome kids step
into their role and be fearless,” Herm-
iston head coach Maloree Moss said.
“Tonight, Mia (Hernandez) and Kate-
lyn (and) Makaylee (Young) took on
some big leadership which is awe-
some. They had to turn it on a little
bit.”
Romero missed most of the sec-
ond quarter after picking up her third
foul 23 seconds into the period, then
was back on the bench after getting her
fourth barely a minute into the third.
The Hermiston Bulldogs used
balanced scoring and crisp pass-
ing — an emphasis of head coach
Drew Preuninger — to pick up a
win in their season opener.
Jaime Ramirez led four players
in scoring with 12 points, and the
Bulldogs never trailed in defeating
the La Grande Tigers on the road
Wednesday, 60-44.
“That’s one thing we’ve been
really working on is trying to pass
more,” Preuninger said. “I know in
the past we usually dribble-drive.
I’m trying to get more passing, cut-
ting (and) screening away.”
Hermiston’s perimeter passing
and kickouts led to four fi rst-half
3-pointers as the Bulldogs built a
29-19 halftime lead, and seven 3s
on the night. But in the second half
it was interior passing that helped
set up baskets in the paint and
helped Hermiston pull away .
“I would love to see them get it
inside more, though,” Preuninger
said. “That’s one thing at halftime
I was saying (to the team). I know
we don’t have height, but if we get
it inside it opens up the outside. ...
They did it a couple more times
(in the second half), which I was
happy about.”
Ramirez, Ivan Rangel and Trent
Pitney were among those who
got into the paint to score for the
Bulldogs in the second half. Two
layups by Ramirez, a drive by Ser-
gio Madrigal and two fi eld goals by
Pitney were all part of a 17-5 run
that spanned the third and fourth
quarters. The run pushed a sev-
en-point Hermiston lead to 58-39
midway through the fourth quarter
— the largest lead of the game.
Ramirez was joined in double
fi gures by Rangel and AJ Ramos,
both of whom scored 11 points,
and by Jaiden Ruloph, who added
10, including a pair of third-quarter
3s to help stem a La Grande run.
For more, see www.hermiston-
herald.com.
Dyer, Wagner help Dawgs take down Suns in wrestling
Hermiston never trailed en
route to a 41-29 MCC victory
By ANNIE FOWLER
STAFF WRITER
Hunter Dyer knew he couldn’t
afford to give up any points with
his team leading by just nine points
with two matches left.
The Hermiston sophomore did
his part with a fi rst-round pin of
Arturo Cardoza at 132 pounds to
put the match out of reach and help
the Bulldogs to a 41-29 victory
Thursday over the visiting South-
ridge Suns in the Mid-Columbia
Conference opener for both teams.
“What I knew, is I had to come
out as strong as I could,” Dyer
said. “I needed to push the pace.
Opening up with a win is a bet-
ter start than we had last year. We
have more talent than we’ve had
the past couple of years.”
Southridge coach Rich Cun-
ningham said he knew his Suns
were in for a battle.
“I knew they were much
Staff photo by Ben Lonergan
Hermiston junior Trevor Wagner wrestles Southridge’s Ryan Stayrook in
the 170-pound match at Hermiston High School on Thursday night. Wagner
won the match 11-4.
improved,” he said of the Bull-
dogs. “They are ranked fairly high.
We have so many young kids. I’m
proud of my guys.”
The Dawg House was rocking
for the 170-pound match between
Hermiston’s Trevor Wagner and
Southridge’s Ryan Stayrook.
Wagner, who placed fourth at
160 pounds at the 3A state tour-
nament last year, jumped out to
6-0 lead after the fi rst round, and
led 8-2 after two. An escape and a
takedown in the third helped Wag-
ner to an 11-4 victory.
“He is frickin’ ripped out of his
mind,” Wagner said of Stayrook.
“I wrestled my match and things
turned out well. I didn’t really look
at the score too much. I knew he
was good and I wasn’t going to
give up. It feels good to get a team
win under our belts to start it off.”
Wagner said he wasn’t sure if he
would drop back down to 160 this
season, but acknowledged that he
could.
“I have a little football fat left
on me,” he said, pinching his
mid-section. “We’ll see how the
season goes.”
Hermiston coach Kyle Larson
said it’s matches like Wagner’s that
will put the fans in the stands.
“When you wrestle a tough guy
at home, give the fans what they
came to see,” Larson said.
Cunningham said it was the
must-see match of the night.
“It was fun,” he said. “In the
third, Ryan was dragging. They
are both great athletes. After the
match, he (Stayrook) wanted to
know when we would see them
again.”
Trailing 13-0, Southridge
posted back-to-back pins by
Shawn Gegg (182) and Cody Hud-
son (195) to pull within 13-12 of
the Bulldogs’ six matches into the
action, but Hermiston quickly got
back on track.
Sam Cadenas pinned South-
ridge’s Lucas Martin early in the
second round at 220, and Dustyn
Coughlin followed with a pin of
Gavin Johnson in 2:37 to give the
Bulldogs a 25-12 lead.
The Suns picked up a forfeit at
106, but Zayne Helfer got a few of
those points back for the Bulldogs
with a 10-0 win over Soe Moe Lat
at 113.
Southridge cut the defi cit to
29-24 with a pin by Chris Cue-
vas at 120, but consecutive pins
by Adrian Delgado (126) and Dyer
sealed the win.
“It’s a start,” Larson said of the
win. “We had some last-minute
changes with guys fi lling in where
needed.”
For more, see www.hermiston-
herald.com.