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A8 • HERMISTONHERALD.COM WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 29, 2020 HeraldSports Follow sports on Twitter @HHeraldSports DAWGS EDGE PASCO IN OT PREPS ROUNDUP Staff photo by Kathy Aney Hermiston’s Tyler Lin (3) looks to pass to a teammate during Friday’s game against Southridge at the Dawg House. Dawgs fall short against Suns By ANNIE FOWLER SPORTS EDITOR Staff photo by Kathy Aney Hermiston’s Kaylee Young (left) and Jazlyn Romero exult after winning Tuesday’s overtime game against the Pasco Bulldogs. Jazlyn Romero poured in 36 points and grabbed 10 rebounds to lead Hermiston By ANNIE FOWLER SPORTS EDITOR Jazlyn Romero played every second of the Bulldogs’ Jan. 21 Mid-Columbia Conference game against Pasco. The Hermiston senior guard made the most of her time on the court, scoring a career-high 36 points as the Bulldogs came away with a 72-61 overtime vic- tory at the Dawg House. “They took a game from us earlier,” said Romero, who also had 10 rebounds. “We had to make sure to get that split.” Romero’s 36 points is just two shy of the school record of 38, held by Alissa Edwards. “I don’t think I have ever been so proud of someone,” Hermis- ton coach Maloree Moss said. “She got beat up. She played every single second, but we had to have her and Jayden Ray on the floor for defense. Offen- sively, they couldn’t stop her.” Pasco (9-4, 6-4 MCC) led 55-54 with 24 seconds left in regulation. Romero hit two free throws with 5 seconds remaining for a 56-55 lead. Mya Groce drove the lane in the final second, and was fouled, putting her at the line for two. Groce missed the first free throw, but made the second to tie Staff photo by Kathy Aney Hermiston’s Jazlyn Romero is fouled as she goes to the hoop near the end of an overtime game Tuesday against Pasco. the score and send the game into overtime. “I thought it was over when she went to the line,” Romero said. “She missed the first one, and Kaylee (Young) said ‘We got this.’” Romero drained a 3-pointer from the top of the key to open overtime. Over the course of the 4-minute period, she went 7 of 7 from the free-throw line and fin- ished with 12 points. “I had already taken over when I hit that 3,” Romero said, “but it was go time. Tonight wasn’t about me, it was about us. That W would not have been a W without all of us.” Hermiston (8-6, 5-5 MCC) led 12-10 after the first quarter, but Pasco went on a 22-13 run in the second to take a 32-25 lead at the half. Pasco kept its foot on the gas in the third, taking a 43-36 lead into the fourth quarter. It was there that things started to fall apart for Pasco, which had an eight-point lead with 5:51 to play. Foul trouble plagued Pasco, which saw Taija Mackey foul out, taking away its inside pres- ence, and Aniyah Heavens pick up her fifth foul with 1:09 to play. Hermiston had a steady stream of players go to the free- throw line. The Bulldogs were 10 of 17 from the line in the fourth, but it was just enough to pull them back into the game. “It was a good team effort,” Moss said. “Our sideline was so engaged, and that energy went out onto the floor. They commu- nicated, and the leadership from our captains (Romero, Young and Ray) was awesome.” Katelyn Heideman added 11 points for Hermiston, while Young had 10 and Kendall Dowdy eight. Taleya Maiden led Pasco with 15 points, nine coming in the second quarter. Ashtyn Nel- son added 10 points, with seven coming after halftime. Two Dawgs sign to play soccer at CBC Lanie Gomez and Cydney Lind will join strong Hawks squad By ANNIE FOWLER SPORTS EDITOR When Lanie Gomez and Cyd- ney Lind were in middle school, they were bitter rivals on the soc- cer field. In fact, Lind said they did not like each other. Fast forward a few years, and the two Hermiston seniors were signing their letters of intent together last Wednesday to con- tinue playing together at Colum- bia Basin College in Pasco, Washington. “I’m really excited to be there with Lanie,” said Lind, who plays midfielder and defender. “As freshmen, we hated each other, but now I couldn’t imag- ine playing with anyone else. We have been through some hard times and games, and that has brought us closer as friends and teammates.” Gomez, a goalie, said neither player had gotten much interest, except from CBC. “We went together to one of their practices and we had a lot of fun,” Gomez said. “I was a lit- tle nervous, but I did what I had to do. The players were a lot of fun and had a lot of energy. It was too good of an offer to pass up.” The Hawks finished second in the NWAC East last fall and advanced to the NWAC playoffs. They finished with a record of 15-2-4. Staff photo by Annie Fowler Hermiston soccer players Lanie Gomez, left, and Cydney Lind signed letters of intent on Wednesday to play at Columbia Basin College. Hermiston was within six points of Southridge after the third quar- ter, but the Suns went on a 23-14 run the final quarter to seal a 67-52 Mid-Columbia Conference win Friday over the Bulldogs. “Our game plan was to stop (Tristan) Smith,” Hermiston boys basketball coach Drew Preuninger said. “He had 13 points. We ran a guy to double him. He only had four points in the first half. I was proud of them for that.” The Suns had a 20-15 lead after the first quarter, and led 28-24 at the half. The third quarter once again was an issue for the Bulldogs, but they rallied to score 14 points. “We started the third terrible,” Preuninger said. “I think they had an 8-0 run and we were down by 11. I called a time out, we battled back and scored some points.” Trent Pitney had a career-high 19 points to lead the Bulldogs (2-13, 1-11 MCC), 10 in the sec- ond half. “Offensively, Trent does some good things,” Preuninger said. “I put pressure on him to score. I’m proud of him for getting his career high.” Chase Elliott added nine points, and AJ Ramos-Barron seven for the Bulldogs, who will host Chi- awana at 7:30 p.m. Tuesday. Donavyn Perry led the Suns (5-11, 4-8 MCC) with 15 points, while Eddie Marines had14. PASCO 74, HERMISTON 58 — The third quarter has haunted the Hermiston boys basketball team all season, and their Jan. 21 game was no exception. The Bulldogs held a 16-12 lead after the first quarter, and led 39-26 at the half. It was a 17-4 run in the third quarter by Pasco that turned the tide and led to a Mid-Columbia Conference win over Hermiston. “Tonight was tough,” Preun- inger said. “The group of kids who are still around, I’m proud of them and the way they played early on. Our energy went down toward the end of the first half and carried over into the second.” Hermiston (2-11, 1-9 MCC) got a career-high 24 points from soph- omore Chase Elliott, nine from Trent Pitney and eight from Ivan Rangel. “Chase is our guy offensively,” Preuninger said. “With the couple of guys who have removed them- selves from our team, we need somebody else to step up and score. For us to get some wins, AJ (Ramos-Barron) and Ivan need to score for us.” Pasco’s Ethan Legard led all scorers with 36 points. Realignment shakes up MCC, moving Kamiakin and Walla Walla Hermiston will remain in 3A division, which will have expanded state tournaments By ANNIE FOWLER SPORTS EDITOR The Washington Interscholas- tic Activities Association (WIAA) released the classification num- bers for the 2020-24 cycle Sun- day, and while Hermiston will remain in the 3A classification, the Mid-Columbia Conference will have a different look come fall. Kamiakin will move up to 4A, while Walla Walla will move down to 3A. The realignment still gives the MCC four 3A schools — Herm- iston, Kennewick, Southridge and Wa-Hi. The 4A schools are Kami- akin, Hanford, Richland, Pasco and Chiawana, which is the larg- est high school in Washington with more than 2,100 students in grades 9-11. The MCC teams still will play a regular-season schedule, then split for the playoffs. The MCC is part of District 8 with the Spokane schools, where three 4A schools — Ferris, Uni- versity and Mead — will drop to 3A and join Cheney, North Cen- tral (2A for football) and Mt. Spokane. Because of the large number of 3A schools (79), the amount of playoff berths a district receives will change, but those numbers have not been announced. “We don’t know about the allocations, but it could be at least one or more,” Hermiston athletic director Larry Usher said. What is known is that the 3A will move from 16-team state tournaments to 20 teams for foot- ball, volleyball, basketball, soc- cer, baseball and softball. “Not sure how all of that will work,” Usher said. “The (WIAA) committees will have to deal with that.” Changes also are expected for wrestling, swimming and track allocations, but again, those num- bers have not been announced. For the first time, the WIAA factored in free and reduced lunch numbers in the classifica- tion formula. According to the WIAA, a school with a free and reduced lunch rate greater than the state- wide average (47%) had its enrollment number reduced for each percent that they exceed the statewide average, except at the 1B and 2B classification level. For Hermiston, whose average enrollment is 1,237 students, the formula lowered the enrollment number by just 38 students. “Our district numbers are higher, but at the high school, you just don’t get the kids filling out the paperwork,” Usher said. “A lot of them don’t eat at school.” In the WIAA, 3A schools are those that range between 900 and 1,299 students. There are 79 schools in that range, while the 4A division (1,300 or more stu- dents) dropped to 51 schools.
