A8 • HERMISTONHERALD.COM
WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 29, 2020
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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.