A8 • HERMISTONHERALD.COM
WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 5, 2020
HeraldSports
Follow sports on Twitter
@HHeraldSports
DAWGS SURVIVE THRILLER
Hermiston rallies to defeat
Bombers in MCC contest
By BRETT KANE
STAFF WRITER
The Hermiston girls know how to
come together when it counts the most.
On Saturday, the Bulldogs trailed for
two quarters before clinching a tie at the
free-throw line at the end of the third.
In the final eight minutes, they took
advantage of two technical fouls and put
together an eight-point run to escape the
Richland Bombers 38-34 in Mid-Co-
lumbia Conference action at the Dawg
House.
The Bulldogs had just clinched
a last-second victory the previous
night, which senior point guard Jazlyn
Romero said gave them the confidence
they needed to survive the Bombers on
Saturday.
“Last night definitely helped us,” she
said. “It was also neck and neck. We
have confidence in each other. We’ve
built a relationship where we can come
together and help each other in situations
like this. It’s difficult for us to get down
on each other.”
Richland strung together a 5-1 run
to give themselves a 30-26 lead in the
early minutes of the fourth quarter, but
Hernandez came back with a trey, and
two free throws after the Bombers were
whistled for the first of two technical
fouls.
Romero went to the line to tie the
score again before the Bulldogs took off
on their game-sealing, eight-point streak.
Romero added two more points at the
line in the run, which came after Rich-
land was hit its second technical foul.
“They’re aggressive,” Romero said
of Richland. “They’re very physical.
They’re crafty. We just have to finish
those baskets. We have to jump on them
early. We have to finish them all the way
through.”
By the end of the run, Hermiston led
38-32. Richland freshman guard Lexi
Hay got a buzzer-beating layup, but the
Dawgs had already gained too much
distance.
“We like to keep things interesting,
for sure,” Hermiston coach Maloree
Moss said. “I like that we’re able to fin-
ish at the end. It’s super exciting. We
definitely have some youth on our team.
It’s the perfect time for us to keep going
up. There are no steps back.”
The Bulldogs trailed 23-22 mid-
way through the third quarter follow-
ing a tie-breaking free throw from Rich-
land sophomore forward Danica Lerch.
Hermiston’s Mia Hernandez answered
with a layup with 1:25 remaining for
the Bulldogs’ first lead of the quarter at
24-23.
Richland’s Megan Holm scored a
basket to briefly reclaim the lead, but
Bulldogs sophomore Bailey Young tied
the score at 25-25 with a free throw in
the final eight seconds.
The Bulldogs held an early 4-2 lead
in the first quarter before a six-point
Bombers’ streak kept things out of reach
for the remainder of the half.
Young and sophomore point guard
Sydney Seavert combined for four
unanswered points to open quarter two,
but Richland was quick to take over
again with a six-point run in response
that kept them ahead going into the half.
“Our shooting just was not working
for us,” Moss said, “and we had to lock
down defensively a little more. That’s
what it came down to, ultimately.”
Young led Hermiston (11-7, 8-6
MCC) with a career-high 14 points.
Romero, Hernandez, and Dowdy fol-
lowed with six points each.
BOX SCORE
HERMISTON — 5 13 7 13 — 38
RICHLAND — 9 10 6 9 — 34
HERMISTON — Young 14, Romero 6, Hernandez 6, Dowdy
6, Ray 4, Seavert 2
RICHLAND — Smith 11, Clark 7, Fox 7, Holm 4, Lerch 3, Hay
2
Staff photo by Kathy Aney
Hermiston’s Mia Hernandez (21) works the ball downcourt as Lexi Hay (22), of Richland, defends
during Saturday’s game at the Dawg House.
Staff photo by Kathy Aney
Staff photo by Kathy Aney
Staff photo by Kathy Aney
Hermiston’s Jayden Ray (10) plays defense during Saturday’s
game against the Richland Bombers at the Dawg House.
Hermiston’s Katelyn Heideman (1) prepares to shoot as Kylee
Fox (30), of Richland, reaches for the ball.
Hermiston’s Katelyn Heideman comes off the bench during
the exciting finish to Saturday’s game against the Richland
Bombers.
Hermiston beats Hanford on a last-second shot by Hernandez
By ANNIE FOWLER
SPORTS EDITOR
Nothing like a little drama
to start your weekend.
With just two seconds
left on the clock, and Herm-
iston trailing Hanford 49-48,
Kaylee Young went to the
free-throw line for two.
Young missed the first
shot, then the second, but
Mia Hernandez grabbed the
rebound and threw the ball
toward the basket. The ball
went through the rim as the
buzzer sounded, giving the
Bulldogs a 50-49 Mid-Co-
lumbia Conference victory
Friday night over the host
Falcons.
“I did not think she would
miss that last one,” Hernan-
dez said of Young. “She’s a
good free-throw shooter. I
grabbed the ball and threw
it up. I didn’t think it was
good, but it was. It was
great.”
Hermiston coach Maloree
Moss said Hernandez was
the right person to take that
last shot.
“She was the perfect per-
son to shoot that ball,” Moss
said. “She is fearless when it
comes to that stuff.”
With the win, the Bull-
dogs (10-7, 7-6 MCC)
secured the MCC’s No. 2
seed to the District 8 play-
offs. Kennewick is No. 1,
while Kamiakin is No. 3.
Hermiston trailed Han-
ford (4-14, 3-11 MCC)
48-42 with 1:48 left in the
game.
Jazlyn Romero and
Jayden Ray each sank a pair
from the charity stripe to
pull within 48-46, but Han-
ford’s Iliana Moran added a
free throw for a 49-46 game
with 36 seconds remaining.
Romero, who was fouled
hard by Moran, added two
more free throws to pull the
Bulldogs within 49-48 with
34 seconds left.
The game looked to be
all but over when Hanford’s
Peyton Kaiser went to the
line with five seconds left on
the clock.
Kaiser missed both shots,
Young rebounded the ball
and was fouled by Kaiser
with two seconds left.
“That just shows hard
work is rewarded,” Moss
said. “They never game up
when everything was against
them. We battled through
adversity and got rewarded.”
The Falcons opened the
game with a 9-1 run, but
baskets by Romero and
Kendall Dowdy made it 9-5
at the end of the first quarter.
Hermiston tied the scored
at 17-17 last in the second
quarter on a pair of free
throws by Hernandez, but a
3-pointer by Olivia Davis,
and a basket by Moran gave
Hanford a 22-17 lead at the
half.
Moran scored the first
basket of the third quarter,
but the Falcons would not
score again for more than
five minutes as the Bulldogs
went on a scoring spree.
Hermiston
outscored
Hanford 21-10 in the third
to take a 38-32 lead, getting
two 3s from Romero and one
each from Katelyn Heide-
man and one from Ray.
The Bulldogs had a seem-
ingly comfortable 38-26 lead
with 1:34 to go in the quar-
ter, but Moran and Alexis
Fulton each drained 3s to cut
the lead to six. Moran fin-
ished with a game-high 22
points.
Hermiston kept a slight
lead over the Falcons in the
fourth quarter until a bas-
ket by Abby Robinson gave
Hanford the lead.
“I am so proud of them,”
Moss said of her team.
“They didn’t let the refs get
in their head. They settled
down and got it done.”
Romero led the Bull-
dogs with 15 points and nine
rebounds, while Ray added
12 points and six rebounds.
Dowdy finished with a
game-high 15 rebounds.
MCC boys basketball
HANFORD 71, HERM-
ISTON 62 — The Bulldogs
had a five-point lead going
into the fourth quarter, but
a 22-8 run by the host Fal-
cons in the fourth handed
Hermiston its 13th consecu-
tive loss.
“When we were up five,
I thought we were going
to win the game,” Hermis-
ton coach Drew Preuninger
said. “We were down two
or three in the fourth and I
called a timeout. I could see
in their faces we had already
lost. Our lack of experience
was the difference. They
were making plays and we
weren’t.”
The Falcons were up by
12 in the second quarter, but
the Bulldogs rallied back to
cut the deficit to 35-32 at the
half.
“They (Hudson Shupe
and Turner Clayton) hit a
bunch of 3s,” Preuninger
said. “Our kids battled back.
We played a pretty good
third quarter, and we were
playing with a lot of confi-
dence. They got a run on us
in the fourth, and we melted
from there. I was proud
of them, they battled and
played hard.”
Trent Pitney led the Bull-
dogs (2-15, 1-12 MCC)
with 20 points, while AJ
Ramos-Barron added 14
and Ivan Rangel 10. Pitney
scored all but four of his
points in the first half.
Shupe led the Falcons
with a game-high 24 points.
GIRLS BOX SCORE
Hermiston 5 12 21 12 — 50
Hanford 9 13 10 17 — 49
HERMISTON — Heideman 8, Young 4, Ray
12, Dowdy 2, Hernandez 9, Romero 15.
HANFORD — Moran 22, E.Doward 4, Rob-
inson 4, Davis 3, Kaiser 6, Burt 4, Fulton 6.
BOYS BOX SCORE
Hermiston 14 18 22 8 — 62
Hanford 19 16 14 22 — 71
HERMISTON — Pitney 20, Lin 2, Elliott 8,
Ramos-Barron 14, Rangle 10, Moreno 3,
Jay.Ramirez 5.
HANFORD — Clayton 13, Walker 1,
Nighswonger 18, Shupe 24, McDowell 9,
Cramer 6.