10A January 22, 2016 Seaside Signal seasidesignal.com
Together, on and off the court Gulls’ boys beat
defending state
champs, girls roll
Team from Page 1A
Teamwork is a prized
concept for the Lady Gulls
basketball program.
“You don’t win league
championships without hav-
ing good team chemistry,”
Hamer said.
During the ¿rst week of
practice, the girls basket-
ball program held an in-
town retreat. After splitting
off from the junior varsity
players for the night, the
varsity girls went over their
goals for the season, ac-
cording to senior Whitney
Westerholm. This year, she
said, they “bonded over
the question” of what were
their biggest fears for the
season.
“You kind of get to know
your team on a different
level beside basketball,”
she said. “We talk about
how we’re going to accom-
plish those goals and how
we’re going to overcome
those fears as a group. I
think that’s another rea-
son why we’re so close as
a team. Because we know
each others’ fears, and we
know what they need to do
to overcome them. And we
all have the same goal in the
end.”
Some of the deep con-
nections between players
can be attributed to long-
standing friendships forged
through many years living
in the same small town,
attending the same schools
and participating in many
of the same activities be-
sides basketball. Yet players
like senior Jesse Trott, who
moved to Seaside from out
of state as a freshman, show
there is more to it than sim-
ply adding up years.
“I had no friends for
the ¿rst three and a half
months,” she said. “When
I walked on the basketball
court, I kind of just imme-
diately had friends.”
During those months,
she said, she felt like an out-
sider “everywhere else, but
not on the basketball court.”
By Gary Henley
EO Media Group
JEFF TER HAR/SEASIDE SIGNAL
Whitney Westerholm, driving for a lay-up against Estacada, is an important part of the team’s
success on and of the field. The Gulls won 64-26.
“I never got treated like a
new kid,” she added.
The team’s slogan, cre-
ated two years ago and
brought into re-use this
year, is T², which stands for
“tough and together,” Ham-
er said.
“It has been really a cool
thing for our girls to think
about, always being tough.
No matter what the situa-
tion is, we’ve got to handle
it in a tough manner,” he
said. “And we’re going to
be together and have each
others’ backs, no matter
what.”
As student-athletes, the
girls approach the game
with an understanding that
other responsibilities are
equally important.
The varsity team practic-
es after school each day and
on Sundays. To participate
in games, the girls abide by
certain criteria. They cannot
be failing more than one of
their ¿ve classes. They can-
not practice if they’ve taken
an unexcused absence that
day. If they don’t practice
the day before a game, they
can’t play in at least the
¿rst half. If they’re failing
a class, they can’t miss that
class to go to an event.
Senior Annuka Brown,
who plays post, said the
coaches encourage them to
be “really good people off
the court,” which means
“having respect and man-
ners” and “treating every-
one nicely.”
The girls know basket-
ball doesn’t last forever,
and when the game ends,
it is what they have learned
that will last.
“It’s not just about how
good we are and how many
points we scored and stuff
like that,” Westerholm said.
“It’s more about how it re-
lates to the bigger picture.”
The girls hope to be
playing basketball into
March, at the state tour-
nament as the Cowapa
League champions, which
“will be tough” goals to ac-
complish this year, Hamer
said. But what the girls will
do beyond that is still being
set in motion.
Ideue anticipates play-
ing softball, her primary
sport, at Centralia College
in Washington on a schol-
arship and possibly playing
intramural basketball for
fun. Junior Maddi Utti is
being scouted as a college
basketball prospect.
For West, Brown, Trott
and Westerholm, however,
they see their days on the
court as numbered.
“There are so many oth-
er things in the world and
so many other avenues,”
Trott said.
SCAPPOOSE — The
two teams that tied for the
Cowapa League champi-
onship last year opened
the 2015-16 league season
Tuesday night at Scap-
poose, in the Game of the
Night in Class 4A boys
basketball.
And — as expected —
Round 1 went to the Sea-
side Gulls. But just barely,
as the state’s No. 2-ranked
team had to hold on for
a 59-56 win over the de-
fending state champion
Indians.
Seaside led Scappoose
by as much as 17 points
in the third quarter, only
to watch a furious rally by
the Indians in the fourth
that brought Scappoose to
within one point.
0eanwhile, the ¿rst
half featured four ties and
seven lead changes.
A pair of 3-pointers by
Scappoose junior Tanner
Kramer gave the Indians
a 16-11 advantage in the
¿rst quarter, but the lead
didn’t last.
Scores
by
Jack-
son Januik and Hunter
Thompson in the second
quarter resulted in a 27-23
Seaside halftime lead.
And the momentum
carried over into the third
period, as a score by Aus-
tin Eagon, a 3-pointer by
Thompson and a jumper
by Januik gave Seaside a
34-26 advantage.
Baskets by Attikin
Babb, Eagon and Thomp-
son made it 40-26, and
a 3-pointer from Januik
gave the Gulls their larg-
est lead at 45-28.
Trailing 49-34 to start
the ¿nal quarter, the In-
dians rallied behind Joey
Wagenknecht,
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Christopher Nyte, D.O.
Lohman and Ian Donald-
son, whose layup with just
under a minute remaining
cut Seaside’s lead to 55-
53.
Jaxson Smith scored
inside for the Gulls to
push it to 57-53, but Don-
aldson nailed a 3-pointer
seconds later to bring the
Indians to within 57-56.
Thompson hit two free
throws with 15 seconds
left, and Scappoose was
unable to get off a poten-
tial game-tying 3-pointer.
Eagon led the Gulls
with 17 points, followed
by Januik with 13 and
Thompson with 12.
“We played well for the
most part, but we didn’t
have good shot selection
from about six minutes to
three minutes left in the
fourth quarter,” Seaside
coach Bill Westerholm
said. “We didn’t play well
for that span. But it’s a big
win on the road, in a tough
place to play.”
Girls Basketball
Gulls 48,
Indians 20
SCAPPOOSE — The
No. 2-ranked Seaside
Lady Gulls have domi-
nated the Cowapa League
for the past two years, and
they’re showing signs of
doing it again.
Seaside led 20-0 after
one quarter Tuesday night
at Scappoose, on its way
to an easy 48-20 win over
the Indians.
Maddi Utti scored 21 of
her game-high 25 points
in the ¿rst half, which
ended with a 3-pointer by
Utti for a 33-10 lead.
Sydney Villegas scored
nine points and Whitney
Westerholm added eight
for the Gulls, winners of
nine straight.