Weiser beats Payette
By Argus Observer Sports Staff
Friday, December 14, 2007 10:34 AM PST
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| Ray Rodriguez | Argus Observer
Payette’s Hillary Byars (right) takes a shot against the defense of Weiser’s Trenna Erhard during the first half of their Snake River Valley Conference game Tuesday in Weiser. The Wolverines defeated Payette 45-24. |
Weiser — Before the game, the Weiser head coach set a goal for his team to allow under 30 points.
The Wolverines executed the plan to perfection.
The Pirates connected on 9-of-50 from the field and never held a lead in their 45-24 loss to Weiser in Snake River Valley Conference girls basketball action at Tom Falash Gymnasium in Weiser.
“Great effort,” Weiser head coach Tim Erhard said. “The kids worked hard. Defensively, we did the things we had to do. We set a goal that we had to keep them under 30 points and we did that. When we do that, we’re pretty good.”
The Wolverines didn’t exactly light it up, making good on 18-of-67 shots, but the pressure defense worked its magic and nine different players made notches in the scorebook.
Weiser started off on the right foot with a 16-6 first quarter and jumped out to a 24-14 lead heading into the locker room.
Tiffany Nelson scored eight of her team-leading 14 points in the second half and Weiser went on a 21-10 second half run to break the game open.
Nelson was followed up by Amanda Palmer and Melanie Wasrud, who scored seven points apiece, and Trenna Erhard scored four points.
“I thought Melanie Wasrud came off the bench and gave us a good spark offensively. I thought Trenna (Erhard) came off the bench and gave us some good minutes. We had a good team game tonight because we had more kids contribute in a positive way.”
Payette just couldn’t find the cylinder in the second half, nailing only two field goals, and didn’t have a player score more than two field goals.
Cass Gross led the way with six points and teammates Shelbi King and Jessica McLay chipped in five points each.
Weiser (5-5 overall, 1-1 league) next hosts Baker City Tuesday, while Payette (4-7 overall, 1-1 league) next travels to take on undefeated Fruitland Tuesday.
Melba 48, Nyssa 45
Melba
Nyssa can only look at costly turnovers and missed free throws as the reason for their loss Thursday.
The Bulldogs committed 30 turnovers, were outrebounded and connected on 1-of-10 free throws in their 48-45 defeat to Melba in Melba.
“We had three things we had to do to win and we didn’t do them, so we deserved the loss,” Nyssa head coach Danny Pratt said. “I told them in this game they played their hardest, but didn’t play their smartest and it cost us. We got to put it behind us and start fresh.”
The Mustangs rebounded from an 11-6 first quarter deficit and saw themselves down 33-31 after three quarters of play. But down the stretch, Melba used a 16-12 fourth quarter spurt that made the difference.
Katie Brinkerhoff scored 16 points and Kailee Leavitt added eight points for Melba, which made good for 19 field goals.
Nyssa was led by Amanda Bittinger, who scored 18 points and grabbed eight rebounds, while teammate Belinda Escobedo chipped in 12 points and 15 rebounds.
Nyssa (4-2 overall) next travels to Parma Tuesday.
Cascade 54, Ontario 52
Junction City
The Ontario girls basketball team put up a good fight against Cascade on Thursday afternoon during tournament play in Junction City but lost by two points in the last five seconds of the game for a final score of 54-52.
Stephanie O’Connor ran into foul trouble in the second half and sat out during the third period. She returned in the fourth only to foul-out, giving Cascade an opportunity to keep the lead. Yet the rest of the squad stepped up and the game went back and forth for most of the rest of the fourth period.
“Cascade is one of the top teams in our division, and I didn’t know how well we would play against them but we played well,” Ontario coach Jon Buck said. “ We had them in the fourth but they beat us and the kids gave it a great effort.”
Cascade hit a bucket with five seconds left in the game and was two points ahead. Ontario called a time out, regrouped and put the ball into play. After a series of passes the Lady Tigers moved the ball down court and a layup was attempted. The shot at the buzzer would have tied the game, unfortunately the shot rimmed out, the buzzer rang, and the Tigers suffered a loss.
“They were bigger and we just missed a lot of shots.” Cascade’s effort was magnified by its 14-16 from the foul line and their solid post players. “They had three really tough solid post players and they were good. Also, they did a good job on the foul line. In the first half they went 11-12,” he said.
“Stephine O’conner and Alla Dzhidzhiyeshvili kept the pace and they helped the offense run smoothly and they deserve credit.” Dzhidzhiyeshvili put up 17 points and Babij scored 14 followed by O’Connor’s 7.
Ontario remains in Junction City for another tournament game tomorrow, where they will face Siuslaw at 3:30 p.m (PST).
Boys basketball
New Plymouth 45, Vale 36
Vale
The New Plymouth Boys’ basketball team won Thursday night’s game against Vale by nine points for a final score of 45-36. The Pilgrims’ record now sits at 2-2 on the year.
One point was the difference in the first quarter with New Plymouth ahead by one. However, in the second period, the Pilgrims pulled away and put up 21 points to Vale’s 11. “We had 21 points in the second period and if we didn’t have that I don’t know what would have happened,” New Plymouth coach Tyler Gaston said.
After the half, New Plymouth fell flat and managed only three points, but Vale could never catch up to the lead the Pilgrims built in the first. In the fourth period, New Plymouth had the lead at 31-27 and put up another 14 points while Vale managed only 12 and the Pilgrims took the win.
“We started slow in both halves and we didn’t shoot well but we played good defense and kept them to low numbers. We moved a lot better against the zone in the second because we were passing and not trying to dribble around the zone like in the first,” Gaston said. “We need to get our free-throws and field goal percentages up because we are not making shots.”
While Vale is still making strides toward becoming more competitive, Vale coach Tom Snook does not think his team is quite there yet. “We are getting better and we showed signs of life tonight and I was pleased to see we showed progress,” Snook said.
“We haven’t touched the ball enough and we are working on our offense and ball handling skills and we just haven’t had enough practices. We should be competitive later on,” Snook said.
New Plymouth visits Fruitland next Thursday.
