B-ball tournaments a slam dunk

6 days ago 2

Local teams shoot hoops across the state

By PAUL MATLI

The Astorian

All four local high schools spent the post-Christmas week participating in basketball tournaments across the state of Oregon. Astoria, Warrenton and Seaside boys and girls teams took part in the annual Vince Dulcich Tournament, while Knappa traveled to Pendleton for the 2A Preview.

Astoria girls show improvement

If there’s one word to describe the 2025-26 Astoria girls basketball team it would be: improvement.

Any team that starts the season with six freshmen, four sophomores and just one senior with varsity experience is going to have a slow start to the year. Due to playing a tough early season schedule, this statement is true for the Lady Fish.

Though the girls entered the Vince Dulcich Tournament with just one win, they will take positives from the three-day tournament.

A blowout win against Gladstone on Sunday was the Fishermen’s most impressive of the year. The Fishermen had eight rotation players score and saw seven net at least five points in their 69-13 victory. Monday was more of the same for Astoria as they defeated 4A No. 13 Sweet Home by a score of 60-36. The Fishermen had seven players score in this matchup, including freshmen Kilee Svensen netting a career high 16 points.

Though the Fishermen ran into a juggernaut Tillamook team in the championship game, the girls still ended their three-day tournament with a 2-1 record. Sophomore guard Kyah Gohr led the Fishermen in scoring with 50 total points over three games.

Despite being outscored 31-8 in the third quarter by the Cheesemakers and not being able to handle their trapping defense, first year head coach Jordan Ax was pleased with the shooting and ball movement throughout the first two days and said the girls are improving at a very quick pace.

“Overall, the tournament was good for us,” Ax said. “We came in 1-4, so it was nice to get a couple wins and build some confidence on the court. Being able to play some full court man, just to get the girls going. We shot 42% from three the first two games, so shot the ball well, but ran into a juggernaut.

“If you’re in the gym and follow what we’re doing you see a shift. It’s starting to click both individually and as a team, they’re starting to get more confident and figuring out the game of basketball at a high speed.”

Next up for the Fishermen will be a rematch against the senior led Cheesemakers to start league play next week.

Astoria boys end with losing record

Vince Dulcich started out hot for Astoria basketball.

After playing and winning the night cap on Sunday evening against a good Sweet Home team, the Fishermen weren’t able to keep their momentum going over the next two games.

The boys fell to eventual tournament champions Estacada 82-62 on Monday night and then were flat against league rival Tillamook on Tuesday afternoon. After shooting well the first two games, Astoria ran out of gas against their league foe as they were only able to muster 35 points in their 55-35 loss.

Senior guard Quin Gohr continued his impressive scoring pace as he led the Fishermen in scoring all three days of the tournament. He had a couple of 20 point games against Sweet Home and Estacada.

Despite the 1-2 weekend, the Fishermen are still ranked No. 13 in 4A and have one more nonleague game before the start of league season. The Fishermen are set to travel to Corbett for a Saturday afternoon tuneup before their rematch with Tillamook on Jan. 9.

Seaside boys still grinding

The Seaside boys are grinding to get on the board, but so far have been unable to do so.

With a whole new rotation and first-year head coach, the Seagulls are in a bit of a transition period and their play certainly shows it.

Despite battling and starting to find their defensive intensity, the Seagulls are still a little sloppy and out of sync offensively. Though they went 1-2 at the Vince Dulcich Tournament, the Seagulls put together quality stretches of play against both Gladstone and Catlin Gabel. The Seagulls very nearly pulled off a great win against the Gladiators on Sunday, but fell just short 47-44. The boys did win comfortably against Catlin Gabel 50-36, then fell 51-40 to Sweet Home.

With Scappoose head and shoulders above everyone else in the Cowapa league, the Seagulls will be in the next tier of teams battling for position.

Warrenton boys led by familiar name

Junior Ryan Palmer had a big weekend for the Warrenton boys at the Vince Dulcich Tournament.

The junior has established himself as the go to scorer for Warrenton after the graduation of most of their senior class from a year ago. After an opening game loss to tournament champion Estacada, Palmer went off in game two. He scored 26 points against Sweet Home to give the Warriors a big lead going into the full quarter. Though the Warriors played well for three quarters they fell apart in the fourth against Sweet Home. The Warriors went multiple possessions with a turnover and saw a double digit lead become a 56-49 defeat. Warrenton did beat Catlin Gabel 55-42 to salvage one victory.

The Warriors are set to hit the court with two home games. On Friday they played against Vernonia/Jewell and on Tuesday they play against Kennedy. These will be the last tuneups for Warrenton before the start of league play.

Warrenton girls drop close games

Defense was the name of the game for Warrenton girls at Vince Dulcich, unfortunately the offense wasn’t quite enough as the Warriors went 1-2.

The Warriors held all three of their opponents to under 40 points and played all three games within a 10-point window. Warrenton played 4A Sweet Home tough to open things up on Sunday, as they came up just short, 39-31. The Warriors went on to defeat Gladstone 35-26 on Monday, then fell to Clatskanie 39-34 in an early game on Tuesday morning.

After the three games of action, Warrenton now sits at 4-5 overall on the season. The Warriors opened up 2026 with a nonleague game against Vernonia on Friday evening.

Knappa boys keep rolling

The Knappa boys certainly look to be the best boys basketball in Clatsop County so far in this early season. Two impressive victories in Pendleton moved the Loggers to 7-2 overall and No. 4 in the 2A rankings.

The Loggers traveled to Pendleton looking to keep up their momentum after their best win of the early season to date. Knappa put on a clinic on both ends of the floor against 1A title favorite Country Christian back on Dec. 23. Junior Orrin Jacobson went off for 26 points in the Loggers 30 point thrashing of the Cougars.

Knappa continued their hot play with a grind it out 46-43 victory against previously unbeaten Heppner on Monday. The Loggers then put down the hammer against Weston-McEwen to win by a score of 63-33 on Tuesday.

With much of their rotation back from last season, the Loggers are certainly showing themselves to not only be contenders for a league title, but also a threat for Pendleton.

Knappa has one more nonleague game against North Clackamas Christian before they begin league play Tuesday, Jan. 6 against Nestucca.

Tough season continues for Knappa girls

It’s going to take a torrid league season if the Logger girls want a return trip to Pendleton.

After losing two games at the Pendleton Preview, the Loggers are now 1-7 on the year and in search of a spark. The Loggers have played well defensively as they’ve allowed 50 points just once so far, but haven’t been able to generate enough offense to win games. Also, the girls have four one-possession losses in their eight games.

The Loggers hope the turn of the calendar will see a reverse of fortune as they are currently on a six-game losing streak.

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