Positive weekend for (most) local hoopers

5 days ago 2

By PAUL MATLI

The Astorian

This past weekend was a positive one for local hoopers on the hardcourt.

All four local schools were in action and the results were mostly good news. Astoria boys, Warrenton high school girls and boys and Seaside girls were victorious, while both Knappa teams fell to North Clackamas Christian in a nonleague game on Saturday.

Warrenton sweeps Vernonia

Friday night saw the Warriors go a perfect two for two in their first game of the new year.

Warrenton enjoyed a joyful start to the new year as they took care of business on their homecourt. Coming off a 1-2 weekend at Astoria both the boys and girls defeated Vernonia to improve their record.

The girls started things off with a 35-26 victory over Vernonia in a low scoring contest. Warrenton had 27 combined points by senior point guard Natalie Pike and senior center Lucy Smith. Pike started off well with a couple of threes to open the first quarter and would finish with 10, while Smith dominated the Loggers inside all night. Like she has all season, Smith was able to establish a low post position easily and go to work from the block. Much of the Warriors offense was centered around getting her on the block and it paid off with 17 points. Smith also controlled the glass on both sides as she had multiple offensive rebounds, which led to second and third chances for Warrenton. Sophomore guard Scarlet Anderson pitched in six points for the Loggers.

The victory improved Warrenton’s record to 5-5. The Warrenton girls are set to begin league play at 7:30 p.m. Jan. 9 with a home game against Rainier high school.

The nightcap was capped off by a Warrenton boys victory.

Playing without the Neahring twins on Friday night saw the Warriors play some guys in different positions and more minutes than normal. But in the end, Warrenton pulled away gradually after a somewhat slow start to the game.

After leading by just five points after one, the Warriors built their advantage to 11 at halftime, 17 after three quarters and 25 by game’s end. In total, the score was 66-41 Warrenton.

Junior Ryan Palmer had another 20 point game as he destroyed Vernonia from the free throw and in during Friday’s game. Palmer scored all of his 21 points either from the free throw line or right around the basket as he was able to get to his spots at will. The Warriors did a good job of finding him and also knocking down three-pointers. In total, the Warriors drained eight threes in their blowout victory.

Fellow juniors RJ Thornton and Tanner Nichols chipped in nine points each to assist Palmer in the scoring department. All of Thornton’s points came from beyond the arc, including a shot from nearly halfcourt to beat the halftime buzzer.

The Warriors are now 7-4 after 11 games and sit No. 19 in the 3A rankings. They have one more nonleague game against Kennedy on Tuesday before beginning league play against Rainier.

Seaside girls sharp in return

Seaside girls basketball showed no signs of rust after a long layoff.

Returning to the court for the first time since their thrashing of 4A title contender Baker on Dec. 20, the Seagulls cruised to a blowout victory against 3A Valley Catholic on Friday.

The Seagulls had both sides of the ball working as they scored 59 points and allowed just 33 in their sixth win of the year. With the victory Seaside moved to 6-3 on the season and are set for two more nonleague games this coming week before league begins. The Seagulls travel to Junction City for a Tuesday game, then will host The Dalles on Friday.

Knappa upended by North Clackamas Christian

The North Clackamas Christian girls put on a show at the Knappa gym on Saturday afternoon.

Entering the game undefeated and ranked No. 5 in 1A, the Saints showed why they were ranked so high. The Saints drained three pointers and passed the ball around like a hot potato en route to a 69-36 victory over Knappa. With the loss, Knappa falls to 1-8 on the season and will be looking to jump start their year with a league victory over Nestucca on Tuesday.

After taking apart the No. 1 ranked team in 1A last week, the Loggers were looking to take down another talented 1A squad from the same league.

The second game Saturday night pitted the Knappa boys against North Clackamas Christian.

The Knappa boys were looking to keep their momentum going after winning two games in Pendleton and having maybe their most complete performance against Country Christian on December 23rd.

This game wasn’t one of the best for Knappa as they struggled to make shots and just seemed a little flat with their energy. They were not able to contain talented ball handler Brandon Lee in the first half as the young sophomore played them off the floor on both ends.

Though Knappa found some intensity with their press in the fourth quarter and tried to mount a comeback, they just couldn’t find a way to knock down enough threes to get back in the game. In all, the Loggers fell 54-42 to the Saints and had their three game winning streak snapped in the process.

With a 7-3 nonleague record the Loggers will look to start Northwest league play out on the right foot with a game against Nestucca on Tuesday.

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