Lebanon girls dominate Woodburn to open second season
By Mike Warner
For The New Era
Lebanon’s girls started the second half of their Mid-Willamette Conference season Friday, Feb. 6, with a commanding 60-39 win on the road at Woodburn.
The Warriors, 6-3 in the MWC and 12-6 overall coming into this week, took charge early and were in complete control the entire game.
Lebanon’s pressure defense was unsettling for Woodburn making it difficult for the hosts to get into their offense, and causing numerous turnovers. At times, Woodburn even had problems getting the ball over half court.
The Warriors led 17-6 at the end of the first quarter and 34-17 at half. The second half was much the same and the Warriors led 52-24 going into the final stanza.
Lebanon struggled on offense, shooting just 32.9.% (24/73) from the field and 12.5% (3/24) from three. However, they did shoot well from the free throw line at 69.2% (9/13).
The defense was the key to victory on this night. The Warriors had 28 steals and caused another dozen Bulldog turnovers, which allowed many quick and easy baskets. In addition, the Warriors out-rebounded the Bulldogs 31-26.
Contributors for the game included Hazel Pepperling with 24 points, 12 rebounds, two assists and four steals – her second double-double; Peyton Vorderstrasse with 13 points, three rebounds, two assists and four steals; and Piper Sewell with 10 points, three rebounds, six assists and six steals.
Coming into this week, the Warriors are in fourth place with a chance to move up with several winnable games in the offing. This week they travel to Dallas on Tuesday and Silverton Friday.
Stayton 55, Lebanon 45
Lebanon was left without an opponent on Tuesday, Feb. 3, because McKay has no girl’s program.
To fill the void, Stayton was added to the schedule. The Eagles, the second-ranked team in 4A, proved to be a formidable foe, winning 55-45.
Stayton came out like a house afire and completely dominated the Warriors in the first quarter, leading 16-1.
“We came out flat,” Coach Andrew Evans said, adding that nothing seemed to go right for Lebanon early on. The Warriors were cold and Stayton was not.
The Warriors righted the ship in the second quarter and competed well going forward, but were still down 30-13 at the half. Even though they trailed by a substantial margin, they never gave up and continued to battle.
They still trailed 46-28 at the end of the third. The fourth quarter was all Warriors as they outscored Stayton 17-9, but the margin was too big to scale in one period.
The Warriors were their own worst enemies. They had one of their toughest shooting nights this year, at 29.8% from the field (17/57) and 25% from three (7/28). They also shot poorly from the free throw line 44.4% (4/9). In addition, they were out rebounded by the Eagles 30-23.
Woodburn win gives boys four-game winning streak
By Mike Warner
For The New Era
Lebanon’s boys traveled to Woodburn on Friday, Feb. 6, and recorded a hard-fought 64-55, victory to extend their winning streak to four.
Woodburn proved to be as competitive as ever. The Bulldogs used both zone and man defenses and caused the Warriors difficulty running their offense. Even so, Lebanon was able to establish good offensive flow, and slowly but surely took control of the game.
The game was pretty even at the start. Woodburn had a narrow one-point lead, 19-18, at the end of the first quarter. But the Warriors started to establish themselves in the second quarter and took a 32-27 advantage into the locker room at halftime. Part of this surge was due to an unlikely participant.
Sophomore Finn VandenBos hit three three-pointers and two other baskets in the quarter to help the Warriors.
VandenBos is a regular starter and contributes every game but this was out of the ordinary. He finished second in scoring with 22 points on nine-for-14 shooting, which included four for six from the three.
“It felt great,” VandenBos said. “Those things don’t happen very often so I was glad. I was more glad that we won.”
The teams continued to battle in the second half and Lebanon held a slim five-point lead, 48-43, going into the final stanza. The fourth quarter saw Lebanon start to edge away and forced Woodburn into the foul/free throw strategy. Lebanon was able to make the necessary free throws and sealed the game.
Contributors for the Warriors were the aforementioned VandenBos and Logan Large, who led the team with 22 points and had four rebounds. Large shot 70% (7/10) from the field, including 100% (2/2) from three. Most importantly, he shot 76.9% (10/13) from the free throw line. Also, Gunner Miller finished with 11 points, six rebounds and two steals.
The season doesn’t get any easier as the Warriors, 7-4 in the MWC and 10-7 overall, and fourth in the standings coming into this week. They travel to Dallas on Tuesday and Silverton Friday, Feb. 13. Post-season is still on the horizon if the Warriors continue their current success.
Lebanon 86, McKay 43
The Warriors hosted McKay from Salem Feb. 3 and earned their third win in a row, 86-43.
Once again, the defense led the way as the Warriors established a 16- point lead in the first quarter.
The Warriors cruised somewhat in the second, but got back after it in the second half leaving nothing to chance. Lebanon forced 14 steals to aid its cause.
Shooting continued to be a strength for the Warriors, as they delivered 57.6% (34/59) from the field and 76.5% (13/17) from the free throw line. Their three-point shooting was only fair, at 25.0% (5/20).
“It was a good win,” Coach Casey VandenBos said. “I was happy how we played in the first quarter. We took a step off the gas in the second, so that’s a good learning opportunity. There are a lot of things we can learn from. The second half was better.”
Four Warriors contributed in great fashion: Miller scored 28 points, grabbed five rebounds and had two assists; Large added 21 points, with five rebounds, seven steals, and three assists; Ryan Robinson scored 14 points and eight rebounds and Finn VandenBos scored 13 points, with two rebounds, two steals and two assists.
Lebanon swimmers outpaced by Crescent Valley
In their final dual meet of the season, Lebanon’s swimmers fell to Crescent Valley 99-54 on the girls side and 92-72 on the boys on Tuesday, Feb. 3.
But Coach Joe Andrews noted that the boys’ margin was 64 points closer than last year’s meet with the Raiders. He said the Warriors had to align their lineup on the girls side to make some final determinations for this week’s district competition.
“Losing both meets on Senior Night is a minor inconvenience, but was an outcome we anticipated,” he said. “Both of their squads typically are in the running for the state championship, so they have a ton of speed across the board. What helps us in this is their depth isn’t the same as some of the other powerhouse teams in the league, so our students could close a lot of ground by sweeping the middle places and countering the top end performances.”
Winners for Lebanon girls were Orianna Buczko in the 50 Freestyle (27.36, a .33-second personal best) and Molly Basting in the 100 Backstroke (1:11.49, a 1.91-second PR). Boys winners were the 200 Freestyle Relay team of Grant Basting, Jack Johnson, Michael Kluttz and Boston Borgmann (1:38.88) and, individually, Johnson in the 100 Backstroke (1:05.73).
Other swimmers delivering improved times in their races were Samual Williamson in the 200 Freestyle (7.32 seconds), Johnson (2.72) and Alex Kolling (0.26) in the 200 Individual Medley (2.72), Kluttz (0.12) and Amity Parker (0.04) in the 50 Free, Anouk Ricketts (0.52), Yago Ruano Perez (0.86) and Riley Noonchester (8.21) in the 100 Free, Brooklyn Davis (0.70), Alex Kolling (7.91), Samuel Bloedel (8.71) and Paul Bloedel (7.14) in the 500 Free, Michael Kluttz in the 100 Breast (1.17) and a .54-second improvement from Hailey Gutierrez in the backstroke leg of the 200 Medley Relay and a .79-second PR from Samantha Walsh in the 400 Free Relay.
“Our team is swimming extremely well across the board,” Andrews said. “This was our last opportunity to test different combinations of swims against a very tough Crescent Valley team.”
The outcomes, he said, gave coaches what they needed to decide strategy for the district and “hopefully” the state meets.
“Particularly, our girls relays are looking deeper than we have in recent memory,” Andrews said. “Last year the girls qualifying in the 400 Free Relay was really an unexpected gift that gave three of the four returning swimmers an opportunity to experience the state meet.
“We have an opportunity to qualify multiple relays and several individual events, which will be a big win for the program and the community. The students have worked extremely hard all year, our energy level and attitude have the coaches quite excited going into our district championships.
The Mid-Willamette Conference district championships will be Wednesday and Thursday, Feb. 11-12, at South Albany Aquatic Center.