Albany Democrat-Herald from Albany, Oregon • 13

ALBANY (OR.) DEMOCRAT-HERALD. MONDAY. MARCH 8, 1 999 B3 1999 Class 3A boys state tournament VmhlH-Crlton Tuday. 30 I Sports 7 SilO ws doth ise Thuraday tJCani Sltlort Friday, 9 30 m. Tuaaday.

1 30 in La Salle Pleasant Hill Tuaaday, 4:30 p.m Henley Wadnaaday, 12.30 p.m. Sherwood Tuaaday, 9 pm Sceppooee Marlet Wadnaaday. 9 30 am. Rlvarelde Thufaday, 9:30 a.m. Central Wadnaaday.

1:30 p.m. Newport Bandort Wadnaaday. 4:30 p.m. Sweet Home Thutaday, 12:30 p.m. St.

Helens Wadnaaday. 9 p.m. Creswell Note: All gamei on the championship (Ida of the bracket, and the consolation final, will be played at Gill Coliseum. All other consolation games will be at Corvallls High School. Fnday, 4 30pm Fnday.MOam.

Thuiaday. 1.30pm. Fourth Seventh Saturday. 1.30 p.m. Thuraday, 4:30 p.m.

Friday, 12:30 p.m. Friday, 7:30 p.m. Thuiaday, Bp.m. cruises to in the tournament's history. On the girls side, City Christian won its first state title, but the trophy really belonged to Annalise Nashif.

Nashif scored 12 points of her 20 points in the fourth quarter as City Christian rallied for a 50-38 victory over Gold Beach on Saturday to win the Oregon Class 2A girls' high school basketball tournament. In 4A girls action, the South Eugene girls' basketball team had its doubts on whether it really deserved to be ranked No. 1. 7 think a Pac-10 title is worth more than a number five seed Angelina Wolvert get out of the second round," Runge said Sunday as the Ducks gathered to watch the tournament selection show on TV. "Our depth has been our greatest strength and that should help us get out of the second round," Runge added said.

Louisiana Tech was the No. 1 seed in the West, followed by Colorado State, UCLA and Louisiana State. Oregon thrashed UCLA 106-79 when the two teams met for a sec Knappa The Associated Press PENDLETON The debate about whether Knappa is the best team in Oregon in any classification can begin in earnest now. Brian Jackson scored 30 points and grabbed 15 rebounds to lead the Loggers to their second straight Class 2A state championship Saturday with a 91-54 victory over Oakridge. Knappa (29-0) won its second straight state championship with the most lopsided margin of victory top junior last year.

Haywood was rated as a top-100 prospect by Van Coleman of Future Stars. Joining those two is 5-foot-10 point guard Mike Cokley, an all-state selection as a teammate of Jackson at Knappa last season. Oregon State still has two scholarships to offer during April's signing period and they hope to fill one of those with highly sought-after recruit Schea Cotton, a 6-foot-5 two-time former high school Ail-American who currently averages 26 points a game at Long Beach City College. He was in attendance at Saturday's game and afterward told reporters that he was impressed with what he saw. Cotton has narrowed his choices to OSU, Alabama, South Florida, Rhode Island and Connecticut.

Put OSU's home success, its recruiting efforts and its core of returnees together and you can see why the Beaver coaching staff and players are very optimistic about what the future holds for them. "With the addition of some players, I think we're going to have more depth," Tanner said. "We've got players now that start and are doing real good for us and we've got guys coming in that are good enough to start. It's just all about who wants the positions. That's even going to make us better going into next year." If the Beavers hope to break their drought of non-winning seasons, they will have to win on the road, a deficiency that plagued them all season long.

While they played brilliantly at home, on the road it seemed as if they were a totally different team. Their lone road win of the season came against BYU-Hawaii in the Pearl Harbor Classic back on Dec. 21. and they lost all nine of their Pac-10 road games. "That's something that is going to give us more motivation going into next season, just to work more hard in spring and into the summer and then carry over to the fall and then to next season," Tanner said.

"We took our bumps and bruises this year on the road, but next year it should be a totally different story." If OSU could have won just two games on the road in the Pac-10 this year, they could be finding themselves in postseason play rather than preparing for next season. Throw in those two wins and instead of finishing 13-14, they are 15-12. The Beavers finished the first half of the Pac-10 season 5-4 but in the second half went 2-7 and slowly watched their dreams of an NIT bid slip away. A reason for the late struggles may be that at the end of the first half of conference play, some were beginning to talk about a possible trip to the postseason. Maybe the pressure got to be too much, but the Beavers still exceeded all expectations besides those of their own and they resurrected what had been a slowly declining population of Beaver Believers.

"Going into next season, regardless of some of the things that happened to us on the road, with the win tonight (Saturday), it will, give us a lot of energy and a lot of confidence going into next season," said Tanner. "We beat the Pac-10 champions; from here we're only going to get better. Our standards and our work ethics are going to get better. Especially knowing that next year we're going to be bigger, stronger, more athletic and all around better." Duck women on the BY RYAN BORDE Albany Democrat-Herald CORVALLIS For some teams, finishing without a winning record for the ninth consecutive year may not leave much hope for the future. But for an Oregon State team that was predicted to finish last in the Pacific 10 Conference, yet wound up surprising everyone from preseason prognosticators to its own fans, there are plenty of reasons to have a positive outlook for next season.

First and foremost, the Beavers built something this season at Gill Coliseum that they can look to in the years to come. Not only did they finish with a 12-2 record at Gill, 7-2 in Pac-10, but with Saturday's 59-45 defeat of the sixth-ranked Stanford Cardinal, it marked the first time ever that a Beaver team has beaten three top-10 teams in one season. The other wins came over then-No. 9 UCLA on Jan. 7 and over then-No.

7 Arizona two weeks later. On top of the three major upsets, the Beavers finished Pac-10 play at 7-11, probably at least five more wins than anyone would have thought. "That's not something you would predict (seven wins); you wouldn't necessarily have thought that was going to happen," OSU coach Eddie Payne said. "The fact that it did I think is a great tribute to the players and the staff and the fans." Added sophomore center Jason Heide: "I believed that we always had enough talent to be good in this conference. It was just a matter of us working and executing.

We're probably one of the most underrated teams in the Pac-10. When we get it all working together we can beat anybody in the Pac-10 on any given night we proved that throughout the year." The Beavers, who graduate only one senior (Sasa Petrovic), will have all five starters back and four others that saw considerable amounts of playing time. The most notable returning player will be sophomore point guard Deaundra Tanner, who on Saturday was named to the all-conference team. "I think he certainly deserves it," Payne said of Tanner. I think he's demonstrated that he's a very good player.

He obviously carried a heavy load for us and he made his team better." After Saturday's victory over the Cardinal, Tanner wasted no time in setting personal goals for next year. "To be the best guard in the conference; to make a run for player of the year," said Tanner, who averaged 16.4 points in Pac-10 play. "I am just trying to be the best player that I can be. I think Jason Terry (of Arizona) did a real good job this year of making it known early that he would probably get the Pac-10 player of the year. I'm just going to take that motivation that he used and try to apply it to myself to be the best player that I can be." Oregon State will add a couple of highly talented players from this year's recruiting class.

Leading the way is 6-foot-10 power forward Brain Jackson from Knappa. Jackson was the Class 2A player of the year in Oregon last season and has been rated as one of the top 15 players on the West Coast by many publications. In addition, the Beavers also signed 6-foot-2, off-guard Jim Haywood, a two-time second-team all-state selection in Washington's Class 5A who was voted the state's Ducks host EUGENE Oregon's season-ending victory over Cal was enough to earn the Oregon Ducks a spot in the National Invitation Tournament. The Ducks (16-11 overall) will host Georgia Tech (15-15) in a televised game at 9 p.m. Wednesday.

"To have the opportunity to host a game here at home, and play a team the caliber of Georgia Tech, that's a dream come true," said Oregon coach Ernie Kent. The Ducks beat Cal 93-82 on Saturday in one of the most balanced games the Ducks played all season, but Georgia Tech was crushed by No. 15 North Carolina 78-49 in the Atlantic. Coast Conference tournament. Georgia Tech enters the NIT game having lost eight of its last 10 FifthEighth Saturday, 9.30 a.m.

Friday, 12:30 p.m. OPTS In brief OSU outlasts Gonzaga KEIZER Rob Colley's run-scoring double in the bottom of the 11th inning gave Oregon State a 16-15 win over Gonzaga in a non-league baseball game at Volcanoes Stadium on Sunday. Colley's double drove in pinch-runner B.R. Cook from second base, ending a four-hour, 13-minute marathon that enabled OSU (9-10 overall) to split its two-game series with Gonzaga (4-6). The games were played in Keiz-er because of construction delays regarding the Beavers' new Goss Stadium at Coleman Field.

OSU is hoping the field is ready Friday for the start of a Pac-10 series with defending national champion use. On Sunday, the teams combined for 33 hits, 18 by Oregon State, which had been struggling at the plate. OSU, which led 14-8 after seven innings, got a three-run homer and five RBIs from Tim Dryden. West senior honored Kourtney Shreve has named the Lakeshore LanesKRKT athlete of the week. Shreve, who helped West Albany's girls basketball team reach the playoffs four times, was recently voted the Valley League's player of the year.

Reb awards dessert South Albany High School will hold its winter sports awards banquet at 7 p.m. on Tuesday, March 9, in the school gymnasium. Each family attending is asked to bring a dozen cookies. WA awards dessert West Albany High School will hold its winter sports dessert on Tuesday at 6:30 p.m. in the school cafeteria.

For more information, contact West Albany at 967-4545. Oregon guard Yasir Rosemond, an Atlanta native, knows what the Ducks are up against because he played summer ball with several members of the Georgia Tech team. "They're very similar to Cal, so I think we'll be ready," he said. In fact, it wasHosemond's dream to go to Georgia Tech. "But they took Stephon Marbury instead," he said.

Kent said the late starting time Wednesday and the trip from Georgia will give his Ducks an edge. "We are playing very, very good basketball, and our confidence is high," he said. "March Madness atmosphere brings so much excitement, it's another level of competition," added senior Terik Brown. "It's what we play for." Chemplonahlp Saturday. 9 p.m, 2nd title On Saturday, the Lady Axemen left no doubt.

The win gave South Eugene its first title in 12 years, while St. Mary's (24-6) appeared in the finals for the eighth time. The Blues haven't won a state title since 1986, when they won their last of three in a row. The Lady Axemen only other state title came when they beat Oregon City in 1987. South Eugene became the first team from outside the Portland area to win the title since North Eugene in 1989.

road again ond time last month. While a No. 5 seed was disappointing, players said they're ready' to focus on Cincinnti. "I'm over it. You can't dwell on things," said freshman point guard Shaquala Williams.

"You have to just go out and take what you get. A lot ol teams would like to be in our position." Mitchell Homes NEWLY CONSTRUCTED BEAUTIFUL N. ALBANY HOME 3 bedroom2 bath w2 car garage everything else that you're looking fori $138,900 926-6289 BB6122 Ouanuvuxi Lac. the future ThirdSixth Saturday, 4:30 p.m. y.

-v. EUGENE Oregon, whose stock fell after a late-season loss to Stanford, will open the NCAA women's tournament in Ames, Iowa for the second straight year instead of hosting the first two rounds. The Ducks (24-5 overall) finished tied for the regular-season Pac-10 title with UCLA, but was seeded No. 5 in the Mideast region by the NCAA tournament selection committee on Sunday. Oregon was headed for the outright Pac-10 championship until Thursday night's 82-73 loss at Stanford.

The Ducks clinched a share of the conference title by beating Cal 80-57 Saturday night. The top four seeds in each region get to host the first round. Oregon, which drew strong attendance this season about 5,000 a game had hoped to get one of those top seeds in the West region and host a four-team mini-region this weekend. "I would think a Pac-10 title is worth more than a number five seed," said sophomore forward Angelina Wolvert. "I don't understand how Arizona could be a sixth seed, UCLA a three and us a five.

That's upsetting. But there is nothing we can do about it until we get to Iowa." The 15th-ranked Ducks will play unranked Cincinnti (22-8) Friday night in Ames, the city where Oregon lost in the first round of the Mideast regional last season, 79-76 to Rutgers. Oregon has made the NCAA tournament six straight years under coach Jody Runge, but the Ducks played away from McArthur Court each time and each time they were eliminated in the first round. "I think we are still earning respect. Maybe that will come if we Orioles to play in Cuba (AP) For the first time in 40 years, major league baseball will return to Cuba when the Orioles play the Cuban national team on March 28 in Havana.

After two months of meetings with the State Department, Cuban government, commissioner's office, the Orioles and the players' association, the sides finally reached an agreement. DOORS Replacement New Construction Commercial Sales Service Installation BASHFUL BOB'S 29803 Hwy 34 752-7922 ccb'wow by Voodcastle Hardwood Center Georgia Tech in NIT games, and both those wins came in overtime. Oregon won six of its last eight games and finished tied for fifth in the Pac-10 with Cal. The Ducks narrowly missed making the 64-team NCAA tournament field by losing four games by two points or fewer. The Yellow Jackets will be led by 7-foot center-forward Jason Collier, who's averaging 17.5 points and seven rebounds a game.

His backup, 6-foot-ll sophomore Alvin Jones, has been averaging 12.3 points and 9.7 rebounds. The Ducks are led by forward Alex Scales, who averaged 14.5 points a game and was second on the team in rebounds with 5.7. Forward A.D. Smith averaged 12.5 points and leads the Ducks with seven rebounds a game. Celebrate ZOQO envision Your news and information source for the new millennium DScrat-loemlD i Ann Landers EREEKIN nI John Rosemond cDHDOUdtlcD.