Scores

Saturday, February 28

Girls Soccer

Yreka 0 – Rio Vista 5
Yreka is NSCIF D-II runner up

Softball

Etna 14 – Princeton 3 (Gridley Tourney)
Etna stats: Tandy Thackeray 2/3, W, 5 K; Andrea Pearson 2/3

Etna 1 – Las Plumas 11 (Gridley Tourney)
Etna stats: Tessa Burrone 1/2, Andrea Pearson 1/2, Paige Finley L, 5 K

Friday, February 27

Girls Basketball 

Happy Camp 47 – Herlong 27
Happy Camp advances to to D-VI semi-finals @ Butte Valley on Wednesday, March 4. Butte Valley beat Loyalton 65-18.

Boys Basketball

Mt. Shasta 44 – Corning 60
Mt. Shasta stats: Eric Thelander 18 P, 5 R, 3 B; Steven Reed 7 R, 4 A; Miguel Rodriguez 6 P

Weed 43 – East Nicolous 51

Etna 35 – Pierce 55
Etna scoring: Clint Eastlick 13, Brent Davis 10, Ryan Hicks 6, Erik Anaya 6

Dunsmuir 51 – Champion Christian 67
Dunsmuir scoring:  Jake McIntyre 17, Matt Norton 11 (three 3-balls), Lt Hisey 9 (three 3-balls) (more…)

YREKA – The Fifth-seeded Orland Lady Trojans didn’t look like much coming into Thursday night’s NSCIF D-IV quarterfinal playoff game. With a record of 10-14, they had lost twice to Anderson and once to West Valley. The 10-8, fourth-seeded Lady Miners had swept their season series with Anderson, and recently thumped West Valley.

On paper, it looked good for Yreka. On the court, it was a different matter.

Yreka led 13-10 at the end of one quarter. However, the Lady Trojans used a 13-4 run in the second quarter to take complete control of the contest, and lead 23-17 at the half. It was Orland on top 39-23 at the end of three quarter, with the Lady Trojans going on to win 56-39.

The Lady Miner’s top scorer, Carrie Watson, was saddled with foul trouble early, and spent a large portion of the game as an observer from the bench, although she did finish the contest. Without their leader, the Lady Miners had trouble scoring and were never able to find any rhythm on offense.

On the other hand, the Trojans clicked on all cylinders starting late in the first quarter, and never took the pedal off the metal.

Carrie Watson and Jaylene Phillips led Yreka in scoring with 13 points apiece.

Perhaps, the highlight of the evening was a touching farewell from the Lady Miners and Yreka fans to the voice of the Miners, Mark McAllister. McAllister broadcasted football and basketball on KSYC radio for over 25 years, and will be moving south soon. While it was his last home broadcast, McAllister is rumored to have told the radio station that he is open to broadcasting some of the Miners’ away games.

To the offense goes most of the glory. To the defense goes? Well, to the defense usually goes a pat on the back from the coach and an occasional acknowledgment from the media and fans. Yet, as the sports cliché goes, “Defense wins championships.” And, strong defense wins me as a fan.

As I was driving to the Yreka Miners semi-final soccer match against Winters, I knew I was going to issue an Impact Player Award. There was no doubt that more than one Lady Miner deserved it. I just didn’t know which one to choose.

As the game unfolded, my choice kept changing, but during the last 15 minutes or so of the match a clear choice emerged: Christina Korcek.

Christina has been a force on defense all season, but her incredible effort and willingness to sacrifice her body to preserve Yreka’s one-point lead late in the match sealed the deal. After the final whistles, Christina could hardly walk and despite the win she was too weary to muster much of a smile (until picture time).

I can’t tell you how many full speed collisions she endured, or how many times I thought she wasn’t going to get back up. What I can tell you is that Christina typifies the Lady Miner soccer tradition of maximum effort and hard-nosed defense, especially during the playoffs. (more…)

By Rick Martin

Mount Shasta – The Mt. Shasta boys Basketball team felt confident going into their first round game with Central Valley; after all, they’d beaten them by 18 points in the season opener back in December. But in the playoffs, confidence can be fleeting if the underdog grabs the momentum.

The underdog Falcons grabbed the “Big Mo” early on Wednesday night, but the Bears grabbed it right back, rolling to a 65-54 win and a date with 1-seed Corning in the D-IV quarterfinals.

CV came out smoking, with sharpshooter Luke Cassedy finding his way to the basket for easy looks and a quick 8-0 lead. That forced coach Kirk Andrus to reluctantly burn a timeout just past the 4-minute mark in the opening period, trying to calm his guys down. (more…)

HAPPY CAMP – It wasn’t the Happy Camp Lady Indians most inspired effort of the season, but they managed to defeat the Redding Christian Lady Lions on Wednesday, 43-34. Fifth-seeded Happy Camp improved its season record to 11-2, and will travel to five-seed Herlong (17-5) on Friday night.

The Lady Indians started well enough, jumping to a 6-0 lead on put-backs by Ashley Goodwin and Aja Conrad, as well as a hoop from Kelsea McLeran. Redding Christian didn’t score until almost the midway point in the first quarter on a pair of freebies that made the score 6-2.

Savannah Britton put the Lady Indians back up by six points on a put-back. An old fashion 3-point play by the Lady Lions made it 8-5, buckets by Amy Wyckoff and Conrad gave Happy Camp a 12-5 lead after the first quarter.

Redding Christian opened the second quarter scoring with a hoop, but Carly Hammon answered for the Indians with a trey, to make the score 15-7. Later in the quarter, Conrad drove the lane to increase Happy Camp’s lead to nine points, 18-9.

For much of the first half, Happy Camp seemed to be on the verge of blowing the game open, but couldn’t quite get there. Then, Redding Christian started to gain the edge. Apparently, someone forgot to tell the 12-seed that they were supposed to roll over and give up. By halftime, the Lady Lions had closed the gap to four points, 20-16. (more…)

AG/Natural Resources
Jake Njaa 12
Chelsea Hamilton 12
Business
Amanda Brouillette 11
Tawnie Wison 12
English
Celena Grant 9
Carlotte Clivio 10
Alana Hall 11
Rajdeep Singh 12 (more…)

DORRIS – The Butteville Eagles boys basketball team won the Siskiyou County Athletic League small schools tournament last Saturday, capping an undefeated 15-0 season.

The Eagles defeated Dunsmuir in the championship game, 39-36. Dunsmuir led by eight points at the half, but the Eagles were able to hold Dunsmuir scoreless in the third quarter and turn the tide in their favor.

Coach Chris Pappas tells the fourth quarter story: (more…)

ETNA – The ninth-seeded Rio Vista Lady Rams traveled over 300 miles to take on the eighth-seeded Etna Lady Lions in round one of the NSCIF D-V playoffs on Tuesday night. Although the Rams put up a fight early, in the end the game wasn’t close, as the Lady Lions’ athleticism was too much to handle for Rio Vista.

With the score tied 7-7 in the first quarter, Brittney Potter scored to give Etna the lead, 9-7, a lead the Lady Lions would not relinquish. Trina Appler added a bucket to make the score 11-7, going into the second quarter.

Etna led 16-13, when a Paige Finley hoop started a 10-1 run. After Finley scored, Sarah Loogman added a basket, and Ilima Adams dished to Appler for a bucket, upping Etna’s advantage to nine points, 22-13. Baskets by Annaleisa Nadig and Finley increased the lead to double digits at 26-13. Rio Vista added a freebie, leaving Etna ahead 26-14 at the intermission.

The Lady Lions added two points to their lead in the third quarter, making it a 14-point game, 34-20, going into the final frame.

Leading 36-25, Etna went on a game-clinching 14-0 scoring spurt in the fourth quarter. Potter started the run by driving the lane for a hoop, and followed up with another score, making it 40-25. A steal-n-score by Finley upped the lead to 42-25. Then, Potter dropped a dime to Finley who converted for a 44-25 lead. A steal by Jilinda Franklin led to a 3-point play the hard way by Finley, to increase the margin to 47-25. Loogman finished off the scoring for Etna with freebie, and then a put-back, doubling up the Rams 50-25. Rio Vista added three cosmetic hoops at the end of the game, making the final 50-31. (more…)

By Alyssa Scala

“Playoffs here we come” says Alden Jay Gibbs Jr. Who has been a big contributor to the success of the COS men’s basketball team, who is getting ready for their game tonight.
Alden is from Brooklyn, NY, “which is just like a big city where you can walk pretty much everywhere and there is always something to do,” said Alden
Asked how he heard about the tiny town of Weed and COS Alden said, “My high school principle knows Billy Offill, and told me that I should go play there since I wasn’t doin nothin back at home. So here I am,” said Alden. “So here I am, and I’m having fun.”
Alden’s making the adjustment from the big city to rural life, but it hasn’t been easy.
“Its ok I guess, I just play ball and video games, and and hang out with the guys. It’s a lot smaller than home so the part where there isn’t a lot of things to do all the time was very difficult to adjust to,” said Alden
On the court, Alden prefers playing defense to offense, but enjoys going vertical.
“Defense is where it’s at, though offense is when I can dunk it,” said Alden.
Alden wants to play some higher level college ball.

He says, “I will go wherever gives me a full ride, I just wanna play ball. I am gonna miss all the guys from my two years at COS and met a lot of cool people which maybe I can see in the future.”
Alden’s parting words are, “hope to see you at the game at 7:00”

Siskiyou Youth contributor Alyssa Scala is a graduate of Yreka High School. She currently attends COS, where she is working towards a law degree.