Sophomore Brittany McNeil and the La Grande girls swim team won their home invitational Saturday at Veterans Memorial pool. The Lady Tigers finished with 123.5 points. CHRIS BAXTER/The Observer

The La Grande girls swim team had no problem swimming past the competition at its home invite Saturday.

The Lady Tigers racked up 123.5 points for a first-place finish, while Pendleton finished second with 73.

The Dalles-Wahtonka (58.5), Baker (46) and Hermiston (7) wrapped up the top five.

EOU linebacker Howard McDonald was named a AFCA NAIA Coaches’ All-American recently.

WACO, Texas — EOU senior linebacker Howard McDonald  has been selected to the 2012 American Football Coaches AFCA NAIA Coaches’ All-America Team, announced recently by the AFCA. 

McDonald was also named the Frontier Conference’s defensive player of the year after finishing with 162 total tackles, four sacks and an interception. 

La Grande’s Lauren Mills had a team-high 22 points in the Lady Tigers’ 60-59 victory over Vale. CASEY KELLAS/The Observer

LHS snaps two-game skid, clips non-league foe Vale 

The La Grande girls basketball ball team ended its two game losing streak Tuesday night against visiting Vale.

But it sure wasn’t easy. 

La Grande High Swim Invitational, Saturday Dec. 15, Veterans Memorial Pool

Results... 

Irrigon’s Madisyn Cadek saves the ball from going out of bounds as Elgin’s Katie Witherspoon dives in. CASEY KELLAS / The Observer

The Elgin girls basketball team grabbed an early lead against Irrigon Friday, but the Lady Huskies couldn’t sustain it as the Knights went on to win 50-34 at Eastern Oregon University.

Things looked good for Elgin in the first quarter as it jumped out to a 6-0 lead. Irrigon didn’t find the bottom of the net until the 2:15 mark of the opening quarter. 

Imbler’s Kain Shodin (20) gets a “high five” from Notus defender Brady Hartman (32) while shooting Friday. The Panthers won the non-league game by a 39-31 margin. BRAD MOSHER / The Observer

IMBLER — In a game where bodies were flying and sliding around the court, it took a pair of Imbler underclassmen to ignite the Panthers to a 39-31 non-league win Friday over Notus (Idaho).

Both teams battled to a 9-9 deadlock at the end of the first quarter.

Powder Valley’s Colton Eubanks drives to the basket Saturday while Umatilla’s Aaron Simmons tries to stop him. Powder Valley won by a 72-38 margin. BRAD MOSHER / The Observer

NORTH POWDER — Umatilla found itself in the middle of a blizzard Saturday.

It was a relentless Badger blizzard of scoring that buried the visiting Vikings in North Powder, 72-38. 

EOU rebounds after loss to Raiders to break Tech’s streak

KLAMATH FALLS — One of college basketball’s longest winning streaks came to an end Saturday night at Danny Miles Court.

Zach Anderson, who became eligible when the fall term ended last week, scored on a putback with two seconds to play to lift second-rated Eastern Oregon to a 75-73 Cascade Collegiate Conference men’s basketball victory over Oregon Tech. 

Union’s Dani Sturm was one of six Blue Mountain Conference players to be selected to a 2A all-state volleyball team. Sturm was named to the third team after helping guide the Lady Cats to a 19-9 record this season.

The Blue Mountain Conference ruled the roost in the 2A all-state volleyball selections released recently.

The BMC had six out of 22 players get selected to three different teams made up of the best volleyball players in the state.