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Joseph Journey: Eagles win
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District champions. Perfect through 25. Four wins to go. The Lady Eagles defeated Imbler, 58-42 at Baker High on Saturday, claiming the Old Oregon League District 7-1A championship, inching closer to that state title game. Twelve more days. Then it’s March 1. “They came out and played like a championship team,” said Imbler coach Barry Bowers, whose Panthers will enter the next round as the Old Oregon League second seed, starting with visiting Hosanna Christian at 7 p.m. Tuesday. “Give all the credit to Joseph. We played catch up most of the night.” For the most part, they were trying to catch Eagles junior Nicke Parks. There she was, extending those long arms, catching a lobbed pass above defenders, then putting it through the twine. There she was again, catching, pivoting, shooting, scoring. She had 19 points. She grabbed 13 rebounds. She was an unstoppable player for this unstoppable team. “She hit some tough shots,” Bowers said. “If she’s going to shoot the ball, those are shots we want her to take. “And she hit them tonight.” The Panthers’ Demetria Thompson tried valiantly. Chelsea Poe did, too. But nothing was stopping this Co-Old Oregon League Player of the Year. “When people are playing good against her, it makes her rise up,” Eagles senior Colby Patton said. “Imbler’s posts were playing really good defense on her. “That just made her feel like she had to do better.” And when Parks grabbed those defensive rebounds, it started that Eagles transition game — from Paige Bailey to Megan Yost to Shelby Harshman to, well, the bottom of the cylinder. “It all starts with a clean rebound,” Homan said. “We have the athletes to get out and run. “If you give them a break, or a little second, they’re going to be gone.” Then they’re going to be on the scoreboard. Then they’re going to walk off as winners. Perfect through 25. Four wins to go. Twelve more days. Then it’s March 1. “Our expectations that we set for ourselves are pretty high,” Homan said. “We enjoy this one very much, because this is one more step.” JOSEPH (58) Harshman 6 0-0 12, Yost 5 1-3 11, Bailey 1 4-6 6, Patton 3 0-1 6, Parks 8 3-5 19, Moro 1 0-0 2, Staigle 1 0-0 2. Totals 25 8-15 58. IMBLER (42) Eckstein 1 1-2 3, Bigej 2 0-0 5, Griffin 0 2-2 2, Bowers 4 0-0 8, Poe 2 2-3 6, West 3 0-0 6, A.Bowers 0 0-0 0, Dewey 2 0-0 5, Thompson 2 1-2 5, Anthony 0 0-0 0, Nilsson 1 0-1 2. Totals 17 6-10 42. Joseph 11 11 14 14 – 58 Imbler 7 12 12 11 – 42 3-point goals: Joseph, none; Imbler, Bigej, Dewey.
2nd team
1st team
Players of the Year |
