A young La Grande swim team is starting to hit its stride. This weekend at the Baker Invitational, the Tigers enjoyed its best performance of the season, taking first place with an overall team score of 190 total points.

The girls team placed first with 117 points, 34 points more than second place Baker. The boys team finished second behind Pendleton with 73 points for the meet.

BALL BATTLE: EOU’s Anne Barnett fights for a loose ball against I-84 rival College of Idaho player Katie Strunk during the Mountaineers 47-43 loss. The Observer/PAUL HARDER

Both teams entered with a 5-1 Cascade Collegiate Conference record, but the end result — a 47-43 Coyotes’ win — didn’t resemble a great game.

“We gave one away tonight,” Mountaineers head coach Anji Weissenfluh said. “We count on our posts to do some scoring for us, and that didn’t happen.

HOLDING ON: La Grande’s Zach Nice looks for room to drive against Fruitland during a 36-34 win Saturday. The Observer/CHRIS BAXTER

Friday against the Pioneers La Grande used a solid defensive effort to pick up a 51-41 win in the start of Greater Oregon League play.

The Tigers broke out for 19 fourth-quarter points to seal the victory after Mac-Hi made a run in the third.

HOT POTATO: Wallowa’s Bailey Shelton (23) and Rebeka Jamerson (35) watch a loose ball go out of bounds while Imbler’s Chelsea Poe (50) holds her position. The Observer/PAUL HARDER

Imbler dominated Wallowa 52-14.

Fueled by Reva West’s outside shooting, the Panthers built a 15-0 before Wallowa put points on the board.

The senior helped fuel a 67-39 win against the Panthers Saturday.

“It’s a big win for us,” Tyler Harshfield said. “This is a great team to be playing with. We’re just trying to continue to get better.”

The La Grande football team has recieved postseason honors in the Greater Oregon League for their on-the-field play in 2009.

RIVERSIDE — The Elgin boys basketball team picked up a little steam before heading back into the conference schedule.

The Huskies defeated Riverside 56-55 Tuesday, giving the Blue Mountain Conference team three wins in their last four games.

IMBLER — The Imbler boys basketball team grabbed an early lead against Spray and cruised to an early 60-43 victory.

The Panthers outscored Spray by 11 in the second quarter to lead 33-19 at halftime.

Imbler didn’t let up any in the third and won the quarter 20-8.

THE DALLES — One bad quarter came back to hurt the La Grande girls basketball team Tuesday night. La Grande got outscored 17-8 in the third quarter in a 54-47 loss to The Dalles.

“Besides that quarter I thought we played our best basketball of the season,” Tigers head coach Doug Girdner said.

La Grande trailed by one at halftime but couldn’t handle the pressure defense put on by The Dalles early in the second half.

SANTIAM — The Huskies boys basketball team struggled from the start during a 45-40 loss to Santiam Friday.

Trailing by as much as 16 points, Elgin couldn’t dig itself out of the large hole.

“We only played about one and a half quarters of basketball,” Huskies head coach Casey Hallgarth said. “We just need to be more aggressive and work on our consistency. The boys will try to get it figured out before the league schedule restarts.”