Tresa Palmer and Paige Harmier trap Jessie Minch in the corner in the first quarter of the Cardinals' game at Grant Jan. 31. Lincoln won 52-36 to improve their league record to 8-0.
With their win over Grant Thursday night, Lincoln has beaten each of the other PIL 6A teams twice now. That puts them firmly in control in their quest for the PIL title, which brings with it a bye in the first round of the playoffs.
The Cardinals play Cleveland next Tuesday in a non-league match.
Lincoln 52, Grant 36 Thursday, January 31, 2008
Big fourth quarter saves the day for Southridge Wednesday, January 30, 2008
Southridge's Kevin Sullivan shoots over Andy Poling of Westview in the first quarter of the Skyhawks' 53-51 come-from-behind win Jan. 30 in Beaverton. Sullivan scored a game-high 19 points for Southridge. Poling led Westview with 14.
It was a battle of big posts tonight as two of the top three teams in the tough Metro League clashed tonight in Beaverton. (7)Southridge hosted (8)Westview to see which team would improve their league record to 3-0 and which would fall to 2-1.
Through three quarters, Southridge junior Kevin Sullivan had outscored Westview's Andy Poling 15 to 14, but the Wildcats were cruising with an eight-point lead.
Entering the fourth quarter up 43-35, Westview's Josh Hill hit a three in response to a Southridge deuce to extend the lead to nine. But it all went downhill from there.
Terrell Wallace, who scored 11 in the first half for the Wildcats, was held scoreless in the fourth quarter. He finished the game with 12 points. Poling was also held off the scoreboard in the final period, and was called for a technical foul.
Travis Kinane made both those shots for the Skyhawks, part of a 13-0 run which put the home side ahead 50-46.
But Westview wasn't finished yet. With the Skyhawks up 51-48 with just 30 seconds left, Hayes Garrity made a three-pointer for the Wildcats to tie the game.
Southridge put the ball in the hands of junior point guard Kyle Rose who made a field goal with next to no time left to seal the 53-51 win.
Kevin Sullivan scored a game-high 19 for Southridge. Andy Poling led Westview with 14.
(left) Westview post Andy Poling hangs his head after Southridge overcame a 9-point deficit in the last six minutes to beat the Wildcats 53-51 Jan. 30 in Beaverton. (below) This was the first time I'd ever been to Southridge. As soon as I saw this mural I knew I wanted to use it for something like this. Actually, I was hoping for some decent game action in front of it, but this was the best I could get.
Reser's TOC Champions Sunday, January 27, 2008
The Reser's Tournament of Champions wrapped up Saturday at Liberty High School in Hillsboro. The tournament is billed as the toughest meet in Oregon, as it features the top schools of all sizes from across the state. Here are some images of the winners (seeds in brackets).
Canby's (4)Jeff Helbling tries to force (2)Howie Mole's shoulders to the mat Jan. 26 in the 215-pound title match at the Reser's Tournament of Champions in Hillsboro. Helbling beat the Crook County senior 12-7. 
Tillamook's (4)Bubba Owens controls Cleveland's (6)Shaun Palikiko in the 285-pound championship match. Owens won 3-0.
Hermiston's (2)Ben Jorgensen (right) controls Sprague's (1)Alex Kostenborder in the 103-pound title bout. Jorgensen won 3-1. (below) Kostenborder suffers at the hands of Jorgensen in the final.
Culver's (2)Jake Nelson (left) can't find a winning move against Newberg's (1)Tommy Siciliano in the 112-pound final. Siciliano scored early against Nelson and then held on for a 9-4 win.
Hillsboro High School's Mikey Rodriguez (left) congratulates Gresham's John Reese after the unseeded wrestlers met in the 119-pound title match. Reese won 7-4. 
Roseburg's (1)Mitchell Lofstedt celebrates as the crowd jeers after he beat Culver's (2)Miguel Baltazar 7-5 in the 125-pound championship match. Baltazar nearly tied the match with a takedown in the dying seconds, but the wrestlers were out of bounds. (below) Baltazar grapples with Lofstedt in the final.
Canby's Zach Lowry manhandles Thurston's Ryan Arand in the 130-pound championship. Lowry, the third seed in the bracket, beat the top seed 5-2 to take the title.
Cleveland's Eric Luna (right) takes down Mike Cowell of Grants Pass in a tangle of arms and legs in the 135-pound title match. Luna, the third seed in the bracket, beat his unseeded opponent 5-0. 
(1)RJ Pena of Sprague keeps (2)Sam Mecham's arms under control in the 140-pound title match Jan. 26 at the Reser's Tournament of Champions. Pena, one of the top-rated high school wrestlers in the country, pinned four opponents in five periods to reach the championship, where he recorded a technical fall at 3:58 against the Roseburg sophomore.
[Note: Canby's (1)Travis Newton was awarded the 145-pound title by forfeit over (7)Joey Chandler from Newberg.]
(3)Mitch Sturdevant of Newberg (left) grapples with Burns' (1)Joe Drinkwater in the 152-pound final. An escape conceded by Sturdevant was all Drinkwater needed to win the match, 1-0.
Newberg's (1)Alec Ortiz goes upside-down against Hermiston's (2)Randy Larson in the 160-pound championship. Ortiz pinned Larson at 1:44.
Canby's (2)Austin Rasch keeps Newberg's Josh Chandler under control in the 171-pound final. Rasch beat his unseeded opponent 11-4 to win the title. 
(2)Ryland Geiger of Scappoose looks for an answer to (1)Taylor Johnson's attack on his leg in the 189-pound final. Geiger won a decisive 12-6 victory over his opponent from Redmond.
Newberg won the team title with 193.0 points. Hermiston was second with 142.5, just ahead of Canby's 139.0. Roseburg (130.0) and Crook County (127.0) rounded out the top five.
More information is available on the Westview Wrestling website.
Reser's TOC Day 1 Friday, January 25, 2008
Fourth-seed Thomas O'Connor of Glide (top) beats Canby's Aaron Maxwell Jan. 25 in the first round of the 160-pound bracket at the Reser's Tournament of Champions in Hillsboro. Hundreds of wrestlers from 23 schools of all sizes and all parts of Oregon are competing in the two-day event.
(right) Gresham's Nick Roberts (black) grapples with Glide's Kyle Fields Jan. 25 in the first round of the 171-pound bracket. Roberts, who was not seeded, upset his fourth-seeded opponent to advance to the quarterfinals.
Newberg is in the lead after championship round 2, with Roseburg and Hermiston close behind.
This and that Thursday, January 24, 2008
Iris Lerch is puzzled as some of her team mates are running a different play than others Jan. 22 in the Cardinals game against Wilson. Leading 20-1 after the first quarter, Lincoln cruised to a 58-43 win.
I've shot a lot of basketball games over the past couple of years, but this was a first for me—a player standing on the outside took the first pass of a set, and then basically stopped because some of her team mates (I don't remember who) were running the wrong play. Iris was confused at first, but figured out what was going on, called it out again and got back in the game. For me, anyway, it was kind of funny.
(below) Mariella Ballato watches from the bench as her team takes on Wilson.
Meanwhile, Mariella Ballato has been out of action for the past couple of weeks with a foot injury. At first she tried to play through it, but it wasn't getting any better so she's on the DL. The rest of the bench—notably Paige Harmier (below vs. Jefferson) and Blair Jones—have been picking up the slack. Mariella hopes to play again in the Cardinals' game against Grant at the end of the month.
Oh, and if you don't already know, this is probably the best source for OSAA basketball scores and stats these days.
Miscellaneous basketball photos Tuesday, January 22, 2008
Lincoln's three "swingers," Erinn Stringer, Jennie Archambault and Mackenzie Lamson, check the scoresheet between the JV and varsity games Jan. 16 at Jefferson.
Here are a few recent images, some of which I could write too much about and others I don't have much to say about ... I guess I'll let them speak for themselves.
[right] Grant freshman Krystal Forthan (in red) was in the stands at Jefferson Jan. 16. [below] The Cardinals change in a stairwell at Benson after their Jan. 18 win.
Don York Wrestling Tournament Sunday, January 20, 2008
More than 350 high school wrestlers gather on five mats at Cleveland High School Jan. 19 for the Don York Tournament.
The Don York Tournament is named for the man who coached the Cleveland HS wrestling team in the 1970s and early '80s. Seventeen schools from Portland and the Willamette Valley sent their varsity and junior varsity squads to the two-day event.
(right) Springfield's Corbin Clontz (top) grapples with Zach Murphy of Centennial Jan. 19 at the Don York Tournament at Cleveland High School. Murphy won the match 6-4 to advance to the 125-pound semifinal. (below) Chris Major of McKay High School struggles to keep his shoulders off the mat in his consolation bracket match against Milwaukie's Cody Faulhaber. Major avoided the fall, but lost the match 11-8.
Lady Demos beat Lady Cards, 65-50 Friday, January 18, 2008
Lincoln senior Iris Lerch shoots a jumper in the second quarter of the Cardinals' Jan. 16 game against Jefferson. The Lady Demos led from start to finish en route to a 65-50 win.
I'm in a bit of a hurry this evening, so I'll try to round out this post with more about Jefferson later.
For me, at least, Wednesday night seemed to be "Iris Lerch" night, especially in the first half. She finished the night with seven points, about average for her, but she seemed to be everywhere my lens was pointed. In a stretch of 12 of my "keepers" from the game, nine of them are her doing something with the ball—jump shots, free throws, driving in, defending, whatever.
Iris Lerch dribbles around Jefferson's Nyesha Sims in the first quarter.
Janita Badon, who has signed with the University of Utah, seems to get most of the press for Jefferson, but she only scored six Wednesday against Lincoln. Nyesha Sims had a game-high 16 points for the Demos, and Tyrisha Blake was deadly from the low post, notching 15.
Jefferson, the top-ranked 5A team in the state, improved their record to 13-0.
Aliyah Green had 13 for the Cardinals and Kelsey Goodell added 12. The Cardinals (10-5 overall, 4-0 conference) get a rematch at home against Jefferson on Feb. 21.
Walk on Mt. Tabor
A couple walks through the woods in Portland's Mt. Tabor Park on a sunny Sunday afternoon in January.
Mt. Tabor is open year-round, of course, but for some reason I only seem to get there at this time of year. Here is my last post from there.
Oh, wait, that's not true—I was there in August, too.
Street Talk 003: Tree Planting Wednesday, January 16, 2008
I'll put more up on this post later, and fill out the audio a bit more when there is time. Actually, I hope to make a Sound Slides presentation with this one, but my main goal was to turn around the audio as quickly as possible, so here you go. The main narrator is Dick Pugh, an Urban Forest Commissioner. You also hear Jefferson senior Harun Mustafa and in the background, Karl Dawson of Portland City Urban Forestry. I think those are the main people.
Portland mayor Tom Potter was supposed to attend this event, but couldn't due to a scheduling conflict. More on that later, too.
Jefferson High School students plant trees Jan. 16 in a field adjacent to their school with the help of Portland Urban Forest, part of the city's Parks and Recreation Department.
Reser's Tournament of Champions Wrestling Monday, January 14, 2008
R.J. Pena (top) of Sprague High School puts the hurt on Culver's Miguel Baltazar in the 125-pound championship match at the Reser's Tournament of Champions in Hillsboro on Jan. 27, 2007. Pena, seeded number one, pinned the second seed at 2:32 to win the title. Pena pinned all five of his opponents in the tournament. (Pena went on to win the 6A state tournament at 125 pounds. He is competing at 140 this year. Baltazar won the 2A state title at 125, and is competing at 135 pounds this year.)
This blog has been getting a lot of hits recently looking for information on the Reser's Tournament of Champions (TOC). Here is the basic information for the 2008 tournament:
As usual, it seems that the folks at Westview High School are organizing the tournament, which will take place Jan. 25-26 at Liberty High School in Hillsboro. Twenty-three schools are participating in the invitational tournament:
- Burns (last year's 3A champion)
- Canby (6A/fourth)
- Cleveland (5A/ninth)
- Crater (5A/third)
- Crook County (5A/second)
- Culver (2A-1A champion)
- Glencoe (5A/25th)
- Glide (3A/fourth)
- Grants Pass (6A/sixth)
- Gresham (6A/19th)
- Hermiston (5A champion)
- Hillsboro (5A/fourth)
- Newberg (6A/fifth)
- Oregon City (6A/seventh)
- Redmond (6A/third)
- Roseburg (6A champion)
- Scappoose (4A/tie third)
- Sprague (6A/ninth)
- Thurston (5A/fifth)
- Tillamook (4A/second)
- West Linn (6A/second)
- West Salem (6A/14th)
- Westview (6A/eighth)
Lincoln boxes out Forthan, Grant Saturday, January 12, 2008
Aliyah Green (left) and Iris Lerch box out 6-foot, 4-inch freshman Krystal Forthan in the first quarter of the Cardinals' game Jan. 11 against Grant.
Lincoln survived its first real test of the PIL season Jan. 11 when they hosted Grant. After giving up the first four points of the game, the Cardinals caught up and led the rest of the way en route to a 53-41 win.
It was my first chance to see Grant this year, and their young star Krystal Forthan. A 6-foot, 4-inch freshman, it isn't surprising that Forthan has already been receiving a lot of attention (e.g. here and here) from the press and scouts.
I haven't seen the boxscore from the game, but Lincoln seemed to contain Forthan pretty well. She did make one nifty move to split a back-court trap set by Paige Harmier and Alexis Gleason in the second quarter, but she didn't play as much of a role as I had expected.
(right) Grant senior Shaquala West runs through the Lincoln defense Jan. 11.
As usual, Patti Polk scored a bunch of points for the Generals, but Lincoln's biggest challenge was stopping Shaquala West. West is typically the third force for Grant (after Polk and Forthan), but she seemed to be having an especially good night on Friday.
In the end, of course, the Cardinals ended up on top. Below-average offense was supported by above-average defense as they grabbed the vast majority of rebounds at both ends of the court.
The win was Lincoln's first home victory of the season, improving their conference record to 4-0 (10-4 overall). Their next game will be another tough test against Jefferson, the top-ranked 5A team in the state.
Friday's loss dropped Grant to (2-1, 8-5).
Lincoln thumps Franklin 70-32 Wednesday, January 09, 2008
Junior Aliyah Green (no. 14) takes the tipoff over Franklin senior Katie Boardman Jan. 8. The 0-0 score was as close as the Quakers would come in the game.
It's been a while since I posted anything, so here are some new basketball pictures. Last night's game between Lincoln and Franklin was never in doubt, and that was hardly a surprise. Lincoln, currently ranked tenth in the coaches' poll, took the opening tipoff (unusual for them) and never looked back against the 1-11 Quakers.
The Cardinals stormed out to a 28-0 lead after the first quarter. Lincoln was already working their bench into the game by the end of that period. The game slowed down considerably in the second quarter, with neither team scoring until Franklin finally got on the board about 3 minutes in. Lincoln slowly stretched their lead from there, ultimately winning 70-32.
The one-sided game gave me a good opportunity to photograph some of the less-played players in action. For the second time this season, all but one of the Cardinals put their name on the score sheet. Strangely, tonight's exception was Iris Lerch, who is usually good for six or seven points. Maybe she got a bunch of assists.
(right) Mackenzie Lamson attacks the basket in the fourth quarter. Lamson scored 5 points for the Cardinals in the second half. (below) Erinn Stringer works against Franklin senior Madelyn Gaines in the third quarter. Stringer scored two points in the game.
Barlow Trail Tournament Tuesday, January 01, 2008
Barlow's Mat Delaunay collides with Thurston's Michael Akins in the first quarter of their semifinal game Dec. 28 in the Barlow Trail Tournament. Barlow lost 55-45.
Here are a few images from last week's Barlow Trail Tournament. I was there to shoot the Barlow game, but things were running a bit behind so I also caught the last half of the Sunset/Sheldon game.
(right) Seiji Blume puts one up for Barlow Friday in the third quarter of the Bruins' semifinal match against Thurston.
(left) Sunset's Garett Sim challenges Tyler Reynolds of Sheldon Dec. 28 in the semifinals at the Barlow Trail Tournament. Sunset beat Sheldon 74-62. (below) Sheldon junior Ben Higgins tries to get around Sunset's Phillip Campbell late in the fourth quarter.
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