On Saturday, Jan. 15, the rural basketball season kicked off for the rural schools in Humboldt County. There have been a few changes this year with the changes, but all the athletes are happy to be back on the court.
Denio did not partner with Fields this year and there are no Denio/Fields teams. In Division II, McDermitt only has one team, no White and Blue teams. Kings River only has a Division I team. Both Orovada and Paradise Valley have teams for all three divisions.
For clarification, Division I is 6-8, Division II is 3-5, and Division III is K-2, players can play up if a team is short players, but they cannot play down.
McDermitt hosted the first round of games. The first two games went into overtime and one went into sudden death even.
The Division I teams for the Paradise Panthers, coached by Brandon and Janelle Hoagland took on the Orovada Eagles, coached by Michael and Michelle Vanderhoeck. Robert Depaoli (No. 15) was one of the high-point scorers for Orovada with eight of their 20 points, two of those being from free throw shots. Brian Woodworth (21) also scored eight points. Keigan Cordeiro put the other four points on the board.
Jaxson Morgan, (15) from Paradise put up 14 of their 22 points for the game. Cooper Hoagland, (16), scored two shots for four points and both Kaleb Roberts and TyAnne Kern scored a shot for a total of four between them.
At the end of the fourth quarter, the game was tied 18-18. They went into a two-minute overtime with both teams scoring an additional shot, ending with a score of 20-20. Then came sudden death. Travis Kelsey was fouled, but did not put in either free throw shot, but Jaxson Morgan put in the winning bucket, ending the first game, Paradise 22, Orovada 20.
• Game two was also Division I action, as the home team McDermitt Bulldogs coached by Paul Merkel took on the Kings River Coyotes coached by Joel Lopez.
From the first quarter the score was neck and neck, 7-7. During the second quarter McDermitt pulled ahead a little, ending the had 12-10. McDermitt still had the lead at the end of third quarter, 22-19, but in the last few second of the fourth quarter Cody Allen (32) from Kings River drained a 3-pointer, bringing the game to a tie at the buzzer, 34-34.
They went into overtime, with Kiara Crutcher (30) and Cierra Smart (34) both scoring 2-point shots for four more points, bringing the Bulldogs score up to 34. Cody Allen put in his first of two free throw shots and although Ainsley Velasco got a one and one shot, due to McDermitt’s team fouls, he did not make it count. Therefore, the final score was 38-35, with the Bulldogs taking the win.
• The third game was a little slower paced, dropping down to Division II. The Bulldogs, also coached by Paul Merkel, took on the Paradise Panthers, coached by Shane Hall.
At the end of the first quarter the score was 7-0, as Isabelle York (4) scored five of those points and Ethan Alexander the other two. At the half the score was 10-2, as Keyana Chavez (24) scored a shot and Rikki Crutcher (22) made her first free-throw shot. Ben Bayles (14) scored the 2 points for Paradise. After the half, Bayles scored another shot in third quarter, which Ailiyah Crutcher (54) answered with two points. At the end of third quarter the score was 12 to 4.
During the fourth quarter Paradise made two more shots and a free-throw for five points, and Sam Bayles scored a shot for two more. McDermitt did not score during the fourth quarter, even so the final score was 12-11.
• The final game of the first round was the McDermitt Bulldogs Division I again versus Orovada. This was a fast paced, intense game as both teams had played other teams earlier in the day. The final score was 28-16 with McDermitt winning .
Robert Depaoli was high point scorer for the Eagles with 10 of their 16 points. Keigan Cordeiro added five points and Brain Woodworth scored his second free throw shot for an additional point.
McDermitt had points distributed amongst eight of the players. Stephen Brown (14) scored 2 and Cayden Crutcher (15) made three — a shot and free-throw. Kiara Crutcher (30) scored three points, also a shot a free throw and Alexis Scott had nine points, with four shots and a free throw.
Cierra Smart also scored free throw and an additional shot for three points. Warrick Crutcher made two shots in the first quarter for four points and AJ Farmer scored a shot for two more.
Although Trevor Smart (29) made it to the free throw line, his shots did not add further points to the score board.
At the conclusion of the fourth quarter the McDermitt Bulldogs had 28 and Orovada 16, but Orovada only has four players that are 6-8, the other players were fifth graders that played up. For their first game of the season everyone did a phenomenal job. All games were officiated by JT Thompson and Ray Crutcher. There were no Division III games this weekend.
