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Jordan Valley girls finish fourth at state, Vale boys ends sixth in state playoffs

Vale’s John Wolfe drives toward the key in a playoff game against Amity earlier in the season the Vikings emerged from state play with sixth place. (The Enterprise/PAT CALDWELL).

BAKER CITY – Kelsey Gluch scored 13 points and Jill Gammett added 12 to lead the Jordan Valley girls varsity basketball team in defeating Echo 52-28 Saturday.

The win clinched fourth place for the Mustangs at the Class 1A basketball tournament, at Baker High School.

Jordan Valley built a 19-12 lead after the first quarter and led 31-17 at halftime. The Mustangs outscored Echo 21-11 in the second half. Faith McCarty paced Echo with 11 points.

Jordan Valley won the game inside the key, scoring 17 points in the paint to Echo’s 6. The Mustangs also posted more second-chance points – 13 to Echo’s 4 – during the game.

Jordan Valley opened the tournament with a 45-35 loss to Crane – the eventual state champion – and then defeated Nixyaawii 61-53 in a second-round consolation contest.

Vale at 3A tourney

The Vale boys varsity basketball team ended its spectacular season with a sixth-place finish Saturday at the Class 3A state tournament in Coos Bay.

Umatilla defeated Vale 50-47 Saturday morning in the fourth-sixth place contest. After losing to Dayton, 55-50 Thursday night, the Vikings beat Oregon Episcopal in overtime, 60-59, when Brooks Haueter hit a 3-point jump shot with 16 seconds to go.

Haueter finished the night with 16 points.

The Oregon Episcopal game was an epic one, said Vale coach Colby Shira.

“It was a heck of a battle,” said Shira.

Vale ran out of steam against Umatilla in the consolation fourth-place game, said Shira.

The Vikings (22-7) faced Umatilla (18-10) for the fourth time in the season but could not shrug off a slow start.

“The day before, the overtime win, it took a lot out of the kids. We didn’t play well in the first half but we battled back,” said Shira.

Umatilla’s Ulises Armenta scored 20 points while Diesel Johnson led Vale with 13 points. Against Dayton, Tanner Steele led Vale with 16 points.

Shira said he’s proud of his team.

“We were just super competitive, every game, every night,” said Shira.

He said the season was a “huge success.”

“We haven’t made the state tournament in 16 years and haven’t won a state tournament trophy in 30 years. So those simple stats tell you how great it it was,” he said.

Shira said the Vikings never lost a game during the season by more than six points.

“It was unreal how consistent we were every night. A lot of that was the character and heart of the kids,” said Shira.

He said this team was “arguably one of the best teams in school history.”

“We had multiple weapons,” said Shira.

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