AREA ROUNDUP: Pirates complete double-digit comeback to beat rival Bulldogs

AREA ROUNDUP

GRANGEVILLE — Separated by just 14 miles, the Prairie Pirates of Cottonwood completed a double-digit comeback in the final 5:40 of regulation to beat the host Grangeville Bulldogs 57-56 in a nonleague neighboring towns girls basketball meeting on Monday in Grangeville.

Down by one with seven seconds left, Sage Elven got the rebound, drew the foul and made both free throws to push Prairie (13-1) in front. Grangeville (11-5) did not get a shot after that as it got the ball to half court and called a timeout with 1.7 seconds left.

Lexi Schumacher stole the ball off the inbound, embracing the ball for the final second as the buzzer signaled Prairie's comeback win over an upper division rival.

“Our kids showed a lot of character,” Prairie coach Lori Mader said of her team’s 10-point comeback in which her team outscored the opponent 18-9 in the fourth quarter.

Elven paced Prairie with a double-double (20 points, 11 rebounds) on seven made baskets from the floor. She walked to the free-throw line in the game’s final seconds with a 4-for-9 mark from the line and left with two more makes and the lead.

Siena Wagner led Grangeville with 13 points joining three Bulldogs in double figures.

Mader said that Prairie once again found offensive success through the center of the court relying on Elven and Kylie Schumacher (13 points) to sail the Pirates to victory.

“They’re hard to stop when the two get going at the same time,” Mader said.

Elven had five assists and Kylie Schumacher had six steals.

GRANGEVILLE (11-5)

Caryss Barger 3 3-5 10, Siena Wagner 5 2-2 13, Autumn Long 5 0-2 10, Kinsley Adams 0 0-0 0, Dusty Bashaw 0 0-0 0, Madalyn Green 7 3-5 17, Halle Told 0 0-0 0, Adalei LeFebvre 2 0-0 4 , Addisyn Vanderwall 0 2-2 2, Ila Wilkinson 0 0-0 0. Totals 22 10-16 56.

PRAIRIE (13-1)

Lexi Schumacher 3 2-2 8, Aubree Rehder 0 0-0 0, Sydney Shears 0 2-2 2, Hailey Hanson 2 0-0 4, Nadia Cash 2 0-0 4, Mia Anderson 3 0-0 6, Ellie Nuxoll 0 0-0 0, Kadence Kalmbach 0 0-0 0, Erica Schlader 0 0-0 0, Sage Elven 7 6-11 20, Kylie Schumacher 5 2-6 13. Totals 22 12-21 57.

Prairie 11 17 11 18—57

Grangeville 18 14 15 9—56

3-point goals — K. Schumacher, Barger, Wagner.

JV — Prairie won 46-39.

Colton 37, Asotin 30

COLTON — The Wildcats used a 15-point fourth quarter to claw their way to a nonleague win over the visiting Panthers in Colton’s fifth straight win.

Ella Nollmeyer led Colton (9-6) with 12 points and 11 rebounds and Clair Moehrle nearly joined her in double-double territory with 11 rebounds and eight points.

Georgia Schaefer paced Asotin (4-10) with 12 points.

COLTON (9-6)

Leah Musson 2 0-0 5, Rori Weber 2 4-6 8, Ada Kerr 0 0-0 0, Ella Nollmeyer 5 2-7 12, Kya Soza 0 0-0 0, Clair Moehrle 3 1-2 8. Totals 14 7-15 37.

ASOTIN (4-10)

Kelsey Thummel 3 2-5 8, Maddi Lathrop 0 0-0 0, Abby Ausman 1 0-0 3, Carly Browne 0 0-2 0, Ellie Smith 0 0-0 0, Avary Wood 0 2-2 2, Brooklyn Hall 2 1-1 5, Georgia Schaefer 5 2-5 12. Totals 11 7-15 30.

Asotin 8 9 5 8—30

Colton 7 9 6 15—37

3-point goals — Musson, Moehrle, Ausman.

HIGH SCHOOL BOYS BASKETBALL

Asotin JV 60, Colton 29

COLTON — Christian Walling’s 12 points and Blyton Hollman’s 11 powered the Panthers JV in a victory over the Wildcats.

Wyatt Baysinger led all scorers with 14 points for Colton.

ASOTIN JV (9-5)

Sam Schaefer 2 0-0 5, Blyton Hollman 4 0-0 11, Christian Walling 6 0-0 12, Hayden Hansen 1 0-0 2, Tekoa Leister 4 0-0 9, Hudson Frost 2 0-0 6, Isaiah Pfinster 3 1-2 7, Kayden Amend 2 0-1 4, Tristen Scott 2 0-0 4. Totals 26 1-3 60.

COLTON (2-13)

Wyatt Baysinger 6 0-2 14, Joey Hemigaus 0 0-0 0, Tanner Baerlocher 1 3-5 5, Hayden Purnell 1 0-0 3, S. Nollmeyer 0 0-0 0, I. Mitchel 2 1-4 5, Duke Chalmers 0 0-0 0, Ryan Impson 1 0-1 2, B. Schlee 0 0-0 0, J. Dimmich 0 0-0 0. Totals 11 4-12 29.

Asotin JV 9 18 23 10—60

Colton 7 4 11 7—29

3-point goals — Hollman 3, Frost 2, Schaefer, Leister, Baysinger 2.

MEN’S COLLEGE BASKETBALL

Montana 72, Idaho 67

MISSOULA, Mont. — After trailing by as many as 16 points with eight minutes to go, the Vandals staged a near comeback.

Idaho (8-11, 3-3) jolted within three of the host Montana Grizzlies (12-8, 5-2) but fell just short, losing 72-67 in a road Big Sky clash.

Idaho junior Isaiah Brickner spent just 10 minutes on the floor but made them count, posting 10 points, all within the game’s final eight minutes.

The junior from San Diego headlined a startling 37 Vandal bench points which pushed Idaho back into the game.

Brickner began his surge with a pair of free throws to cut the Montana lead to 14 with 7:39 left.

He splashed a 3-pointer to make it an 11-point game with 6:06 left in regulation, hit a pair of layups 57 seconds apart from each other and made another free throw to make it a four-point game with 1:12 left.

Kyson Rose’s dual free throws made it a three-point game with 24 seconds left but Montana outscored Idaho 4-2 after that to secure the five-point victory.

Idaho never led in Missoula as the Griz opened the game with a 7-0 run and stayed at least one point ahead of Idaho after their first lead 42 seconds into the game.

Montana’s Brandon Whitney scored a game-high 18 points off of four 3-pointers. Jensen Bradtke added 12 points and five Griz scored at least eight points.

Tyler Mrus led Idaho with 12 points and was joined by Brickner’s and Tyler Linhardt’s 10 points apiece.

The Griz preserved their second-place standing while Idaho sits in fifth place in the Big Sky Conference.

After a late-night bus ride back to Moscow, the Vandals return to the hardwood at 6 p.m. Thursday versus first place Northern Colorado (14-5, 6-0) at ICCU Arena in Moscow.

IDAHO (8-11, 3-3)

Mims 1-3 2-6 4, Mrus 4-6 0-0 12, Gonzalez 3-12 0-0 6, Mitchell 0-5 5-5 5, Payne 1-3 0-0 3, Anderson 3-6 0-1 7, Linhardt 4-10 0-0 10, Brickner 3-4 3-4 10, Hardy 1-4 0-0 2, Klapper 0-0 0-0 0, Rose 2-2 3-4 8, Yearout 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 22-55 13-20 67.

MONTANA (12-8, 5-2)

Sawyer 3-4 1-2 7, Moore 3-6 2-2 10, Pridgen 4-8 0-0 8, Whitney 6-12 2-2 18, Williams 2-7 1-4 6, Bradtke 4-6 0-0 12, Patterson 3-7 2-3 9, Johnson 0-1 2-2 2, Jedkins 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 25-51 10-15 72.

Halftime — Montana 37-31. 3-Point Goals — Idaho 10-24 (Mrus 4-6, Linhardt 2-6, Anderson 1-1, Rose 1-1, Brickner 1-2, Payne 1-3, Mitchell 0-1, Gonzalez 0-4), Montana 12-27 (Bradtke 4-4, Whitney 4-7, Moore 2-5, Patterson 1-4, Williams 1-5, Johnson 0-1, Sawyer 0-1). Rebounds — Idaho 30 (Mims 6), Montana 28 (Pridgen 10). Assists — Idaho 13 (Anderson 7), Montana 17 (Williams 9). Total Fouls — Idaho 16, Montana 17. A — 2,438 (7,321).

COLLEGE WOMEN’S TENNIS

WSU 6, Michigan State 1

SPOKANE — Washington State tennis captured five of six singles matches en route to a 6-1 victory over Michigan State in a neutral site match at Gonzaga.

The match began with doubles and the Cougars (4-0) wasted no time jumping on top as Elyse Tse and Chisato Kanemaki rode a break of serve to 6-3 win over Matilde Morais and Hanna Tsitavets at No. 3. WSU clinched the opening point when Hania Abouelsaad and Martina Markov completed a 6-4 win over Issey Purser Oriana Parkins-Godwin at No. 3.

The match at No. 1 between WSU’s Eva Alvarez Sande and Maxine Murphy against Liisa Vehvilainen and Ellis Blackford was stopped once the doubles point was clinched. The Michigan State (0-2) duo was leading 5-3 when play was stopped.

Abouelsaad quickly increased WSU’s lead to 2-0 with a 6-1, 6-1 win over Purser at No. 4 while Martina Puvill picked up her fourth win in a row with a 6-4, 6-2 win over Amara Brahmbhatt at No. 5. Murphy rode a break of serve each set to a 6-3, 6-3 win over Blackford at No. 2 just before Markov held on for a 6-3, 7-6 (0) win over Tsitavets at No. 6.

Alvarez Sande needed three sets at No. 1 before posting a 6-3, 4-6, 1-0 (10-8) win over Vehvilainen to cap the day for the Cougs.

Doubles — Eva Alvarez Sande/Maxine Murphy (WSU) vs. Liisa Vehvilainen/ Ellie Blackford (MSU) 3-5 DNF, Elyse Tse/Chisato Kanemaki (WSU) def. Matilde Morais/ Hanna Tsitavets (MSU) 6-3, Hania Abouelsaad/Martina Markov (WSU) def. Issey Purser/Oriana Parkins-Godwin (MSU) 6-4.

Singles — Eva Alvarez Sande (WSU) def. Liisa Vehvilainen (MSU) 6-3, 4-6, 10-8, Maxine Murphy (WSU) def. Ellie Blackford (MSU) 6-3, 6-3, Matilde Morais (MSU) def. Elyse Tse (WSU) 6-3, 5-7, 1-0 (11-9), Hania Abouelsaad (WSU) def. Issey Purser (MSU) 6-1, 6-1, Martina Puvill (WSU) def. Amara Brahmbhatt (MSU) 6-4, 6-2, Martina Markov (WSU) def. Hanna Tsitavets (MSU) 6-3, 7-6 (0).

COLLEGE FOOTBALL

Pole earns invite to East-West Shrine Bowl

Washington State left tackle Esa Pole earned an invitation to the 100th East-West Shrine Bowl, an annual event that pits pro football prospects from the East against an all-star team of prospects from the West.

The game will be played at 5 p.m. Jan. 30 at AT&T Stadium, the home of the Dallas Cowboys and broadcast by the NFL Network.

Representatives from all 32 NFL teams attend the game and scout participating players.

After two years at WSU, Pole declared for the NFL draft on Jan. 11.

“I will bet on myself and declare for the 2025 NFL draft. Go Cougs! 7 6 out,” Pole wrote in his draft announcement that he posted to his social media accounts.

Pole started 21 games at left tackle for WSU, including each of the Cougars’ 13 contests in 2024.

He will join fellow Coug, wide receiver Kyle Williams at the Shrine Bowl.