McKenzie Sports Report - December 26

McKenzie Varsity Sports Schedule This Week

There are no McKenzie Varsity Sports contests scheduled this next week. The next scheduled contests are after the New Year.

Chiloquin Panthers Prowl Finn Rock

Eagle Teams Fall Prey

Chiloquin, a bit North of Klamath Falls, traveled up Hwy. 97, over the Willamette Pass, down the Willamette River and back up the McKenzie River last Tuesday, December 17, to contest their Eagle hosts in a couple of non-league basketball games. The Lady Panthers set the stage early running out to a 20-5 first quarter lead and the Mt. Valley League visitors extended the margin to 44-11 at the halftime break.

McKenzie continued to struggle to find the basket after the half and scored just one basket in the second half, losing in an 82-13 rout.

Chiloquin spread the scoring around, with senior post Elanine Gilchrist leading all game scorers with 20 points, junior guard Dejah Head finishing with 16 points, senior guard Laila Perez adding 14 points, junior wing Mabel Avina-Parazoo scoring 12 points, and junior post Makayla Jayne finishing in double figures with 10 points.

On the other side of the coin, McKenzie had just two players score, sophomore guard Liliana Jones with 9 points and freshman guard Claire Weiss with 4 points. The Eagles youth and inexperience was very evident as the team made 5 of 42 shot attempts from the field, 11%, and a high number of turnovers as well.

The Eagle Boys followed in the nightcap. First quarter action was entertaining and competitive, and the score knotted at 9 when the horn sounded. The Panthers found an answer to the Eagle defense in the second quarter and led at halftime, 30-16, and still at the end of three quarters, 47-33. The Panthers were now smelling blood and running fast for a 77-49 rout of the host Eagles. Both teams finished with 34 total rebounds and typical of early season games, the turnover count was high, McKenzie tagged with 34 for the game and the Panthers, 28.

Chiloquin freshman forward Denver Bravo had himself a night finishing with a game high 29 points. Teammate sophomore post Dilen Black scored 14 points, sophomore center Edward Jones finished with 12 points and sophomore forward Lalan Wilder had 10 points.

McKenzie was led by sophomore guard Rhys Hamlow, who dropped in 20 points, nailing 7-16 two point shot attempts and a perfect 2-2 from behind the 3-point arc. Hamlow also shot 4-7 from the charity stripe. No other Eagle finished in double figure scoring, although junior guard Will Meister was close with 9 points. Aytan Munoz-Brown finished with 5 points, Jacob Norlund and Masonn Burton with 4 points each, Amir Enfield had 3 points, and Jacob Peek and Allen Acevedo both scored 2 points.

Eagles Fall At Winter Classic

The McKenzie Boys and Girls invited four non-league teams to Finn Rock this past weekend, Friday/Saturday, December 20/21 to participate in the McKenzie Winter Classic.

On the Girls side of the brackets, Class 2A Clatskanie from the Northwest League joined Class 1A Skyline League teams Yoncalla and Glendale and Mt. West League host McKenzie.

The four teams on the Boys bracket included Class 2A Oakridge, Yoncalla, Glendale and McKenzie. In first round Boys action on Friday, Glendale defeated McKenzie, 60-54 and Yoncalla defeated Oakridge, 68-58.

The Clatskanie Girls easily defeated Yoncalla, 46-25 and Glendale upended McKenzie, 38-14.

Saturday, the Oakridge Boys routed Glendale, 66-31 and Yoncalla followed suit-defeating McKenzie, 63-44

In Saturday's Girl tournament play, Yoncalla defeated McKenzie, 56-20 and Clatskanie downed Glendale, 46-25. The Yoncalla Boys team finished the McKenzie Winter Classic 2-0, Glendale and Oakridge finished 1-1, and McKenzie was 0-2. Clatskanie's girl’s team finished the weekend at 2-0, Yoncalla and Glendale were 1-1, and the McKenzie girls finished at 0-2.

McKenzie Girls Struggle Through Winter Classic

The Eagle girl’s basketball team played with a lot of energy while hosting Glendale and Yoncalla in the McKenzie Winter Classic last Friday and Saturday, December 20 and 21.

McKenzie also showed how young and inexperienced their team is and a lot of times, out of control on the court. That's not to mean that this group of athletes, and one can see the potential, hasn't made progress in skill development since last year, they definitely have. But fundamentals of the game will still be the first order of business when the Eagles return to the practice court. And there will still be some rough nights on the schedule this season, but that's also how character is built.

This weekend was even a bit tougher as McKenzie's leading scorer did not dress down due to family Holiday plans. Friday, the Eagles met the Glendale, a Skyline League team, and the visiting Pirates held no quarter, defeating their hosts 38-14. Glendale controlled the opening tip and at the end of one quarter of play, had taken control of the game with a 21-2 output. The halftime scoreboard read Glendale 29, McKenzie 5.

It was smooth sailing for the Pirates the rest of the night as they finished the third quarter at 36-10 and the game 38-14. Junior guard Audrey Kirkland led her Pirate teammates with a game-high point total of 14 points. Freshman guard Irelynd Bodine also scored in double figures with 10 points. Speaking of young, Glendale's roster shows five freshman, a sophomore and two juniors, no seniors.

Freshman guard Claire Weiss who finished with 9 points led McKenzie. Junior Mercy Mitchell-Chavez added 3 points and junior post player Linn Goette scored 2 points, to round out all the Eagle scoring.

The next afternoon, the McKenzie Eagles tipped off against the Yoncalla Eagles and as you might hazard to guess, the Eagles won. Unfortunately for the home crowd, it was those Skyline Eagles from down South instead of our own homegrown. This time, McKenzie lost 56-20.

Just as the day before, McKenzie fell behind in the first quarter big. Yoncalla led at the first horn, 17-4 and by 33-13 at the Break. The score was 53-18 after three quarters of play and finally, 56-20 at the final horn.

Mercy Mitchell-Chavez led McKenzie with 9 points and Claire Weiss finished with 8 points. Paiten Clevenger added 1 point. Their freshman post player, Tori Noffsinger, who finished with 20 points, led Yoncalla. Senior teammate, guard Ashlyn Ellis added 19 points.

Energized Eagle Boys Battle Hard, Still Can't Bank In A Win

It's been awhile since the Eagle faithful have been treated to a good old barnburner on what used to be one of the hardest gyms in the State for visiting teams to steal a win. Too long actually, but the McKenzie boys fashioned one together with the boys from Glendale last Friday evening. And it was fun to watch.

The game wasn't pretty as far as skill and technique to be sure. There was a lot of head scratching and not a few groans throughout the event. But the two teams laid it all out on the hardwood, going four quarters and an extra, before an unfortunate whistle-call changed the momentum and the Douglas County visitors were able to take advantage.

Glendale established a slim 19-16 point first quarter lead, which turned out to be the most offensive quarter of the game, for both teams. The Pirates extended the lead a bit at halftime, 27-23. And that gave the hometown fans something to chew on along with their hot popcorn and a dog.

Whatever McKenzie Head Coach Neil Barrett shared with his team during the Break, he hopefully recorded for future reference, because the Eagles roared out of the locker room conference and outscored the Pirates 16-9 to hold a 39-36 lead going into the fourth quarter.

McKenzie was close to pulling out their first victory of the season, but Pirates don't walk the plank willingly, and Glendale knotted the score at 47 all to force the 4-minute Over Time period. Nothing new in the fifth as McKenzie sunk a free-throw to go ahead by one, 48-47, only to have their Pirate competitors nail an inside basket to re-take the lead 49-48.

McKenzie's Will Meister parted the nets with a 3 point shot to re-gain the lead, 51-49, but aargh!, the Pirates tied it up with a two point of their own. With the score tied at 51, an Eagle was unfortunately tagged for a personal and technical foul combo that had at least the home fans scratching their heads wondering. The result gave the Pirates two shots for the personal foul, two shots for the technical and the ball out of bounds with time running down. Glendale was able to finally establish advantage and hold on for the 59-54 victory. The Eagles out rebounded the Pirates 43-24 total and shot 27% (23-85) from the field.

Maybe Yoncalla scouted the previous night or maybe not, but the Douglas County Eagles didn't let McKenzie dictate the momentum of the game like the game the day before. Yoncalla grabbed an 18-11 lead in the first quarter of their Saturday match up with their Finn Rock hosts and didn't take their feet off the petal as they cruised into the halftime with a comfortable 33-18 lead. McKenzie's locker room magic from the day before tried to re-direct Yoncalla's game plan for the second half and when the home Eagles out pointed Yoncalla 16-14 in the third quarter, folks in the stands started to feel the itch of the previous night. McKenzie's run started too late and the energy just wasn't there as Yoncalla regained the momentum, winning the fourth quarter 16-10 and the game, 63-44. The loss dropped McKenzie to 0-10 on the 2024-25 season and Yoncalla improved to 3-5.

McKenzie's Rhys Hamlow led his team in scoring with 15 points and he finished with 4 steals. Will Meister also scored in double figures, adding 12 points. Other Eagles scoring were Jacob Norlund with 6 points, Amir Enfield with 3 points, Masonn Burton, Aytan Munoz-Brown, Hayden Kumle with 2 points each, and Andrew Munoz-Brown with 1 point. Aytan Munoz-Brown led the team with 7 steals and Enfield led with 9 rebounds.