| Ashley Taylor sends up a trey during Friday nights game with CSI. |
The regular season for the Lady Eagles came to a close with a pair of losses to SWAC powerhouse CSI this weekend.
The Eagles dropped the Friday night game 72-96 and then lost again on Saturday night 68-87. The losses didn’t affect their SWAC standings as they finished off 4th in the conference.
The Eagles offense struggled all weekend. They got behind early on Friday night and were never able to get back in the game. Elisha Harris carried the offense for CEU with 26 points on the night. She was 4-7 beyond the arc as well.
Jenny Fiso dished out five assists. Staci Little blocked four and pulled in 5 9 rebounds in the loss.
CSI quieted Harris on Saturday night, but she still led the team with 14 points and seven rebounds. CSI out rebounded the Eagles 54-37 as they dominated CEU on the boards.
CSI also went to the line more than twice the rate of the Eagles and hit three times as many of the freebies as the Eagles.
The team will travel down to Ephraim to play the in SWAC conference tournament. Their first match up will be against Snow on Thursday night. The Eagles handled Snow well in their last match up just a few weeks ago.
If they are successful in beating the Badgers then they will have to face CSI again for the semi-finals.
Kelcy Otani takes a “j” over her Bulldog rivals. Helper got up early in the game only to lose their lead late and have to come back in an overtime thriller to defeat the Lady Bulldogs 23-22.
| Lane Herrick holds the trophy won by Carbon High at the state tournament in 2001, the night the team returned to Price from St. George. Herrick was dismissed as baseball coach at Carbon last week. |
Lane Herrick loves baseball and his family loves baseball. When one rings the front doorbell of his home, it plays “Take Me Out to the Ball Game.” As head coach of the Carbon High baseball program for over a decade, he had seen the program have it’s ups and downs, but largely ups as the team has appeared regularly in the state playoffs.
But last week it was announced that Herrick had been removed from his coaching duties and replaced with long time assistant coach Troy Moynier.
The change comes just as the 2007 baseball season is beginning and tryouts are taking place.
Carbon High Principal Robert Cox gave no reasons for the change. His statement to the Sun Advocate only reflected the change to a new coach.
“Troy Moynier will take over as interim coach,” said Cox. “We appreciate that, when asked, he stepped up to take on the task in the middle of all the turmoil.”
While Cox would not make any comments about the situation, Herrick said, in a letter to the Sun Advocate, he was not willing to resign when asked to do so. He stated that he did not want to go, but was removed from the position anyway.
Despite the dismissal from his position, Herrick says his record speaks for itself.
“For 17 years I have been involved with Carbon High baseball, eleven years of which were as head coach,” commented Herrick in the letter. “During that time as head coach, Carbon won seven region titles, two state titles (within the last five years) and have made it to the state tournament for the last 11 straight years. My coaching record for that time is 173 wins and 77 losses. Over that time, I have worked to build one of the nicest high school baseball fields in Utah. I have never had a losing record and was twice voted 3A coach of the year.”
As with all coaching jobs, Herrick faced opposition for his decisions about the team at times over the years. But he says he never considered leaving the position and liked coaching the baseball team at the school.
“I have loved coaching all the young men who have come through my program,” he stated. “I feel that I have run a highly respected program.”
Finally he stated that he saw no reason for why he was removed, and felt he had done nothing wrong to warrant such action.
| Brandon Prescott throw up a long ball in an earlier game at the BDAC. |
It is never easy to go play up in Southern Idaho, and last weekend was no exception as CEU lost their final two games of the regular season to SWAC conference leader CSI. The score on Friday night was 85-94 and then on Saturday it was 82-107 as CSI pounded the Eagles to wrap up regular season play.
The Friday night game stayed close most of the way, with CEU trailing, but didn’t let the game get out of reach. Tyler Kepkay remained the CEU offensive force as he led the scoring with 27 points. Tony Dalton added 19 to help keep the Eagles in the game. In the end, CSI’s offense was too much as they put the game to bed with a nine point margin of victory.
CEU stayed right in the game on Saturday through the first half of play. They went to the locker room trailing by one. It was in the second half that CSI shut down the Eagle offense and took control of the game for good. Kepkay still managed to lead the team with 21 points. He was helped out by Eric Deardon 15, Dalton 13, and Jeremy Latham with 11. CSI out rebounded the team 51-40 to keep the Eagles from getting much of a shot at any second chance points.
Kepkay ended his season still leading the nation in scoring with just under 28 points per game. He and Lathan are also ranked fifth and sixth respectively in free throw percentage for the nation. The team will need all their resource to take with them into the SWAC tournament this weekend. The Eagles will play Northern Idaho in Ephraim this Wednesday night at 5:30 p.m. The winner of that game will then have to face CSI for the semi-final match. CEU handled Northern Idaho well during the season and should move past the first round.
Bull rider Bo Edwards with his mother Tonya receives recognition from Senator Dmitrich. Edwards was part of a national high school rodeo team from Utah that won the national competition. The competition included 1,500 contestants, 44 states, five Canadian provinces and Australia.
That harbinger of spring, the first Western Baseball Association (WBBA) meeting of the year, is scheduled for Mar. 10 at 10 a.m. at the BDAC.
During the meeting an important change in league eligibility will discussed. Starting this year a participants age on April 30 will determine the youths eligibility for the year. League officials will also vote on a proposal to change the format for the season ending final tournament.