| Pirates
blow out Cascade in state opener
The Prairie Pirates raced out to a 27-6 first quarter lead and cruised to a 76-43 win over Cascade in their state tournament opener Thursday, March 4 at Vallivue High School in Caldwell. 
Andrew Gabica scored 9 first quarter points on 4 for 5 shooting while David Sigler hit a pair of 3-pointers and had 8 points as Prairie forced 8 first quarter turnovers from the Ramblers and scored after nearly all of them. Prairie hit 9 of 13 shots in the opening period while Cascade was just 4 for 11. Prairie kept up the torrid shooting pace in the second quarter as they connected on 7 of 12 attempts but got a little sloppy with the ball as they had 8 turnovers which helped Cascade play them even in the quarter at 15 points each. The Pirates had a 12-0 run in the third quarter which helped them take a 35 point lead into the fourth quarter. The downside of the quarter was Branden Waller rolling his ankle just 2 minutes into the quarter. He got it taped up and was able to return to the game late in the quarter and hit 2 of the 3 shots he attempted before going to the bench in the fourth quarter when Prairie emptied the bench after pushing the lead to 40 at 70-30. Devin Schmidt scored 9 of his game high 19 points in the third quarter as Prairie pulled away. Sigler was held scoreless after the first quarter but Gabica, Waller and Schmidt filled the scoring void as he was in double figures. Schmidt was 7 for 11 from the field and 5 for 5 at the line for his 19 points. Waller hit 7 of 11 as well and was 2 for 2 at the line for 16 points. Gabica also scored 16 on 7 for 9 shooting. He was 2 for 3 at the line. Conner Rieman was 3 for 3 for 6 points while Seth Guyer scored 4, Kyle Holthaus, Beau Schlader and Ryan Dalgliesh 2 each and Derek Schaeffer 1. Prairie dominated the boards 40-23 with Schmidt pulling off a double-double with 10 rebounds. Gabica added 7 rebounds and Schaeffer had 6. Gabica played an all-round great game as he had 5 steals and 7 assists. Holthaus had 4 steals and Sigler also had 7 assists. As a team Prairie had 24 assists on 31 made baskets. The Pirates were 31 for 55 from the field, 56%, and 12 for 17 at the line, 71%. Prairie was 26 for 40 in the first 3 quarters from the field, 65%. Cascade was 15 for 41 from the field, 37%, and 11 of 22 at the line, 50%. Prairie 27 15 23 11 -76 Cascade 8 15 7 13 -43 Prairie-D. Schmidt 7-11, 5-5, 19; Rieman 3-3, 0-0, 6; Gabica 7-9, 2-3, 16; Sigler 2-6, 2-3, 8; Waller 7-11, 2-2, 16; Holthaus 1-4, 0-1, 2; Schaeffer 0-1, 1-2, 1; Guyer 2-4, 0-0, 4; Schlader 1-4, 0-1, 2; Heath 0-0, 0-0, 0; J. Schmidt 0-0, 0-0, 0; Dalgliesh 1-2, 0-0, 2. 3-pointers-Sigler 2. Cascade-Walter 3-7, 1-2, 7; Speer 0-4, 0-0, 0; Kennedy 0-0, 1-2, 1; Lambirth 5-13, 2-3, 13; Gonzalez 1-3, 5-7, 7; Schimpf 1-1, 2-3, 4; Gridley 1-6, 0-3, 2; Small 1-1, 0-0, 2; Vandenburg 2-4, 0-1, 5; Stewart 1-1, 0-0, 2; McCammon 0-1, 0-0, 0. 3-pointers-Lambirth, Vandenburg. Pirates outlast Raft River in semis The Prairie Pirates advanced to the state championship game for the second straight year after outlasting Raft River 48-42 in the semifinals Friday, March 5 at Vallivue High School in Caldwell.  Prairie
had to do it without the full court press that had helped them blow out
Kendrick and Cascade in their previous two games.
Prairie came out in their press at the start of the game and were able to force a couple of turnovers as they jumped out to a 10-2 lead. Devin Schmidt had 6 of those first 10 points. Raft River then made an adjustment and starting breaking the press for easy lay-ups and outscored Prairie 4-11 to pull within 1 at 14-13 late in the first quarter. Branden Waller, playing on a tender ankle, stole the ball and drove in for a lay-up to give Prairie a 16-13 lead at the quarter break. Waller was noticeably limping but being the gamer he is, he played the whole game. Raft River continued to break the press and also started forcing Pirate turnovers as they scored the first 8 points of the second quarter to take a 16-21 lead. Prairie finally broke through for their first points of the quarter when Schmidt tossed a pass over the defense to David Sigler who was wide open for a 3-pointer at the 4:18 mark of the quarter. After a Raft River basket Sigler hit another 3-pointer to cut the lead to 22-23 with 3:30 left in the half. Prairie took back the lead on an inbounds play where Conner Rieman came down off a screen and was wide open for a lay-up with Sigler getting the assist. Raft River ended the scoring for the half and took a 24-25 lead into the break when Rio Manning stole the ball and drove in for a lay-up. Prairie took their press off in the second half and were able to defend Raft River well in the halfcourt as they held the Trojans to just 2 for 15 from the field in the third quarter and 7 for 27 in the second half. Meanwhile Prairie took the lead back in the third quarter when Rieman scored at the 7:38 mark. A free throw by Sigler and a putback by Schmidt made it 29-25. Prairie wasn’t able to build much of a lead though as they scored just 8 points in the quarter while holding Raft River to 6. The Trojans only scored on two occasions as Manning converted an old-fashioned 3-point play and Cade Powers hit a 3-pointer. Raft River took back the lead early in the fourth quarter on a putback by Taylor Thacker but Waller answered with a drive into the lane for a basket. After Raft River scored again on a drive to the hoop, Prairie took the lead for good when a steal by Schmidt led to a pair of free throws by Rieman. Schmidt then connected from the side to put Prairie up 38-35 with 4:16 left. 
The lead was only 2 with 2:21 left after a basket by Manning and Raft River had the ball back and was looking to tie or go ahead. Sigler stole the ball and that led to him scoring a pair of free throws as Thacker fouled out. That was the second Trojan starter to foul out and both players got away with ripping the tails of their jerseys out of their shorts and sitting on the bench before either was subbed out of the game. That’s supposed to be a technical but wasn’t called in either case. That’s what Prairie fan Brian Schaeffer was informing the referees about when he got tossed out of the gym. A steal by Rieman then led to a lay-up by Schmidt and Waller made it an 8-point lead with 1:00 to play with a lay-up. Raft River scored at the 45 second mark but Prairie answered with another lay-up by Schmidt with 20 seconds left. Raft River got the final points of the game in the final seconds. Schmidt again led the team in scoring as he had 19 points for the second straight night. Sigler added 12 points but after hitting three 3-pointers in the first half, he was limited to free throws in the second half. Waller scored 10 despite the tender ankle while Rieman scored 6 and Gabica 1. Gabica, who had such a great game on Thursday, was limited by foul trouble in this game. Both teams played just 7 players in the game but where Derek Schaeffer and Kyle Holthaus are regular parts of Prairie’s substitution rotation, Raft River’s subs only saw action due to foul trouble with the 7th player getting into the game only after the second starter fouled out. Still this was probably the quickest team Prairie has seen all year. Prairie outrebounded the Trojans 38-27 with Schmidt scoring his second straight 19 point-10 rebound game. Waller had 8 rebounds and Gabica had 7. Sigler had 2 steals and for the second straight game had 7 assists. Prairie was 18 for 42 from the field, 43%, and 9 for 16 at the line, 56%. Raft River was 16 for 48 from the field, 33%, and 8 for 13 at the line, 62%. Prairie 16 8 8 16 -48 Raft River 13 12 6 11 -42 Prairie-Schmidt 8-14, 3-4, 19; Rieman 2-2, 2-4, 6; Gabica 0-2, 1-2, 1; Sigler 3-11, 3-6, 12; Waller 5-13, 0-0, 10; Holthaus 0-0, 0-0, 0; Schaeffer 0-0, 0-0, 0. 3-pointers-Sigler 3. Raft River-Powers 2-9, 0-0, 5; R. Manning 5-12, 5-5, 16; Thacker 5-13, 2-2, 12; N. Manning 3-8, 0-3, 6; Tuckett 1-5, 1-3, 3; Fenn 0-0, 0-0, 0; Hurst 0-1, 0-0, 0. 3-pointers-Powers, R. Manning. Pirates beat Castleford for State Championship The Prairie Pirates erased a 5-point halftime deficit and held on to beat Castleford 52-48 to win the State 1-A Division 1 basketball championship Saturday, March 6 at the Idaho Center in Nampa.  It
was Prairie’s second-ever state championship and the first since 1982.
We think their 25-1 final record is the best ever for the school. It was
also their 24th straight win and broke Castleford’s 23 game win streak.
(You may see 26-1 and 25 straight wins in other media sources but they
are counting the Highland game, which was officially a JV game).
The game was full of streaks as Prairie jumped out to a 6-2 lead only to see Castleford ride their 6’6” post Ethan Tverdy as they rallied back to take an 8-10 lead with 2:13 left in the first quarter. Prairie then started forcing some turnovers and got 2 baskets each from Andrew Gabica and David Sigler in the final minutes of the first quarter as they took a 16-10 lead. Devin Schmidt got his only first half basket to open the second quarter scoring but Prairie then went ice-cold as they hit just 2 of their next 15 shots in the quarter. Meanwhile Prairie’s defense had shut down Tverdy but the Wolves hit some perimeter shots, including a pair of 3-pointers by Sam Chavez, to take a 22-27 halftime lead. Gabica hit a pair of putbacks for Prairie’s only other second quarter points. Castleford made it a 22-29 lead when they scored to open the third quarter but after that is was the Wolves turn to go ice-cold. They went 0 for 10 the rest of the quarter as Prairie shut them out until early in the fourth quarter. Meanwhile Prairie was scoring 11 straight points to take a 33-29 lead after 3 quarters. The Pirates hit 5 of 8 shots in the third quarter with Schmidt hitting 3 of 4 for 6 points. Sigler added a driving layup and Branden Waller, who had 6 first quarter points to get Prairie off to a strong start, scored a putback. Conner Rieman added a free throw. Tverdy broke the Wolves scoring drought, which had last 8:04, with a pair of free throws to open the fourth quarter scoring. Prairie then put together an 8-0 run fueled by their defense. Waller scored inside then 3 turnovers led to 6 Prairie points. A steal by Waller led to a lay-up by Gabica. A steal by Schmidt led to a lay-up by Waller and another Castleford turnover led to a pair of free throws by Schmidt that put Prairie up 41-31 with 4:13 to play. Castleford scored a basket and a free throw to cut the lead to 7 but Schmidt answered with a pair of free throws. Prairie then got another turnover when Rieman took a charge from Tverdy, who has to outweigh him by at least 50 lbs. That turnover was turned into a lay-up by Schmidt. 
A Prairie turnover at the 3:05 mark led to the Pirates getting the ball right back as Castleford couldn’t inbound the ball within 5 seconds. Prairie then ran the same inbounds play that worked against Raft River as Sigler again passed to Rieman for a wide open lay-up that gave Prairie their biggest lead of the game at 47-34. Castleford didn’t give up easily though as Tverdy scored inside and then Castleford fouled Gabica. When he missed both free throws, Tverdy rebounded and wound up scoring again to cut the lead to 9. Gabica was fouled again and made the second of two free throws. Castleford responded with a 3-point play by Oscar Varga and then fouled Gabica again in the backcourt. This time Gabica made them pay by making both free throws with 1:19 left to play. Castleford scored at the 1:02 mark and then set up in a press looking to steal or foul. Prairie ran their Devin-go-long inbounds play and Sigler connected with Schmidt on the long pass which Schmidt converted into a lay-up to get the lead back to 9 points with 58 seconds left. Down 3 possessions, Castleford was able to get a 3-pointer by Nick Howard and a lay-up by Tverdy to cut the lead to 4 with 10 seconds left but were still down 2 possessions at 4 points. Howard missed on a long 3-pointer at the buzzer. Schmidt was Prairie’s leading scorer for the third straight game with 16 points, 14 coming in the second half as he made his final 5 shots and was 4 for 4 at the line. Gabica scored 13, Waller 12, Sigler 6 and Rieman 5. Rieman was Prairie’s most efficient scorer as he was 7 for 8 from the field in the tournament with his only miss being a blocked shot by Tverdy. Schmidt also had an outstanding tournament shooting the ball as he was 21 for 35, 60%. Tverdy led the Wolves with 18 points. Prairie held a 28-24 rebounding edge led by Waller with 9. Sigler and Gabica had 5 each. Schmidt had 7 steals and 3 assists in the game while Sigler had 4 assists. Gabica added 3 steals. Prairie was 21 for 46 from the field in the game, 46%. They were 11 for 16, 69%, in the second half. They were 10 for 18 at the line, 56%. Castleford was 20 for 39 from the field, 51%, and 5 for 8 at the line, 63%. With the win Prairie finishes the season with 24 straight wins and a 25-1 record. The 1982 state champions were 22-4 and the 1977 team is the one we know of with the best record prior to this year at 25-2. Prairie 16 6 11 19 -52 Castleford 10 17 2 19 -48 Prairie-Schmidt 6-10, 4-4, 16; Rieman 2-3, 1-2, 5; Gabica 5-9, 3-6, 13; Sigler 3-9, 0-2, 6; Waller 5-13, 2-4, 12; Schaeffer 0-2, 0-0, 0; Holthaus 0-0, 0-0, 0. 3-pointers-None. Castleford-Howard 2-7, 0-0, 5; Weekes 0-3, 0-0, 0; Chavez 3-6, 0-0, 8; Hansen 3-5, 2-4, 8; Tverdy 8-12, 2-3, 18; Vargas 4-8, 1-1, 9; Kline 0-1, 0-0, 0; Horner 0-0, 0-0, 0. 3-pointers-Chavez 2, Howard.
Gun Club scores again scores a perfect 75 The day turned out beautiful for the shooters and the scores. The weather held a sunny, dry 55 degrees with minimal wind. We had 46 shooters with a club score of 75. We had five shooters score a perfect 25 on Sunday. Ralph Terhaar, Rod Sheets, Derek Schaeffer, Andy Harman and Jesse Bruegeman. The Junior shooters did great as well with Derek Schaeffer shooting the 25 and Brandon Poxleitner, Mitch Jungert, and Jake Rowland with 24's. Great job everyone. We have one more week to get that 25! Don't forget about the Cottonwood Gun Club Meat Shoot this Saturday the 13th. Sign up will be at 9am with an open kitchen and cold beverages available. Players chosen for All-Star games Several local players have been chosen to compete in the District II All-Star games set for Wednesday, March 10 at Lewiston’s Booth Hall. Prairie’s Mary Shears and Amber Holthaus were named to the girls South team along with Summit’s Tara Stubbers. Prairie’s David Sigler and Branden Waller were named to the boys South Team along with Summit’s Dylan Prigge. Prairie boys coach Teel Bruner was also selected to be one of the coaches for the Boys South team. Sigler has also been selected for the 7th annual Idaho State High School All-Star game set for Saturday, March 13 at North Idaho College in Coeur d’Alene. He was selected for the North Idaho squad and was the only player chosen from a team smaller than 3-A. That game is set to start at 3:30 p.m. PIRATES BOYS BASKETBALL SCHEDULE FOR 2009-10 *indicates league game 5-Troy, here, lost 32-34 8-Lapwai, here, won 51-44 11-Nezperce, here, won 52-46 12-Timberline, there,*, won 57-43 17-Summit, here, won 56-45 19-Genesee, here, won 47-42 in overtime 22-Potlatch, here*, won 78-68 29 & 30-Kamiah Tournament, beat Troy 53-41; beat Moscow JV 57-48 15-Nezperce, there, won 59-45 16-C.V. there, 4 p.m.*, won 56-39 21-Highland, there, JV, C only, won 64-28 22-Kamiah, THERE, won 47-44 28-Grangeville, there, won 69-43 29-Deary, there*, won 56-24 30-Lapwai, there*, 1 p.m., won 67-33 9-Troy, there*, won 42-38 in overtime 12-Kamiah, here, won 43-35 15, 20, 23 & 25-District at LCSC-beat Timberline 72-49, beat C.V. 64-50, beat Kendrick 66-37 to win District Title. March 4-6-State at Caldwell/Nampa-beat Cascade 76-43; beat Raft River 48-42; beat Castleford 52-48 - State Champions with 25-1 record, only 3 points from an undefeated season. PRAIRIE BASEBALL 2010 March 19-at Kendrick 4 p.m. 22-at C.V., 4 p.m. 25-at Orofino, 4:30 p.m. 13-Kamiah, here, 4 p.m. 15-at Lewis County, 4 p.m. 17-Troy, here, 2 league, 11 a.m. 23-Kendrick, here, 4 p.m. 24-Genesee, here, 11 a.m. 27-Lewis County, here, 4 p.m. 29-Timberline, here, 2 league, 3:30 p.m. 30-Orofino, here, 4 p.m. 7-at Potlatch, 2 league at LCSC, 4 p.m. 13-15-District at Kendrick 21-22-State at Kendrick |
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