SPORTS
By Neil Macdonald

Robertson leads Lady Bs to win
Pat Green’s Lady Borderites defeated Nooksack’s Lady Pioneers 46-37 in North Cascades Conference girls’ basketball on December 12 at Blaine’s Big Orange Arena.
The game was much closer than the final score suggests. It was only in the final 70 seconds that Blaine widened the point spread with a 7-1 spurt, six coming on free throws. Q1 ended 10-10. Q2 finished 21-20, Blaine, and Q3, 31-30, Blaine. It was 39-36, Blaine, 71 seconds before the final buzzer.
Nooksack out-rebounded Blaine 29-26. The Lady P’s had a 2-1 lead in 3-pointers. But Blaine had the edge in assists 16-7, Kristina Francis serving up seven. The Lady B’s committed 13 fouls to NV’s 16 and 17 turnovers to the Lady P’s 21.
Shela Robertson led Blaine with 17 points and 10 rebounds. Jessica Summers got 12; and Francis, 9. Kimberly Harmening, Jennifer Kramer, Linsey Taylor and Ainsley Nix each added deuces.
The Lady B’s play the Lady Tigers in Granite Falls December 20, host the Blaine Invitational on December 27-28 and start the New Year January 3 at home...

Five Bs place
Five Borderite wrestlers – Richie Tewes, Bayartsengel Khishigdorj, Lucan Ambuehl, John Brandenburger and Anthony Terris – placed at the Blaine Invitational on December 13-14.
Heritage, a 4A Vancouver, Washington school, scored 245.9 points to take top honors and 2A wrestling power Mt. Baker came second with 241.5 points. Blaine, a program in a rebuilding phase, tallied 58 points to place 13th, ahead of rival Meridian (50 points, 14th) and behind Baker, Lakewood (126 points, 6th) and South Whidbey (78 points, 10th).
Khishigdorj at 152 and Terris at 275 were fifth-place finishers. Tewes, who won the outstanding sportsmanship award, was 6th at 125. Ambuehl at 189 and Brandenburger at 215 each grabbed 6th spot.
Blaine split at Deming in North Cascade Conference action on December 12, defeating Sultan 42-36 and being defeated 64-6 by Lakewood.
Blaine faces Granite Falls and South Whidbey in a pair of duel matches at South Whidbey on December 19 and competes in the Mt. Baker Invitational on December 21 and the Everett Invite on January 4. .

Boys nuked by Nooksack, 66-42
Blaine’s Borderites were overwhelmed 66-42 by the Nooksack Valley Pioneers, presently ranked No. 1 in the State, on December 13 in the 2002-03 North Cascade Conference boys basketball season opener at Nooksack Valley.
The Pioneers led 18-14 after Q1, 33-25 by the half and 49-33 at Q3’s end. This doubling their lead from Q to Q by 4 to 8 to 16 points had a certain mathematical elegance to it, but not the kind that thrilled any Borderite booster. The faithful shouldn’t lose heart, however. Blaine played well against Steilacoom and one game doesn’t a season make. It’s early days and even if one takes the most pessimistic of prognostications and concedes first place in the NCC and at District to Nooksack, there are still two more slots to state available.
The Pioneers dominance in matters close to the hoop was reflected in their out-rebounding Blaine, 27-15 and in the forced-outside Borderites getting 21 of their 42 points on seven 3-pointers. Unable to operate effectively inside, Blaine turned to ICBM mode, launching 14 long-range missiles, hitting on 7. Grant Sanders, who led the Borderites with 16 points, hit a trio of 3-pointers. NV’s distance shooting made up in accuracy what it lacked in number. The Pioneers put in 4-of-6 trey tries for a success rate of 67 percent.
The Borderites host Granite Falls at 7:30 p.m. on December 20 and the Blaine Invitational on December 27-28 at the Big Orange and are away for a January 4 meeting with Lynden Christian. .

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