SPORTS
by Jack Kintner

Girls take it on the chin, 49-35

Although you can see the wheels turning and the lessons being learned, the Lady B’s still seem to have a way to go as they succumbed to the talented and scrappy Mt. Baker Mounties 49-35 last Friday night at home.
It was the first of three meetings with second-place Baker, contests that pit Blaine’s leading scorer, the flashy and quick Alyssa Hendrickson, against Baker’s sophomore standout Courtney VanBrocklin.
For much of the contest Hendrickson was guarded loosely but aggressively by senior guard Mandi Millman, who managed a couple of steals before eventually fouling out. That left VanBrocklin to guard Hendrickson, a close contest that Hendrickson eventually won, leading Blaine to a 13-8 advantage in the fourth quarter that wasn’t enough to make up the second and third quarter deficit.
The two gifted athletes traded fast breaks a couple of times in a great display of what girls’ basketball has become, but interestingly Van Brocklin proved ineffective defensively against Hendrickson. At one point Hendrickson drove right past VanBrocklin for a layup, leaving her standing still with her arms in the air halfway down the paint trying to draw a charge, but the only contact was from the breeze of Hendrickson running by that gently ruffled VanBrocklin’s jersey.
The rest of the Mt. Baker team, especially the short but scrappy Brittany Zender, made up for any lack of talent with aggression, taking their shots at the frustrated Blaine players when they could get away with it. It’s a physical style that Blaine coach Rob Benson doesn’t emphasize, but one that the Lady B’s will face as they mature into a title contender by this time next year.
As it was, Hendrickson showed how to deal with it, with quickness and skill, but in the end she just couldn’t do it all by herself. Krisse Freeman was held to just 6 points and the reliable and consistent Chelsea Crews to just 5. Others scoring in the game were Jacklyn McDonald, 4, Kara Stull with 2 and the promising freshman Natasha Place with 2.
The loss left Blaine with a 1-3 league record, 4-7 over-all, in a tie with their next two opponents (Meridian and Nooksack) for third place. After Tuesday night’s game against Nooksack the girls have a week to prepare to face Meridian, the team they should beat for a spot in the district playoffs, on the road January 24.

Blaine defeats Mt. Baker

Blaine ran its dual meet record to 4-0 last week by defeating the once proud Mounties of Mt. Baker high school 34-31 in a close match fought in Baker’s field house.
It was the second victory for the B’s over Baker this season, their earlier 43-25 victory at home having ended Baker’s phenomenal decade long 61-match victory string.
The victory was preserved as much as anything by John Brady (152) avoiding a pin at the hands of Baker veteran Kyle Brown. Brady lost the meet’s closing match 8-4, but the decision was worth only three team points to Baker as opposed to the six points awarded for a pin, which would have ended the match in a tie.
The match was close all evening in front of a screaming, partisan crowd. Sam Abrams (135) majored Eli Jacoby to put Blaine up by six but Ben Lavergne pinned Derik Stremler (140) to tie the score at 28. Blaine’s Calvin Moore (145) pinned Len Iturphy halfway through the first period for a 34-28 lead, and Brady’s loss to Brown by just four points in the final match wasn’t enough for Baker to catch the Borderites.
Other Blaine winners included Mike Vetronella (103), Mike Broyan (125), Alex Pennington (160) by pin, Nick Jordan (171) by pin and Shane Hicks (189).
Blaine finishes third at
King of the County
Blaine wrestlers finished a strong third in last weekend’’s nine-team King of the County meet at Bellingham’s Sehome High School. Blaine was narrowly edged out by Ferndale for second, 231 to 233.5.
Winning Blaine wrestlers included Jacob Humphrey (109), Calvin Moore (140) by pin, John Brady (145) and Blayne Brandenburger (189) by pin. Jesse Kilthau (135) and Shane Hicks (171) got second place in their divisions.

Basketball game to be webcast

On Tuesday, January 24, the boy’s basketball game between the Blaine Borderites and the Meridian Trojans will be broadcast live on the internet by Blaine high school’s video production class.
Students will provide a play-by-play, color commentary and sideline reports in addition to the three cameras following the action and prepared analysis of the match-ups between the teams.
This year’s webcast is being hosted by the Hardlines Company (www.hardlines.com) in Bellingham to catch and enable more viewers to access a larger stream. Students are seeking sponsors to offset the cost. The game can be viewed on Windows or MacIntosh computers by using QuickTime 7 player, a free Apple download at www.apple.com/quicktime/products/qt/. Older versions of the player will not access the stream.
To access the webcast, go to www.blainek12.wa.us/webcast. Pre-game action will begin at 7:25 with tip-off at 7:30. For more information, or to become a webcast sponsor, please contact Jim Nelson at jnelson@ blaine.k12.wa.us.