The men have won three straight games in three days at the NAIA DII National Tournament in
At the tournament, the team is being lead by captains Ryan Fiegi and Josh Wetzler. Fiegi is averaging 20 points a game in the tournament, while Wetzler is averaging a double-double at 10.7 points and 10.7 rebounds per game. Jguwon hogges is also contributing 11.3 points per game.
Softball gets underway after a successful fall season, beating OSU. The Owls hold a 10-6 record before facing their first conference game on March 21 against the Beacons of Northwest Christian College. At one point the women were on an eight game winning streak. It was recently broke in
Pitcher Jenni Bittle leads all members at bat with 16 hits, 12 runs and 10 rbi’s. Katie King also has 10 rbi’s. The team’s batting average is just over .3, while their opponents average just .218.
Baseball’s rough start may be attributable to the absence of a playing field, but the team should be picking up by now. It’s the first season for head coach Matt Miles, whose team has been forced to practice anywhere but the field they normally play on. They lost their first six games, and then finally picked up their first win of the season in a February 16 game against
Just like the previous season games against College of Idaho, the playoff game was frustrating as can be. They full court press and hope that teams get rattled up and make bad decisions. They also hope that if a team does get the ball across half court, that they will take a quick shot so COI can hurry and get back on offense. They like to play fast-paced—faster than what we like.
We put in a new option out of our regular press break that we were supposed to run. It was supposed to work, but who knows if it would have, because we never ran it! I don’t member one time throughout the game that we got the cuts we needed to make. It was difficult because as soon as you received the ball a trap automatically came, but we should be used to it by now. They were also face guarding on the in-bounds, so it was difficult to throw the ball in bounds after a made shot or dead ball.
During the game, it felt like we weren’t shooting that well. Looking at the stats, they didn’t shoot that well either, at least from the three-point line. They made only 2 of 19 attempts from behind the arc, and we made 6 of 21. We did better in that category…but that’s about it. We shot less than 30 percent from the field, and only grabbed 27 rebounds to their 45. That’s the biggest difference when it came down to it. They out-hustled us in every aspect of the game. They had almost 20 more rebounds than us—that’s a lot! Also, they had 15 offensive rebounds. That’s heart and desire right there. We were not boxing out, nobody put a body on anyone, and they were going after every loose ball. I remember one time when the ball was on the floor in the middle of a crowd under the basket. They had three people on the floor in a split second diving after the ball. We had ZERO people diving after the ball. Everyone seemed to be standing around the entire game. There was no energy, no enthusiasm, and no sense of urgency. I don’t know why, I’m still trying to figure it out, but it is too late now. It’s over and we’re done.
Now that I think about it, it feels like we should have lost by a lot more than we did. The whole game is kind of a blur, but I do remember that we were not with it. I don’t think it has to do with people being tired, but the team was just not playing hard. It reminded exactly like the game against Southern Oregon University, at SOU. We were kind of just going through the motions and no matter what anyone said, we never picked it up.
Before the game, coach told us that we could not let ourselves get into a whole. We could not get behind, because that is what this team counted on in order to win. The first time we played them we got into a big deficit in the beginning, and couldn’t get out of it despite our effort the rest of the game. The second time we played them we got in a hole at the end of the game, and by then there was no time left to take action. Well, despite his warning, we got into a huge hole right off the bat to put us behind the rest of the game. I remember thinking, ‘well, we did it again. We put ourselves in a tough position if we want to get the win’, because I remembered what coach told us. We got down by as much as 15 points in the first half, which inevitably lead to our 63-44 defeat.
After the game, tears fell and hugs were exchanged. The season-ending game wasn’t something to be proud of, but the season was. We tied the school record for wins in a season and improved tremendously from the beginning of the season. This team consisted of the most fun girls I’ve played with and I will remember this season as a bittersweet ending to my collegiate basketball career.
The Cascade Collegiate Conference playoff is made up of seven games where the top eight teams in the conference get to prove who is better , and who deserves a trip to Branson, Missouri for a shot at the National Championship. If a team doesn’t win the conference title, they better win the playoff tournament if they want a chance. Well…most of the time that is.
Luckily, for our Hustlin’ Owls
they were ranked eighth in the final NAIA DII men’s basketball poll on February 27. For the men’s side, this pretty much means they get an automatic bid to nationals (called an 
“at-large bid”), despite what happened in the tournament. This is a good thing for us, because if this wasn’t the case the men wouldn’t be headed to Branson for their sixth
straight appearance.
This past week, the men played in two playoff games. The first was a close win against College of Idaho, and the last resulted in the second season loss to Evergreen State. Tech beat off COI with a six point victory, winning 74-68. They lost 93-76 to Evergreen, in a game that wasn’t in our hands for very long at all. The slight win over COI was expected, I guess, considering the previous wins over COI were both close as well. Everyone in town knew the Evergreen game was going to be a good one since we split with them during the season (won one, lost one). They are a tough team and have some good players.
The game against COI was a back and forth the entire first half, but COI’s lead with two and a half minutes left was the last lead they saw all night. The second half was close too, but COI never regained the lead. I would have to say that despite Ryan Fiegi’s 21-point performance, Ryan Beesley is who made the
game. He made 5 of 10 three-pointers, one of which was especially crucial.
COI made a layup with 43 seconds left on the clock; OIT was up by one. The next possession, Beesley went down and made a three-pointer with 30 seconds left on the clock. For the opposing team, that is a heartbreaker right there. When you make a layup, your hopes get up and your momentum instantly rises—especially at the end of the game when you’re only down by one. When the other team comes
down and hits a three, that momentum is crushed and every player on that court knows that there isn’t much time left. After that, the five OIT players went down and got a defensive stop to seal the win.
The close and exciting game turned into victory, which is always the best! I think the one place where OIT definitely beat COI, and what probably won the game was their rebounding. They out-rebounded COI by 15, which is how many offensive boards we had. Offensive boards mean second-chance shots, and those win games. It was an all-around
rebounding effort by every player on the team; nobody stood out in their number of rebounds, they were pretty much evenly distributed.
The next game, the same thing happened, except the other way around. The first part of the first half was back and forth. It was close. OIT took the lead with just under 12 minutes left in the first half, but would never see that again. They tied the score with about six minutes left before the half, but that was also the end of that. Evergreen State took it from there and never relinquished the lead the rest of the night.
It was still going okay for the Owl’s, until about the ten minute mark of the second half. Evergreen finally broke the ten-point spread and from then on never let the Owl’s get closer than 11 points. The Geoducks shot a staggering 60 percent from behind the arc, 48 percent from the field, and 73 from the charity stripe. Oregon Tech didn’t shoot badly from the field or the free-throw line, but made just 20 percent of their shots from the 3-point line, making just 3 of 15 shot attempts.
All other stats were pretty even, except OIT committed six more turnovers—that means six more
opportunities for Evergreen to score. That’s at least 12 points right there. Ryan Fiegi lead all scorers with 27 while Jguwon Hogges added 19. Josh Wetzler collected an astounding 18 rebounds, including seven offensive boards.
Evergreen State went on to play a home playoff game against Warner Pacific, losing 87-69 and 
ending their 2007-2008 season. Warner Pacific will be the third team to represent the CCC at the tournament, along with OIT and Eastern Oregon.
The men will have an inner-squad scrimmage to raise money for Branson on Friday, March 7, at 7 p.m. They are hoping to get a larger crowd than last year, so come join the fun and help support the Hustlin’ Owls in their endeavor to represent Oregon Tech at the National Tournament.
Playoffs have begun! Tuesday night we played Concordia for the second time in five days, third overall. Every coach I’ve ever had has said that it is TOUGH to beat a team three times in a single
season. I half expected Coach Greenleaf to say something along those lines; he didn’t. He was confident and excited going into the game (at least it seemed that way).
We put in a new play mid-way through the season, so Concordia hadn’t seen it because we didn’t put it in until after we played them the second time. The plan was to refrain from running it on Friday night, so we could surprise them with it on Tuesday. The plan worked. Amanda Johnston had open looks all night off that play! It’s a good thing 
she’s a good shooter too, because the shots were a little farther from the basket than the ordinary post would like. She mastered it, ending with a game-high 23 points. In addition to the new play, after we watched film we also determined a few other plays that worked well and ran those.
Despite our “secret” play and enthusiasm for the last home game, Concordia stayed in the game for a majority of the time. We went into halftime with a 13 point lead after Jenna Ball hit a couple threes. That gave us some cushion, and I was happy we pulled away a bit at the end of half. But, going down into the locker room we all reminded each other that SOU had been up 20 on them, and they came back
to within five. We had to be careful.
From the way the beginning of the second half was unfolding it looked like we weren’t looking back. We got ahead by almost 20 points, but then something odd happened. I don’t know if it is just me, but it seems like the refs turned on us and started calling some bogus calls, and not calling some obvious ones. Of course from my perspective, it doesn’t make sense to punish a team for doing good, but maybe they wanted a better show…who 
knows. However, it was VERY frustrating and turned the team in a different direction. We started making mistakes and committing unforced turnovers and Concordia started catching up. They got back to within ten points with a little over five minutes left in the game. I started to get concerned because I knew Concordia would never let down, and I didn’t know what the refs had in store.
We kept it together; hitting our shots, making our free throws and getting defensive rebounds. We kept the game at ‘our pace’
the entire game, which is something we talked about before the game, and something Amanda mentioned in the newspaper. Coach had told us that we needed to play our game, and not slow down to their game pace. We did just that; and I think it tired them out. It also didn’t help that Concordia stayed in Ashland after their Saturday night game against SOU. Before the game I was talking to one of their players and she said they just “hung out in the hotel and slept. In fact, we probably slept too much.” That wasn’t a good move on their part, but we beat them and we’re the ones moving on to the next round of playoffs.
Lastly, I would like to thank all the fans for showing up to our last home game. I love how loud everyone is, and how everyone gets into the game so much. There were a few too many missed calls and I’m glad the crowd let the refs know that. It was fun to be around that kind of atmosphere. Also, the men’s team came and supported us which was good to see, so thank you. Thank you to everyone for your tremendous support at our home court! Go Owls!
The weekend games against Concordia and Corban were vital for our team to clinch the fourth place finish in the Cascade Collegiate Conference. The win against Concordia was especially important since they were close on our tail in the conference standings. Also, Corban is a talented team so they were not to be overlooked, especially on senior night. Every senior wants to win the last home game of their career, so we were determined.
Friday night’s game against Concordia showed what a well- rounded scoring team we have. Amanda Johnston posted 21 points on 6-15 shooting and Jenni M
iiller added 16 on 6 of 8 shooting. We shot less than 28 percent from the floor and exactly 28 percent from the 3-point line, and still came away with the 58-50 win. I was proud of our team and the way we came together. We wanted to play our tempo of game, like always, and not let Concordia slow us down. We did a good job of that, and played well on the defensive end, only letting them score 50 points. We out rebounded them by eight and forced 15 turnovers. 
The game was back and forth the whole time, and it wasn’t until we took the lead with five and half minutes left that we would never trail again. Jenni hit a 3-pointer to put us up by one and we took it from there. Our defense didn’t let them score again until there was just under a minute left when one of their players hit a free throw. We held them to one point in the last six minutes of the game, and that is what made all the difference. When a team is having a hard time scoring, they have to play defense or their chances of winning are slim. That is just what we did.
As always, our focus for Saturday night’s game against Corban College was defense. They have very good athletes, but for some reason they have not been able to get very many wins. We did not want this team to sneak up on us. They already had no chance of making it to the playoffs so they had nothing to lose; and they showed it.
We beat them by 18 in the first round of conference and they didn’t forget. They came out with energy and enthusiasm and 
stayed with us until the very end. It was an extremely close and exciting game. The end of the first half is a great example: we were tied with 42 seconds left, and then Amanda hit a three-pointer with six seconds left to put us up by three going into the locker room. It is always great to get a lead, no matter how small, and have that momentum going into halftime.
The second half was just like the first, with multiple ties throughout the 20 minutes. Our lead after the last tie with just less than nine minutes left would be the last lead change of the game. We kept our positive gain going with smart shots, made free-throws and tough defense. What’s interesting is that if the 
statistics from both teams are compared, they are almost exactly even; except for the fouls. Corban fouled nine more times than we did, and we shot 12 more free-throws than them. I think that is what made the difference in the game. We won by five, and we made 10 more free throws than them.
The Corban game was senior night for the women too. Jenna Ball, Jenni Miiller and me (all transfers) played our last scheduled home game. It was a little different, because we all knew that we would have a home playoff game so it wasn’t really our last home game, but it still special nonetheless. 
It was great to have all our families come and congratulate us and get recognized by our fans. The only thing I didn’t like was that we were announced and given our gifts during the half-time of the men’s game. I have NEVER seen 
this happen, and I have seen a lot of senior nights. I wished that we could have done our thing before our game, just like Fiegi got to do. The argument was that if we did it during the men’s game there would be more people there. But, why would a bunch of people who don’t come to watch our game anyway, care about our senior night presentation? They probably wouldn’t. I think it kind of showed during our announcements when I couldn’t even hear what they were saying about each of us because too many people were talking. I know it is impossible to get that many people to be quiet all at one time, 
but it would have been nice if I could have at least heard what they were saying. Don’t get me wrong, I appreciate our fans and the support they give us, and how big and loud our applause was; but I think it would have been a lot more special if we did it at the beginning of our game. Maybe that is something that could be changed in the future, as long as future players share the same feelings as me.
After all the hype about an important weekend, the Men’s team couldn’t deliver—at least on Friday night. The Owl’s played Concordia University, which if you remember from before almost beat OIT earlier in the season. The only reason OIT won was from the spectacular display of talent from senior Ryan Fiegi. After that game, you can bet that he was the focus of Concordia’s defense in the second matchup between
the two teams.
They must have done something right, because Fiegi only shot 4-18 for the entire game. He was 0-6 from beyond the arc and hit two free throws for a total of 10 points, just half of his season average. In fact, Concordia shut down all of the Owl’s leading scorers: Jguwon Hogges averages 10 points per game and scored 5, Josh Wetzler averages 10 and scored 6, and Christian Cavanaugh averages 15 and scored 4. Surprisingly enough, despite the low scoring, the team still shot 41 percent from the floor. The
major loss was from 3-point attempts, making just 20 percent, and from the free-throw line, making only 61 percent.
The game was back and forth for the first 20 minutes which made for an exciting game, but after CU’s 1-point half time lead, they refused to lose it. CU stayed ahead of OIT the entire second half, which became really frustrating. CU started to pull away, leading by as much as 10 points, but OIT cut the lead to 1 with about 10 minutes left in the game. Unfortunately they would never be that close again. It was not only frustrating that we could not get ahead, but also because it seemed
like the men were not playing together as a team. It seemed as though there could have been a little more unselfish play, and that might have made the difference. When you are on a team that is behind, and the
ball is not being shared and those players are not making their shots, you get down and lose faith and confidence.
Maybe the selfish play had something to do with OIT’s national ranking that came out a few days before the game. On February 20, the national ranking put OIT up two spots to number four. I wouldn’t think that the men would get too big of heads over something like that, but it is possible. When people tell them they are that good, to be put at number four, they could start agreeing and thinking that they are REALLY good. This can mess with a team, and it may be just what happened on Friday night. But, whatever it was, it surely didn’t carry over to Saturday night’s game.
For OIT’s senior night, Ryan Fiegi was all smiles. Being the lone senior and having an extensive introduction, Fiegi walked out onto the court, waived, and was accompanied by his family in front of nearly 1500 applauding fans. It was a special night for him and his fans who have watched him devotedly for three years. He is the heart and soul of this years men’s team, and he showed it Saturday night by scoring 25 points and grabbing 11 rebounds.
At first, I thought that the men might struggle like they did the night before. The first 13 minutes or so were back and forth and I was beginning to get a little bit worried. But then the men came out full charge, and in 7 minutes they left the court
with an 18 point half-time lead. They didn’t look back the entire second half, always maintaining at least an 18 point lead and finally pounding their way to a 34 point victory. It was a great night to “end” on for Fiegi, although he and everyone else in that gym knew that in no way would it be his last home game. Nonetheless, all the members of the Owl’s community showed their gratitude and undying support for the most popular player on the men’s basketball team.
surprise. The men dominated the game, winning 90-53. With a near 20-point lead at the half, the owls didn’t let down. They again outscored the Raiders by 20 to get the 37 point win.
The game, despite the score, was an exciting one to watch. The best part was that every player on the team got at least 10 minutes of playing time. Also, everyone scored and there were four players who boasted double figures.
It is not that SOU played bad. I mean, they shot well from everywhere. 
But, the Owl’s got off 41 more shots, and on top of that, shot a higher percentage. Tech also out-rebounded the Raiders 49-24, with 21 offensive rebounds. Turnovers were a big factor too. OIT only had 7 for the entire game, but forced 16 upon SOU.
The game against NCC was pretty much the same story. I went to dinner with my family, so I did not get to see the first half, but I arrived in time to see the second half. The men stayed at a comfortable lead the entire time, making it a relatively boring game with little exciting action. They slowly increased their 11-point half-time lead until they reached the final 27-point lead to end the game.
The Owl’s shot exceptionally well, shooting over 53 percent from the field, compared to NCC’s 37 percent. The Owl’s only committed eight turnovers while forcing 17 from the Beacons. The rebounds were pretty even between teams, and for the second time in a row, the Owls’ posted
four players in double figures. Christian and Fiegi both had 14 points apiece; Jguwon had 13 and Mike Neiraeth lead all scorers with 15.
Both the men and women’s teams rode back to Klamath that night with a good feeling and a sense of accomplishment after the successful week of basketball. Both teams look forward to “senior” weekend next weekend in the games against Concordia and Corban.
Tuesday night’s game against the SOU Raiders was a night to remember. We had a 13 point lead heading into half-time and it seemed like all we had to do was keep doing what we did for the first 20 minutes and the victory would be rather easy. Well, just as anyone who watches sports knows, the second half can be a lot different from the first.
SOU is known for their relentless
full-court press, so I was surprised to see that they did not run it against us the first half. When we had the lead at half, I knew they would have to change something…the press was most likely to come.
SOU runs their press to rattle their opponents and get them to do things that they would not normally do--like take quick shots, turn the ball over, and start bickering amongst yourselves. It worked for them, helping them catch up and outscoring us by nine in the second half, but it wasn’t enough. They finally took the lead with under five minutes left in the game, but couldn’t hold on to it.
The one thing that did plague us was fouls. Meagan Miyasaka and I both fouled out of the game with a significant amount of time left on the clock. Tabatha Cooke stepped up and gave us some important minutes. She took over the position of point guard when Meagan was no longer able to play. She had a solid game, before she fouled out with 19 seconds left. She had a key steal and rebounded well. Megan Ross also came into the game, playing 27 minutes, and putting up some great numbers. She had 10 rebounds, 5 assists and NO
TURNOVERS. Playing 27 and not ever turning the ball over is miraculous! She really took care of the ball, helped others score and solidified the great defensive effort by all the team members by grabbing 10 defensive rebounds.
The second half was the most intense basketball we’ve playing in a long time. I had a little different perspective than usual, sitting on the bench when it came to crunch time. After fouling out the best I could do was cheer on the team and support them in their great effort against SOU. I was so nervous! It is funny because when I’m on the court in a close game, I don’t get nervous or worried; but sitting on the sideline is a completely different story! My legs we
re aching and shaking—that’s how worried and nervous I was. It was insane, and all I have to say is that I’m so glad we won!
In my opinion free throws is where we won the game. We shot 24-28 from the line; that’s almost 86%! SOU only made 25-39: 64%. They had a lot more chances than us, but we made them when it counted, and they didn’t. It was a well-fought victory that got everyone pumped up. After that win we were ready for anything…and it’s a good thing.
Saturday night’s game against Northwest Christian College was probably the slowest start to game I have ever experienced. It is a darn good thing that we play exceptional defense. It seemed like we could not score for the longest time! But I guess it is okay, because the other
team could not score either.
The goal going into the NCC game was to get better. We had played NCC twice before, and each time we really didn’t get any better and posted a score that was too close for comfort. By the scores of their other games, it seemed like we should be beating them by 20. For some reason we never played that well against them. I was glad to say at the end of the game that we did get better and played much better against them the third time than we did in the previous two attempts.
This game was especially exciting for me because I had quite a bit of family and friends, including old coaches, come to the game (since my home town is near Eugene). It was great to get to see everyone and play in front of people that haven’t seen me play in years. Also, the two seniors on the NCC team, Amy Croll and Kristen Nelson, are former teammates of mine. I started playing with Amy in 5th grade on an AAU team and have known her ever since, and I played with Kristen at Lane Community College. It was special to get to be there for their senior night, although I did feel a little bad that I couldn’t let them win their last home game.
The only thing I was concerned about was the complaints that came to the athletic department about the OIT fans. Supposedly some fans were being rude and overly obnoxious. I don’t know specifics (except that it was mainly during the women’s game), or who the complainants were referring to, but it was troublesome to hear; especially when we have such a great fan base. I hope whoever was complaining is mistaken, but if not, I hope it doesn’t happen again.
