Burns to host Vale in EOL play Saturday, Feb. 4, at 1 p.m.
By Randy Parks
Burns Times-Herald

Charli Siegner led Burns in scoring in wins over Riverside and Umatilla. (Photo by RANDY PARKS)
With two Eastern Oregon League (EOL) wins last weekend, the Burns girls varsity basketball team improved to 5-1 in league play and 15-4 overall.
Burns opened up the two-game road trip with a dominant 54-21 win over Riverside on Friday, Jan. 27.
Burns opened up a 10-6 lead in the first quarter and then shut out the Pirates in the second period to grab a 17-point lead by halftime.
The Hilanders then outscored Riverside 31-15 in the second half to get the victory.
Charli Siegner dropped in 15 points for Burns and Abbey Fenton added 12.
Burns made 19-of-45 field goal attempts (42 percent) and 14-of-28 free throws.
The Hilanders recorded 33 rebounds, led by Siegner, Fenton and Brittainy Houck with seven each, and Maddye Dinsmore led the team with six steals and six assists.
1 2 3 4 Final
Bur 10 13 15 16 54
Riv 6 0 8 7 21
Burns
Siegner 15, Fenton 12, Dinsmore 7, Herrera 7, Sanders 7, Houck 3, McConnell 2, Bodeen 1.
Three-point goals — Sanders, Fenton.
•••
On Saturday, Jan. 28, the Hilanders faced a scrappy Umatilla squad and escaped with a 29-28 win.
Burns managed to pull ahead by one in the first quarter and held the same margin as the two teams headed into the locker rooms at halftime.
Following the break, the Vikings outscored the Hilanders 9-6 to go up by two.
Burns turned the table on Umatilla in the final period, outscoring them 9-6 to pull out the one-point win.
Siegner finished with nine points and Fenton had seven to lead the Burns scoring.
The Hilanders were held to just 26 percent shooting (12-of-47) and made 3-of-6 free throws.
Jessica Siler was the leading scorer for the Vikings with nine points.
1 2 3 4 Final
Bur 7 7 6 9 29
Uma 6 7 9 6 28
Burns
Siegner 9, Fenton 7, Dinsmore 6, Sanders 3, McConnell 2, Herrera 2.
Umatilla
Siler 9, Cardenas 6, Garza 6, Evans 4, Campos 2, Longoria 1.
Three-point goals — Cardenas, Sanders, Fenton. Fouled out — Fenton. Rebounds — Burns 24 (Fenton 6), Umatilla 22 (Siler 8).
Assists — Burns 7 (Sanders 2, Dinsmore 2).
Burns sits atop the EOL standings with a 5-1 record. Vale, who was upset by Nyssa 42-40 on Jan. 27, is in second with a 2-1 record, followed by Umatilla at 3-2, Nyssa 2-2, Riverside 2-2 and Grant Union 0-6.
•••
Boys Varsity
The Burns boys basketball team split their two Eastern Oregon League (EOL) games on the road last weekend to remain in second place in the league standings.
On Friday, Jan. 27, the Hilanders were in Boardman to take on the league-leading Riverside Pirates, and it was the Pirates who came out on top 63-35.
Burns started fast, getting out to a 5-0 lead, but the Pirates answered with a 17-5 run to lead by seven at the end of the first quarter.
Riverside then extended the lead to 20 by halftime and outscored Burns 17-6 in the third to put the game out of reach.
Turnovers didn’t help the Hilanders as they committed 10 in the first quarter, 19 in the first half and 27 for the game.
“Riverside’s guards put a tremendous amount of pressure on us. Then, when we beat their pressure, they are so long up front it’s hard to get a good look at the bucket,” Burns coach Ted Aubin said. “I think our frustration on the offensive end then affected our defensive intensity.”
Burns shot 33 percent from the field, making 12 of 36 field-goal attempts and were nine-of-17 from the free-throw line.
The Hilanders were led by Kieran Colahan with 10 points, while the Pirates’ Marco Carranza led all scorers with 18.
McKinley Ridenour led Burns in rebounding, pulling down eight, and Casey Heinz was the team leader with four assists and three steals.
1 2 3 4 Final
Bur 10 6 6 13 35
Riv 17 16 17 13 63
Burns 35
Colahan 10, Garner 8, Heinz 5, Feist 4, Hueckman 4, Pierce 2, Crafts 1, Ridenour 1.
Riverside 63
Carranza 18, G. Shimer 10, S. Shimer 9, Ruiz 8, Murillo 6, Gonzalez 4, Llamas 3, Velasquez 2, Wightman 2, Keefer 1.
•••
On Saturday, Jan. 28, the Hilanders bounced back with a 46-40 win over Umatilla.
Austin Feist led the Hilanders’ scoring attack, finishing with 17 points, including 11 in the second half. Colahan added another 12 and Ridenour seven.
After leading by three at the end of the first quarter, Burns hit a scoring drought and trailed by two at halftime.
The Hilanders took the lead back in the third quarter, outscoring the Vikings 18-4 to lead by 12 headed into the final eight minutes.
The Vikings, led by Andres Sanguino’s eight points in the final period, made a run at Burns, but the Hilanders hung tough and came away with the win.
“We need to get our toughness back on defense,” Aubin said. “Also, I think we’re going through a stretch where we haven’t been shooting all that well.”
The Hilanders connected on 17 of 46 field goal attempts (36.9 percent) and were just nine of 24 from the free-throw line.
Colahan was the leading rebounder with nine, Chanse Pierce finished with four steals and Heinz added three assists.
1 2 3 4 Final
Bur 13 3 18 12 46
Uma 10 8 4 18 40
Burns 46
Feist 17, Colahan 12, Ridenour 7, Pierce 6, Heinz 4.
Umatilla 40
Sanguino 12, Williams 10, Rubio 6, Bernal 4, Kennedy 4, Snyder 4.
Riverside continues to lead the EOL with a perfect 4-0 record and Burns is in second at 5-2 (13-5 overall). Vale is in third at 2-1, followed by Grant Union 2-4, Nyssa 1-3 and Umatilla 1-4.
The Hilanders travel to Nyssa on Friday, Feb.3, and host Vale on Saturday, Feb. 4. The girls JV game at Nyssa will start at 3 p.m. MT, folowed by boys JV, girls varsity and boys varsity.
On Saturday, the girls JV game with Vale tips off at 1 p.m., followed by the other three games.