Jewell girls make first state trip

No, they aren’t Disney cartoon characters. They’re the nicknames on the warmups worn by the Jewell Bluejays girls basketball team.

Jewell, the tiny community 30 miles southeast of Astoria, made its first-ever appearance at the Class 1A state girls basketball tournament Wednesday. (The Bluejays lost their quarterfinal contest 65-49 to Griswold. Jewell was eliminated from the tournament Thursday morning, losing 66-31 to McKenzie in consolation action.)

“We had made the bracket before, but this is our first trip to Baker,” said Mark Fick, the school’s girls basketball coach and athletic director.

Fick, who retired from Astoria before coming to Jewell, is in his sixth season as the Bluejays’ coach.

Jewell finished as the district runnerup in the Casco League. To reach Baker the Jays first defeated Days Creek 40-27.

“We struggled early in that game,” Fick said. “Then we led by 19 in the middle of the fouth quarter.”

Jewell then went up against third-ranked Portland Waldorf, winning that game 44-40 to advance to Baker.

“I think that game was 8-8 after one quarter and 19-19 at halftime,” Fick said. “Then we trailed 37-29 after three quarters.

“Portland Waldorf is much like us, real quick, scrappy and aggressive,” Fick said.

Six of the 11 girls on the Jays roster are either freshmen or sophomores. Fick said three seniors and a junior point guard lead the team.

“Two of those seniors — Jesika Kaczenski and Amber Meier — have played for me all four years. Both were first-team all-Casco selections. Our point guard, junior Angel Ulm, was a second-team Casco pick.”

Fick said the Bluejays are a “team’s team where everyone plays their role.”

“Going into the season I always have high hopes,” Fick said. “This year our expectations matched our hopes. The girls certainly have bought into it.”

Fick said the team’s No. 1 goal was obviously to get to Baker.

“Then, since last week when we achieved that goal, we’ve set more goals,” he said.

The Jays want to win a game at BHS; try to make that win the first game; and win their last game of the season.

“Only  three teams in the final eight will achieve that goal,” Fick said.

“We have tiered our goals. If we make it through the first two rounds, then our goal is to win the title.

“We’ll just take it one game at a time.”

Fick said the Bluejays also would like to take in the sights in and around Baker City, if possible.

“A lot depends on what we do in our first game,” Fick said. “We understand there are a lot of neat things to see, and we’d like to do some exploring. No matter what, we plan to stay through Saturday.”