Big Sky basketball begins

THE GORGE — The Big Sky League basketball fortunes should continue to depend on what happens in the tiny town of Maupin this season, as the South Wasco County Redside boys and girls teams will figure prominently in the district championship mix.

South Wasco’s boys team is headed by the dean of league coaches, Jim Hull, who has his senior son, Jason, to rely on. The 6-foot-4 Hull was the league player of the year a season ago and is joined by returning starter George Barnett, and senior transfer (Trout Lake) Rowan Huff (6-foot-6).

The Redsides finished second in the OSAA Class 1A state tourney in 2022, having won the district title that season and in 2023.

Senior-laden Sherman and Dufur each qualified for the 1A state tourney a season ago. That snapped a two-year absence for Big Sky teams after South Wasco’s second-place showing. Both schools will feature much younger rosters this winter.

Sherman, which won the 2025 district crown and was runner-up in 2024, lost eight seniors from its 24-7 team last season. Coach Max Martin’s teams always play tough defense, so suffice to say the Huskies will not relinquish their title without a fight.

The same can be said for Dufur, and first-year Coach Marc Schilling (a few years removed from his stint as head football coach at The Dalles). The Rangers made another eight-man football playoff run this fall and Schilling will need every bit of that athletic group to replace the nine seniors who graduated off of last season’s district runner-up and state tourney team.

Lyle/Wishram made a football playoff appearance of its own this fall, and two players on that team return to lead Coach Cody Magill’s Cougars. Seniors Jack Thiemann and Carson Ramsay were second team all-league and honorable mention all-league a season ago.

Horizon Christian returns 6-foot-8 senior wing Ben Chapman, who missed half of last season because of an injury. Coach Kim Linder also returns three other starters, including senior Landon Whitaker.

Talon Cabral and Owen Spino helped lead Klickitat/Glenwood’s near district playoff run in 2024-25. Coach Dion Curtis’ team came one win away from qualifying for the postseason and nine players on that squad were underclassmen.

Big Sky girls basketball

The South Wasco girls enter the 2025-26 season as the two-time defending district tournament champion under Coach Carly Johnson; South Wasco was runner-up in the 2022-23 season. Seniors Bailey Udey and Jayda Iverson were all-league second team and honorable mention picks, respectively, for the Redsides a year ago.

South Wasco’s first-team all-Big Sky pick Hailee Pechanec transferred to  Dufur and joins a core group of returnees from the Rangers’ 2024-25 league playoff squad under Coach Aimee Bell. The returnees include senior Makaila Miller, a second-team all-leaguer, and junior Candence Young, also a second-team choice.

Sherman also qualified for the district playoffs in 2024-25 and Coach Steve Kaseberg (replacing Kennedy Martin) has seniors Allison Rolfe and Addison Smith, both second-team Big Sky all-league picks a season ago, to build his team around.

Trout Lake’s girls team graduated Big Sky player of the year, Violette Anderson, from its state playoff team a year ago. The Mustangs welcome back Coach Steve Allaway, who replaces Dennis Anderson; he resigned after four years of state playoff runs at the Washington School. Trout Lake is the last Big Sky school to have advanced to the eight-team girls, 1A state tourney, having done so in 2022.

Horizon Christian hasn’t qualified for the league playoffs since 2018, when current Coach Kaitlin (Wenz) Lopez was a junior at the school. The Hawks return two full-time starters in senior Georgia Haynie and junior Bella Belcher from last year’s team.