Dufur duo claims hardwood royalty

Even with the loss of a handful of solid seniors entering the season, Darden averaged 14.3 points, 7.4 rebounds and 2.1 steals a game and shot 53 percent from the field.

Those numbers earned her a spot on the 1A Oregon Basketball Coaches Association All-State third team.

“It is really humbling. This has been an amazing experience. The reason why I get these awards is because I have such a great team and coaches around me,” Darden said. “I am very thankful for them.”

Darden displayed an ability to hit jump shots, developed a postgame and refined her overall skillset on the hardwood to help her team.

One proud observer, Darden’s father Hollie, noticed her strong suits on a daily basis.

“Taylor led the team in several offensive and defensive categories,” coach Darden said. “Was a great teammate and a strong leader and role model for our team.”

When she was one of the focal points on offense, Darden was double and triple teamed in the paint, so picking her spots and passing the ball to open teammates became one of her staples.

Five times this season, Darden posted three or more assists.

“I improved a lot I think. Again, with good coaching and playing on good teams, it has helped me grow as a player,” Darden said. “Last year specifically, I was around those seniors and they really pushed me to get better and mature in these four years. It has been good. There has been a lot of improvement in myself and my team as well.”

In her career, Darden’s teams amassed a 78-33 record and went 45-5 in league play. In her junior season, the Lady Rangers won 23 games, lost in the Big Sky Conference district championship and finished fourth in the state tournament at Baker City.

She leaves a winning legacy in place for a young crop to take the baton into the future.

“I am really excited. I am really glad that I got to be around those girls because I learned a lot from them too,” Taylor said. “I know they are going to do very well next year.”

Now that she is less than 50 days from graduating, her focus is finishing the track and field season strong, but then after that, college life at Concordia University in Portland, where she plans to join the track and field team and major in education.

“It’s crazy. Freshman year, you’re like, ‘oh my gosh, this is going to take forever,’ and then here I am,” Taylor said. “It seems like it has been a day. It has been a great four years. I am already thinking about college. It has gone by so fast.”

Morris shows career progression

Caleb Morris learned his biggest basketball lesson early in his freshman year at Dufur High School.

It is through dealing and overcoming adversity that has helped him through his four years as a Ranger player.

He turned the early struggles to all-league recognition and most recently, a 1A Oregon Basketball Coaches Association All-State honorable mention selection for his play in his senior campaign.

“I think I became more confident as the years went on. As a freshman, there was a lot of pressure to play on the basketball team. I had some tough games. I remember having like 17 turnovers against Stanfield or something like that,” Morris said. “Those kinds of struggles early on helped fuel me to work harder in the offseason to help to try and turn that around.”

The first-team Big Sky Conference swingman averaged 13.3 points a game and even in a district play-in game versus Ione, Morris scored 26 points in three quarters, including six three-pointers to vault the Rangers into the district playoffs.

He had more scoring on other nights, but the game at Sherman on Feb. 14 was an epic night. Morris took over in the fourth quarter scoring 10 of his 19 points and gave Dufur an opportunity to win that game.

More important than the individual scoring accomplishments, Morris takes pride in being a part of a Ranger program that won five games in consecutive seasons in his sophomore and junior years and won 18 games and went 11-3 in league play in 2014-2015.

Dufur defeated Joseph in a state sub-round road game, and was one point from earning a Baker City berth in a 57-56 overtime loss to Siletz Valley on Feb. 27.

“Basketball has meant a lot for me over the years. It has been a lot of fun to play and get to know the other guys and know people in the community better through it,” Morris said. “They are at the games on Friday nights or whenever we play. They have helped me grow and overcome adversity.”

He credits family as his rock of support over the years. His father Jeff and mother Diane have always been there whenever he needed them.

“My family has been huge,” Caleb said. “They are pretty strict by normal standards. They make sure I am always getting good grades and doing well, not going out partying or whatever. They just make sure that I don’t do anything to compromise what I could be doing on and off the basketball court.”

Once he graduates from Dufur, Morris plans on attending Multnomah University in Portland where he plans on focusing on an English major.

He has already discussed playing hoops with head coach Curt Bickley, but nothing is definite just yet.

The thought of moving on and out is both an exciting and scary proposition.

“A lot of new responsibilities have sprung up as far as scholarships and trying to find a job this summer and try to figure out how I am going to pay for all of this,” Caleb Morris said. “Once I go there, it will be my responsibility to keep my grades up without my parents’ help, independent of them. It is a new chapter.”