The Lumberjack



Students Serving The Cal Poly Humboldt Campus and Community Since 1929

Tag: andre hascall

  • Slow Start for Basketball Victory at Home

    Slow Start for Basketball Victory at Home

    Humboldt State women’s basketball beats Seattle Pacific 70-54 in the West Region Crossover Classic

    Alexia Thrower dominated the court in the Friday night win over the Seattle Pacific Falcons. Thrower, an HSU forward, put up 18 points, nailing half of her three-point attempts.

    A force in the paint, Thrower tallied up nine rebounds, just one away from having a double-double to start the tournament. On the other side of the court, she had a pair of steals and a pair of blocks.

    “With the bread and butter of the team gone, somebody had to take initiative,” Thrower said. “We knew if we are going to win this game it’s with our defense.”

    HSU’s Alexia Thrower jumps up to shoot a lay up during the Jacks match against Seattle Pacific at Lumberjack Arena on Nov. 8. | Photo by Thomas Lal

    The Jacks’ defense was disruptive early on but due to offensive struggles the Falcons took the lead in the first quarter, 18-10.

    “We had no offensive flow in the first quarter,” Michelle Bento-Jackson, the HSU women’s basketball coach, said. “Molly single handedly carried our offense for a bit.”

    Forward Molly Dixon had a plus-minus of 19 when on the court, and made her presence known with 12 points and a pair of steals. The offense started to pick up in the second quarter after Sandin Kidder dropped a three on the Falcons off the bench.

    Senior guard for Humboldt State Molly Dixon makes a break down the court during the first half of the Jacks’ game against Seattle Pacific on Nov. 8 at Lumberjack Arena. | Photo by Thomas Lal

    The Jacks went on a 17-2 run in the second quarter, ending the half with the lead at 32-29. 

    Tyra Turner, Humboldt State’s star point guard, went down with an apparent ankle injury halfway into the 3rd quarter after playing in all of the game prior. Gabrielle Carbajal took over for an injured Turner and landed four of her five three-point shots, finishing with 12 points.

    The Jacks came out hot in the second half, establishing their lead further. Six HSU players drained a three-pointer in their day one victory. With five of the threes coming in the third quarter. Two of which came from Thrower, after a three-point play in the paint moments before. 

    Humboldt State guard Gabrielle Carbajal drives the play forward during the second half of the Jacks game against Seattle Pacific for the West Region Crossover Classic on Nov. 8 at Lumberjack Arena. | Photo by Thomas Lal

    One of Thrower’s three-pointers came as the shot clock winded down; successfully throwing the ball up for a bank shot.

    “I just tossed it up,” Thrower said. “It wasn’t the prettiest shot but I’m glad it went in.”

    The Jacks pulled away ending the third quarter 58-36.

    Keeping the lead was HSU’s primary focus in the fourth quarter. The Falcons boosted their shooting percentage since the first half, but the Jacks finished off the Falcons 70-54, playing aggressive in the final minutes of the game.

    The Jacks have quite a few fresh faces on the roster, but Bento-Jackson believes the new players will keep up.

    “We had positive contributions from a lot of different folks tonight,” Bento-Jackson said. “The bright lights don’t faze them. I think they love it, actually.” 

  • A Look Into the 2019-20 NBA Season

    A Look Into the 2019-20 NBA Season

    The Golden State Warriors were once unbeatable, but on Oct. 22 the NBA landscape changed

    Balance has returned to the force, or rather, the NBA. The past three seasons, the Golden State Warriors were an almost unstoppable force while employing one of history’s best scorers: Kevin Durant.

    The Toronto Raptors won its first NBA title against the Warriors last season thanks to Kawhi Leonard. Leonard has since joined the Los Angeles Clippers as a free agent while Kevin Durant also made a splash in free agency by joining superstar point guard Kyrie Irving on the Brooklyn Nets.

    Over in the Eastern Conference —sometimes known as the weaker conference— not much has changed for the top teams from last season. Philadelphia hopes to make a run at glory after trusting the process for the past few years. If Ben Simmons and Joel Embiid can take the next step in their skills, then they can be the best 76ers team since Allen Iverson graced the court.

    The Boston Celtics is the most storied franchise and it’s making its way back to playoff stardom. But with Irving now in Brooklyn, the Celtics is running its offense through Kemba Walker, who is good, but not quite the caliber of Irving. Second-year man Jayson Tatum will need to evolve his game if the Celtics want any shot at a championship this year.

    The Raptors are basically the same team they were last year, minus star player Leonard. It will make the playoffs, but anything beyond that will take a miracle. Last season’s MVP, Giannis Antetokoumpo, is leading the Milwaukee Bucks. The Bucks are off to a slow start, but when you have a fantastic athlete like Antetokoumpo, aka “The Greek Freak,” it’s hard to be counted out.

    If Ben Simmons and Joel Embiid can take the next step in their skills, then they can be the best 76ers team since Allen Iverson graced the court.

    Leonard joins another all-star forward, Paul George, to create one of the best teams the Los Angeles Clippers has seen. Lebron James is now in year two with the Los Angeles Lakers and they recently brought in one of the top big men in the league, Anthony Davis. James is keeping his standard stat line that puts him near the best in the NBA, but Davis is a top 5 player in points (28.8), blocks (3), and rebounds (12.5) so far this season.

    Both LA teams look to lead the Western Conference, but the up and coming Utah Jazz is an exciting team to watch, with Donovan Mitchell as the star averaging almost 25 points a game in 2019. However, as long as Gregg Popovich is coaching the San Antonio Spurs, they will be an obstacle for other teams. Demar Derozan is the star, but the roster has plenty of talent and young point guard Dejountae Murray has what it takes to make the Spurs dangerous again.

    The Golden State Warriors is no longer the team to beat in the west. Durant is gone and multiple key bench players are playing elsewhere. A team with Stephen Curry, Klay Thompson and Draymond Green will not be a pushover. However, with Thompson still recovering from an ACL tear from the end of last season’s playoffs and Curry suffering from a broken hand, Green will have to take over as the team’s best asset for now.

    Also in the west, there is the rookie sensation, Zion Williamson, who is healing from a knee injury. Williamson and the New Orleans Pelicans are young and dynamic and they just might surprise the rest of the NBA.

    The most dangerous team in the west, outside of the LA Clippers, is the Houston Rockets. The Chris Paul and James Harden combo was good, but it didn’t work out as planned. Paul is gone and now the 2016 MVP Russell Westbrook joins the 2017 MVP Harden to create a two-headed monster down in Texas.

  • A Look Into HSU’s Annual Crime Report

    A Look Into HSU’s Annual Crime Report

    Clery Act reveals numerous sexual assault cases within the last 3 years at HSU

    Humboldt State University’s 2019 Clery Act Annual Security Report reveals more than three sexual assault cases at HSU in each of the past three years.

    Amelia Wagoner, a victim rights advocate and kinesiology major at HSU, said the problem goes deeper than the statistics suggest.

    “The amount of reported cases here and throughout the nation do not reflect campus safety,” Wagoner said. “The reporting process is traumatic and most survivors don’t want to deal with it.”

    The Clery Act federally requires all higher education institutions to disclose campus crime statistics. The newest report for HSU, released in September, covers crimes from January 2016 to December 2018. All Clery Act reports for California State Universities are available on the California State University webpage.

    HSU’s report notes five rapes in 2016, five in 2017 and four in 2018. HSU doesn’t have the most rape or sexual assault instances within the CSU system, but it did have one of the largest percentages compared to its relatively low student population. Sexual assault victims made up .05% of HSU students.

    HSU requires students to go through a consent course before attending, and all members of clubs or sports teams attend a Title IX seminar once per year. Title IX is a federal law prohibiting discrimination on the basis of sex in federally-funded education institutions, and the seminar focuses on teaching consent culture and anti-hazing.

    Geography major Allie Jones expressed concerns about the faculty behind HSU’s Title IX seminar.

    “At HSU, nobody on the Title IX team is a woman,” said Jones. “I’m sure the coordinator is qualified for his job, but as a woman I’d feel more comfortable having another woman to talk to.”

    For now, Wagoner urged students to play their part in improving campus safety.

    “Make sure everything is okay,” Wagoner said. “If you see or hear something that doesn’t seem right, do your part to make a difference.”

  • Athletes Are People Too

    Athletes Are People Too

    Pro sports is a two-sided business in need of a power redistribution 

    Owners of professional sports teams have made headlines the last few years for all the wrong reasons. The primary issue regards team owners treating players as property instead of as people, and a good amount of this coverage surrounds the National Basketball Association and the National Football League.

    Since 2014 there have been numerous situations where owners of sports teams made racially-toned remarks concerning their athletes, who are predominately black. Simply referring to whomever controls the majority of the team as ‘owner’ can have its own racial implications in leagues where most players are people of color.

    According to the NBA’s 2015 Racial and Gender Report Card and a 2014 NFL Census, 75% of NBA players and 68% of NFL athletes are black. The NBA also has the largest percentage of people of color in its fan base, whereas NFL fans are primarily white.

    In 2014, The NBA forced former LA Clippers’ shareholder Donald Sterling to sell his team after a tape of him spouting racist remarks was released to TMZ. But in the NFL it seems like their majority shareholders are able to get away with more. NFL team owners were more vocal than ever this past season due to the outrage from many fans about players kneeling during the National Anthem.

    While NFL contracts may seem ridiculous compared to other high-grossing sports, professional football players receive the lowest percentage of guaranteed money in their contracts. In contrast, NBA athletes make every cent of their contracts and are often considered to be involved in the daily running of the league as opposed to just their respective teams’ shareholders making all the decisions.

    When it comes to the relationship between owners and their athletes, a large factor in the athlete’s treatment is how fans act. Rhetoric during the kneeling protests relayed many of the players who took a knee as unpatriotic, spoiled and privileged, with fans telling players to “shut up and play.”

    Fans treat players as if they are toys for amusement instead of human beings. And team owners treat players like property that can be replaced at any moment. But when there is a media storm of fans and others calling for change like with the Clippers in 2014, progress can be made. Fans hold more power than they know and can directly affect how teams are handled and how athletes are treated.