Defeating all three opponents they faced, the Escalon varsity Lady Cougars basketball team earned the championship of their own Escalon Lions Club-Peter Arellano Memorial Tournament. It was the first time in several years the team has come away with the crown.
They opened up on Wednesday, Nov. 29 against Linden and won 64-21.
“We got up about 12-0 and the ball never crossed half court; we pulled off the press early,” said head coach Joseph Dalpogetti. “We rarely get to go five on five at practice because of injuries and illness so we wanted to slow the game down and work on some things we need to get better at.”
Sammy Lang – who was named the Tournament MVP – had 20 points; Madi Babasa had 14 and Macie Vickers chipped in with 11.
Thursday, Nov. 30 the opponent was Grace Davis, who had defeated Millennium on opening night.
Escalon had a great offensive first quarter, scoring 30 points, but Dalpogetti said he wasn’t happy with the defense, as they gave up 16 points. But then they outscored Davis 21-12 in the second and held them to five points in the third, basically putting the game away.
“We led by 35 heading into the fourth” said Dalpogetti.
Leading scorers were Vickers and Arianna Velasco, each with 18 points, followed by Lang with 14 and Babasa with 11.
“In the championship, we drew Johansen. They had beat Bret Harte in overtime the night before, 50-46, and had blown out Argonaut on the first day,” explained the coach of facing the Vikings for the finale on Friday, Dec. 1. “We opened the game on a 10-0 run and never looked back.”
Escalon led 16-3 after one and were up 18 at the break, able to coast to a 65-23 win.
Velasco had 17 points, Lang had 14 and Vickers had 10.
Along with Lang being the MVP, Velasco received an All-Tournament selection.
“I have opposing coaches vote for their opponents’ players each day and then tally them up,” Dalpogetti said of the All-Tournament selection process.
On the consolation side of the bracket, Central Catholic defeated Millennium to earn the title, winning 45-27 on Friday.
Participating teams were Bret Harte, Central Catholic, Argonaut, Johansen, Millennium, Davis, Linden and host Escalon.
The tournament, hosted by the Escalon Lions Club, is now in its 47th year and was re-named as the Pete Arellano Memorial Tournament after the passing of the longtime EHS teacher and coach.
With the three wins in tournament play, the varsity has gotten off to a solid 4-0 start. They will head to the Johansen Tournament this week.
They were scheduled to open up against Venture Academy on Dec. 6, and will play either Orestimba or Sonora on the second day, Dec. 7, Dalpogetti said.
The other side of the bracket features Merced, Central Valley and the host Johansen Vikings.
