Wins were hard to come by for Escalon’s JV basketball girls this week.

They traveled to the Ripon Tournament and opened up their tourney action against Tokay on Wednesday, Dec. 27.

“They were just a better team than us,” said head coach Robbie Leal. “We spent a lot of time throwing the ball to the other team.”

Tokay’s pressure forced many of the Lady Cougar miscues and Escalon took a 45-13 loss in the contest.

“Katie Karp had six points and Hunter Wheeler had five,” Leal said.

Thursday, the girls played against Modesto High and fought hard but took a 39-23 loss. Still, there were some bright spots in the game.

“Hunter Wheeler had seven points, she went 7-for-8 from the free throw line,” Leal noted.

Karp had six points, as did Ryilee McNulty.

“We picked it up in the fourth quarter,” Leal said of making the game closer at the end.

Friday, the JV girls found themselves in a dog fight with Ceres, ultimately coming out on the short side of a 32-30 final.

“It was a complete heartbreaker against Ceres, it came down to a last second shot,” said the coach. “We missed that shot … but we played well throughout the entire game.”

Mya Scott had 10 points in the loss, with Karp chipping in with six.

“It’s nice to see her scoring again, she was leading us in the beginning and then went cold, now she’s starting to score some points again,” Leal said of Karp.

The girls did make a few too many turnovers in the contest, but Leal said it was a good end to the tournament, with the team on the upswing.

“Now we start a whole new season, we’re starting the Trans-Valley League and we play Wednesday (Jan. 3) at Riverbank and Thursday we are home against Ripon,” Leal said.

Tip off time for the JV contests is 6 p.m.