With a league bye on Tuesday, the Escalon varsity basketball girls filled in the date with a non-league contest. They won that one – against Ceres – and then kicked off the second half of Trans-Valley League play with a win at Riverbank on Thursday.
“We decided to pick up a game to stay sharp,” head coach Joseph Dalpogetti said of hosting Ceres on Jan. 24. “We won 54-26. They scored the first bucket of the game and then didn’t score the remainder of the half.”
Escalon held a commanding 25-2 lead midway through the game and went on to post the easy victory.
“Everyone got a lot of playing time,” Dalpogetti added. “Ten of our 11 players scored. We were paced by Jenelle Anderson with 10 points and 15 rebounds.”
Shelby McCune just missed a double-double, putting in nine points to go along with her 10 rebounds. Haley Boyd, Priscilla Nowling, Daisy Camacho and Alyssa Strock each had six points.
“It was a great team effort,” said the coach.
Thursday, the girls hit the road and took on Riverbank to open up the second half of league. They were winners in that contest as well, topping the host Lady Bruins 59-37.
“We were up 11 at the half and 22 heading into the fourth,” Dalpogetti said. “The lead stretched to as many as 29 late in the second half.”
The 22-point margin of victory was a comfortable one, with many players contributing to the win.
Anderson again was the leading scorer with 17 points and McCune with 14 points. Strock chipped in with eight.
“We are now 13-8 overall and 4-3 in league,” Dalpogetti said.
The team was scheduled to play on the road Tuesday night, Jan. 31 at Ripon Christian after The Times went to press and host Ripon in a Thursday night game, Feb. 2 at 7:30 p.m.
JUNIOR VARSITY
The JV Lady Cougars lost to Ceres on Tuesday night by a final of 46-21.
Hunter Wheeler paced the team with nine points and Hannah Boyd added four.
Thursday night against Riverbank it was a different story, as the young team went on the road and took a convincing 40-23 win off the court. This time, Boyd was leading scorer with 11 and Katy Karp chipped in eight points.
“The Cougar girls took the lead quickly and maintained it the entire game,” coach Thomas O’Hare said of controlling the contest. “Teamwork was near perfect and defense was superb.”
The team will be back in action on the home court Thursday night, Feb. 2 tipping off against Ripon in a 6 p.m. contest.
