Most definitely a memorable season, the final game was the hardest, as Escalon’s varsity Lady Cougars basketball team traveled more than 700 miles round trip to play in the state’s CIF NorCal regional semifinals.

They fell on Saturday, March 7 to the host Modoc Braves in a low-scoring contest, 38-27, to end their campaign.

Escalon put together an outstanding record of 27-7 overall and went 12-0, undefeated champions, in Trans-Valley League play. They lost to Central Catholic in the Sac-Joaquin Section semifinals, falling just short of returning to the Section final.

But they earned the number four seed in Division V for the NorCals and won two games at home, March 3 and March 5, before heading out for the long road trip.

That’s three high-level, high-intensity, lose-or-go-home contests – not to mention the 360-plus mile one way drive to Modoc High School in Alturas – over the course of five days. All while doing their homework and getting to class on time throughout the week.

Before the Saturday night semifinal, Escalon hosted Healdsburg on Tuesday, March 3 and defeated the Greyhounds by a 56-37 final in the DV opening round of the NorCal competition. Healdsburg was the number 13 seed in Division V and couldn’t contain Escalon’s offensive attack. Ari Velasco paced the effort with 22 points and Avery Bartelink was also in doble figures with 14. Ayana Cocio had nine points on the night.

Then, it was a Thursday game on the home court, the Lady Cougars welcoming the fifth seed Durham Trojans to the Cougar Dome on March 5 for a 7 p.m. tip off in the quarterfinals.

Escalon had a rough first quarter, unable to get much going offensively, and they trailed the visitors 11-4 after one.

They battled back and outscored Durham 13-4 in the second quarter, a late shot by the visitors giving them back the lead, 18-17 at the half.

But some halftime adjustments were key for the Lady Cougars, as they came out more focused and determined after the break and went on a 21-9 run to lead it 38-27 after three. The teams traded points in the fourth quarter, capped off by a corner three from Bartelink to seal the 48-37 win.

Head coach Joseph Dalpogetti said the talk in the locker room at halftime focused on the standard, the one set for the team, that they weren’t living up to in the first half.

“We have a standard and if we’re not living up to it, we’re going to get held accountable,” the coach said, adding that his players did take that message to heart and came out stronger for the second half. “Second half adjustments were just to execute better, we didn’t really change anything, we just did it better.”

Key to the success has been the teamwork, as the Lady Cougars have been without leading scorer Madi Babasa for more than half the season, lost to an injury.

“Kudos to all of the girls stepping up, even Ari, as good as she has been all year, she’s definitely also stepped it up a notch in Madi’s absence and Allie Fiser’s been huge off the bench for us,” Dalpogetti said. “Carli Jones and Avery Bartelink have both gotten a lot better in the last month or so, it has just been a collective effort.”

Fiser, a sophomore, played some key minutes in the quarterfinal win.

“I’m really excited because I love this team,” Fiser said of notching the Thursday night victory. “I’m super happy that we’ve made it this far.”

Junior Velasco had 23 points to lead the team, freshman Bartelink added 12.

“I think basically what kept us together, especially, was our team culture,” Velasco explained of battling for the win. “At halftime, we already knew what we were doing wrong, we already knew what changes we needed to make, so it was just us coming together.”

She admitted that the Lady Cougars knew they weren’t playing their game in the first half, and they just needed to return to form.

“We watched film on them, they are an aggressive team, we knew that,” Velasco added of Durham. “They’re bigger than us, we knew that, they were hard on the boards so we just knew, especially in the second half, we had to come out with more intensity and aggression ourselves.”

Senior Ayana Cocio has been a steadying presence for the underclassmen on the team this season and said the postseason was indescribable.

“Words don’t even convey how happy and excited that I am,” Cocio said. “I knew going into the season, I knew we would get far, but just to get this far and to be here in the moment, it’s hard to explain … it feels great that this is something that we can share not only with our teammates, but with our families and our school … it’s so exciting.”

She also pointed to the support from the crowd as being important for the team.

“To me, having our community here, it’s more than them just coming out because they like watching the sport,” Cocio noted. “It’s supporting the people that you go to school with and that’s what makes Escalon, our community, so special.”

Having to watch from the sidelines for the second half of the season, senior Babasa was still excited for her teammates after the quarterfinal victory at home.

“It’s amazing, seeing girls step up and just lead on the court, just stepping up overall, this team is very special,” Babasa said.

For the Saturday game, Dalpogetti said the team left Escalon about 8 a.m. and were able to check in to their hotel in Redding early afternoon on March 7, where they took a brief break, then got in a short practice.

“Shasta College was kind enough to let us into their gym to shoot,” Dalpogetti said of the players getting dressed and on the court.

But then it was back on the road, for a roughly three-hour drive from Redding to Alturas and Modoc High School, home of the Braves.

“When we got to the gym we tried to follow our normal routine but I could tell the girls’ nerves were kind of high; it seemed like the whole town was in the gym,” Dalpogetti said of a large hometown crowd turning out.

He said the school band was also there and a group of boys in the student section had their shirts off with the word ‘Braves’ painted across their chests to support the home team.

“I thought we looked nervous during the warm up so I called the girls over and had them do some breathing techniques with me and some visualization but, ultimately, we just didn’t play our best basketball,” added Dalpogetti.

Modoc came into the game as the top seed in the northern region and defeated Escalon by a 38-27 final. The host team outscored Escalon in the first half, 14-9, during the defensive contest, then extended the lead with a 15-7 scoring edge in the third quarter to go up 29-16. Escalon outscored Modoc 11-9 in the fourth quarter but the home team emerged victorious and was scheduled to host number six seed Woodland Christian in the north regional finals on March 10, for the chance to advance to the state title game.

“I find it hard to believe that you can ask these girls to take a six-hour car ride the day of a game and be successful,” said Dalpogetti. “Ultimately, we just didn’t shoot the ball well. Watching film, I knew our defense was going to be fine and giving up 38 points on their home floor, I think we did a good job but we just couldn’t hit enough shots, normal shots that we had just were not going down for us.”

Dalpogetti said there were multiple uncharacteristic air balls for the team that helped host Modoc secure the win.

The varsity Lady Cougars, ending their season at 27-7 overall and just short of a chance to play in the NorCal regional final, made the long drive back to Redding for an overnight stay after the loss before returning to Escalon on Sunday.

“I’m proud of the girls. They finished with a 27-7 overall record; that’s the second most wins in program history,” Dalpogetti pointed out. “They advanced to the Section semifinals for the third time in five years; they made it further than any team in school basketball history ever has by making it to the NorCal semi’s.”