Late season injuries and shooting woes resulted in a pair of losses for the varsity basketball girls as the Lady Cougars ended their campaign.
They traveled to Hughson for a game on Feb. 11 and then hosted Hilmar on Senior Night, Feb. 13.
“Tuesday at Hughson we lost 45-22. We struggled to score,” said head coach Joseph Dalpogetti. “We got some good looks. They played 3-2 zone in the first half and a 2-3 zone in the second half. We got all the shots we could have asked for, but just couldn’t get them to go down.”
Hughson took a 12-5 lead after one and were up 26-9 at the half.
“We were in range to make a run all game until the final few minutes but couldn’t establish a big enough run,” noted Dalpogetti. “We were without Brooke Campbell due to an injury sustained the Friday before against Livingston. She is our leading scorer and leading rebounder so we struggled without her. We could have really used her in this game to penetrate the zone and hit outside shots.”
Soleil Gouzenne paced the Lady Cougars with 11 points and Rachel Farley pulled down eight rebounds.
Thursday, seniors Hannah Boyd and Katie Karp were recognized prior to tip off, the coach noting they were honored for “their four years of hard work and commitment.”
Hilmar, however, walked off with the win by a 41-25 final.
“Our shooting woes continued from Tuesday night. We got looks but couldn’t connect at a high enough percentage to win.”
Boyd had 15 points, hitting five treys in her final game on the court for the Lady Cougars, adding 11 rebounds as well for a double-double.
Marissa Silva had eight rebounds.
“Again, missing our leading scorer led to offensive struggles. We finished 8-19 on the year and 2-10 in TVL,” Dalpogetti said. “We are still relatively young and the girls seem committed to getting better in the off season so we don’t repeat this year’s growing pains. They played hard day in and day out and competed on the floor.”
JUNIOR VARSITY
First year head coach Sam Baez was able to coach Tuesday’s road game at Hughson – but was absent from Thursday’s game as she gave birth to a daughter. She noted that the team lost by six points at Hughson but put up a good fight.
“They beat us pretty good last time,” Baez said. “I was really proud of our effort and how much we had improved from the first time we played them.”
Thursday, the JV girls fell behind Hilmar early but battled back in the second half, eventually losing that game by just a single digit margin as well.
“Overall, I’m really excited about the core group of kids we have for next year,” Baez said. “We’re going to do good things next year.”
