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Tournament closes out preseason for varsity hoop girls
1-8 Ari
In an early preseason contest, played at Escalon, sophomore Lady Cougar Ari Velasco looks to dribble around the defender from River Islands. Velasco was named to the All-Tournament Team for the Tom Hawkins Tournament in Tracy over the holiday break, scoring 16, 14, 19 and 24 points in her team’s four contests. Marg Jackson/The Times

Staying busy during the holiday break from classes, Escalon’s varsity girls basketball team has been playing a challenging schedule and is eager to start Trans-Valley League play.

The squad posted a 7-8 mark for the preseason.

On Monday, Dec. 23, they hosted Patterson, with the Lady Tigers coming in to the Cougar Dome with a record of 11-1.

“We led all game, but just like we have done a few times this season, we couldn’t hang on to finish at the end,” said head coach Joseph Dalpogetti.

Aiden Hohenwarter paced the effort with 14 points; also in double figures were Ari Velasco with 12 and Madi Babasa with 11. Final score was 47-43 in favor of the visiting Patterson team.

“We headed to the 47th Tom Hawkins Tournament at Tracy High School,” Dalpogetti said of continuing to play over the break. “The first three days were pool play. We played Kimball, Pittsburg and West in our pool.”

They fell to Kimball by a 50-47 final on the first day, Dec. 27.

“It was a back-and-forth game. We were down by nine with about a minute to go,” Dalpogetti said. “We hit a three and got back-to-back steals we converted for lay-ups to cut it to one with 15 seconds left.”

But the Lady Cougars had to foul Kimball five times to get them into the bonus, which cut the clock down to just three seconds left in the game.

“We missed a three at the buzzer,” the coach said of narrowly missing sending the game to OT.

Velasco had 16 points; Babasa had 13.

They then met Pittsburg on Dec. 28 and took a 44-30 victory off the court, with 15 points from Babasa, 14 from Velasco.

In their next game, they defeated West out of Tracy by a 47-40 decision, paced by 19 points from Velasco and 14 from Babasa.

“We ran into Ripon on the final day in the fifth-place game,” said Dalpogetti, adding that they got the win, 35-29.

It was a low-scoring contest but one that the Lady Cougars had to work hard for to put into the win column.

“We were missing Aiden all tournament due to an out of state ag event. She’s our starting center and averaging a double double, but to add to that Madi couldn’t play the final day and she’s our leading scorer at over 17 points per game,” Dalpogetti explained. “We played half court man and just tried to keep the game as basic as possible.”

Leading the way for Escalon was sophomore Velasco, who finished with 24 of her team’s 35 points.

“That included 13-for-15 from the line; she was named to the All-Tournament Team for the second tournament in a row,” the coach added.

For Escalon, coming off a season in which they battled for a Section title in girls basketball for the first time in school history, Dalpogetti said they have worked hard in the preseason campaign.

“We have played a challenging schedule, maybe the toughest of my time as the varsity coach,” Dalpogetti admitted. “We have the third toughest schedule ranked on MaxPreps for teams in the Division 4 bracket.”

And he said that while the 7-8 preseason mark is disappointing in some ways, the team is ready to step up for league action.

“Although not what we wanted we will wear it like a badge of honor,” the coach said of the preseason record.

The girls were to start the league campaign on the road Jan. 7 at Sonora and will play Friday at Hilmar, in between the JV and varsity boys, taking the court at 5:30 p.m. to face off the with Lady Yellowjackets.