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Varsity Basketball Girls Split Final Games
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Escalon’s Brooke Campbell, at right, shown in earlier season home action, looks to get a pass off against the Riverbank defense. She had 10 points in the season finale on the road as the Lady Cougars defeated Hilmar by a 44-24 final. Marg Jackson/The Times

Escalon’s basketball girls have completed their season, with the varsity girls earning a split and the JV squad taking a pair of losses.

For the varsity girls, they hosted Hughson on Senior Night, honoring Alexa Gomez and Sylvia Guevara prior to the contest.

“Sylvia hasn’t been able to play this season after injuring her MCL the second day of the season, but she’s been to every practice and game to support her teammates,” said head coach Joseph Dalpogetti. “Alexa has been having a successful “comeback” season after missing almost the entirety of her junior year with a knee injury she suffered in the final game of her sophomore season.”

On the court, the Lady Cougars couldn’t match the intensity of their opponent, falling in a 55-22 final in the Feb. 5 game.

“We did not play well on Senior Night. Maybe we were too emotional or maybe it was because Hughson was playing for a playoff berth,” Dalpogetti noted. “We got outscored 16-5 in the first quarter and were down 25-7 at halftime.”

They trailed 38-13 after three and lost the contest by 33 points.

“We could just not get anything going offensively,” the coach added. “We had a couple of missed lay-ups and free throws to start the game and all of a sudden what should have been a tight game wasn’t and we could never recover.”

Dulce Rodriguez had nine points to lead the girls and Gomez had eight in her home season finale.

The girls finished the season with a win on the road, defeating Hilmar 44-24 on Feb. 7.

“It was their senior night and we did to them what Hughson did to us,” said Dalpogetti. “Everyone played almost equal time and everyone scored but one so it was a good way to go out.”

Gomez finished with 12 points, Brooke Campbell had 10 and Hannah Boyd had nine. Marissa Silva connected on two 3-pointers to contribute six points in the win.

 

Junior Varsity

The JV girls fell to Hughson and Hilmar, losing to the Lady Huskies by a 52-16 final and then battling the Lady Yellowjackets in a hard-fought contest, coming up just a little bit short at 37-33.

“We played hard in the first quarter against Hughson, down 12-8 after one and then we just couldn’t score and their athleticism had us on our heels the rest of the night,” said head coach Robbie Leal. “We didn’t give up, we just were unable to get good looks at the rim and made too many mistakes to be successful.”

Kalynn Cavanaugh was the leading scorer with 13 points.

“Second game was a nail biter against Hilmar, we were down 10-9 after one and 19-14 at the half,” Leal noted. “We played hard in the third and were down 30-21 going into the fourth. We scored more points in the fourth than we did in a lot of games. It was a lot of fun playing the fourth trying to come back and win but in the end we fell just short, losing by four.”

Cavanaugh had 11 points, Rachel Farley had eight and Bella Jaime added seven.

“This was a good game to end on because a lot of the girls are looking forward to getting in the gym and getting better this offseason, not wanting to feel like that again.”