Escalon’s varsity basketball girls capped off an exciting night on the home court with a win on Thursday, Jan. 11, improving to 18-0 on the season. Earlier, they had taken a road win to begin the week.
The JV girls also won on Thursday, completing a come-from-behind victory.
For the varsity, it was a road trip to begin the week, playing at Ripon Christian on Jan. 9, where they got a 50-23 win.
“Ripon Christian had been coming off some nice wins around the holidays, but unfortunately their leading scorer was out for a few games due to an injury,” said Escalon head coach Joseph Dalpogetti. “We led 16-6 after one and 24-10 at the half. We were able to open it up to 20 in the third and led 40-20 heading into the fourth.”
Sammy Lang was leading scorer for Escalon, with 15 points. She also had seven rebounds, nine steals and three assists.
Madi Babasa added 12 points, Ari Velasco had nine, Chloe Farley chipped in with eight and Ayana Cocio had six.
“Thursday, we hosted Ripon. We knew they would be tough,” Dalpogetti said. “They only trailed Riverbank 25-23 at the half on Tuesday night before falling by 10. We came out with good energy and led 16-111 after the first.”
The Lady Cougars were able to push that lead to 32-16 by halftime.
“Madi Babasa was fueling the full court defense with transition lay ups,” Dalpogetti said. “We outscored them 23-8 in the third and took a 55-24 lead into the fourth.”
The final score saw Escalon cruising to the 65-29 win.
“We knew it was going to be a tough challenge because they’re our rivals but I feel like we played really good and as a team,” said Sammy Lang, one of this year’s team captains.
Babasa, also a team captain, was glad to get the win as well.
“Knowing that Ripon is our rival, I knew I had to play my heart out and compete, so I kind of just locked in,” Babasa said.
And while she converted on several lay ups, that is not necessarily her comfort zone, preferring instead to go for the 3-point shots as opposed to driving in.
“Honestly, I don’t like contact,” she admitted. “So I like shooting around the perimeter.”
It was the combination of an efficient offense and tough defense that added up to victory.
“Our defense looked the best it has in a few weeks,” noted the coach. “Madi finished with a game high 22 points.”
Lang had 16 points and eight steals, Cocio and Aiden Hohenwarter played great off the bench, said the coach, and helped with both scoring runs in the second and third quarters.
Escalon got to 18-0 with the wins this week, now 3-0 in the TVL.
They were to travel to Livingston on Tuesday and then will host Hughson on the home court Thursday, Jan. 18.
“Then for the first time ever, to my knowledge, we will get to play on Homecoming night on Friday,” Dalpogetti said. “We will play at 5:30 p.m. after the JV boys but before varsity boys against Hilmar.”
JV
On the road Tuesday, the JV girls fell to Ripon Christian by a 39-27 final.
Jayce Trimble had 13 points and four rebounds, while Tyli Holback added eight points. Carli Jones had five blocks and five rebounds to go along with her two points.
“We had a slow first half, we missed a lot of good opportunities to score,” said head coach Tanae McCurley. “We came out knowing we needed to play better defensively and run our offense, which we did, scoring 20 points in the second half.”
It wasn’t enough to get the win, but the coach said the team did find a groove offensively and played well in the second half.
On Thursday, it was a thriller in the EHS gym, as the JV Lady Cougars came away with a 31-28 victory.
“The was a great game and a game we knew we needed to win,” McCurley said. “We started out slow, we were down 15-4 at halftime. We knew that Ripon had some great offensive players and we needed to shut them down and coming out after halftime our team ran an amazing defense and played as a unit, never giving up.”
Trimble again paced the team with 17 points, 10 rebounds, four blocks and four steals. Kylie Fast had eight points, four rebounds and three steals. Jones had six points, two rebounds and four blocks.
Fifteen of Trimble’s 17 points came in the second half.
“We were back and forth points wise the last two mutes of the game,” said McCurley of the exciting finish. “Carli Jones got the ball and scored for us, putting us ahead in the last few seconds. I’m so proud of my girls, they never gave up, they kept their composure, played as a team and they gave me all they had until the buzzer.”
The girls were to play at Livingston on Jan. 16 and will host Hughson in a 5:30 p.m. contest Thursday, Jan. 18.
“Excited to see our growth as a team and what we can accomplish as the season continues,” McCurley said.
