Tuesday night on the road at Manteca, it was a lopsided loss for the Escalon varsity Lady Cougars on the basketball court.
They fell to the host Lady Buffaloes, 72-29.
“We were only down 14-8 after one, but then the wheels fell off,” explained head coach Joseph Dalpogetti. “And we lost the middle two quarters by a combined 46-17.”
It was good to get a game in, said the coach, but tough to be throttled on the road.
“I knew taking on Manteca would be a challenge, but during the short COVID season last year they had varsity only and graduated eight seniors so I thought it would be a good year to give it a shot, but they have large rosters at each level with a few more transfers who aren’t able to play yet,” Dalpogetti noted. “This was their first game fully healthy after some injuries at the early season scrimmages. We needed to get on the court with someone better than us because we have had a few games go the other way for us so we needed to be pushed and we definitely got that and more.”
Macie Vickers had seven points, with Soleil Gouzenne, Marissa Silva and Yanely Gomez adding five points each.
The varsity girls got back in the win column on Friday at Denair; leading 20-4 after one and 31-9 at the half.
“We outscored them in the third, 24-4 before losing the fourth, 5-9,” Dalpogetti said. “The score may have been lopsided by I credit Denair for playing hard throughout and making us work for it. They’re a scrappy bunch.”
Gouzenne had 12, Vickers and Silva put in nine points apiece and Gomez added eight, with eight of nine players scoring.
JUNIOR VARSITY
After taking a win on the road at Manteca, the JV Lady Cougars had the opportunity to jump in to the Livingston Tournament, filling in for another team that canceled out. It was a good move, as they ended up with the tournament title, defeating Stagg, Livingston and Atwater, taking down Atwater in the championship game. That kept the squad with a spotless record for the preseason, improving to 8-0. Sammy Lang was named the Tournament MVP.
Head coach Sam Baez said they had a slow start in the tournament, up by just a couple of points at the half in the opener against Stagg, eventually building up the lead and taking a 49-20 win.
“We picked it up in the second and pulled away big time,” Baez said.
Day two, they defeated Livingston 47-35, despite not having their best effort.
In the win over Atwater, it was a nail biter, the JV squad coming away with the 37-35 victory.
“(We were) Up 11 at halftime, they made adjustments and their press was more aggressive and we ended up down five at the end of the third,” Baez said. “In the fourth quarter we got some big stops on defense and converted in transition.”
