It's been a tough start to the year for a young Live Oak girls basketball team, but in one weekend alone they surpassed the number of wins they had over the first half of the season. The Lions won the championship at the East Nicolaus tournament, winning all three games and improving their overall record to 5-6.
The girls have struggled with their fundamentals and taking care of the ball this season. Head coach Erin Walton typically doesn't take off the entire winter break, but thinks it may have helped this year.
"We started a little rusty and we got better and better and better," Walton said. "I think it also helps that we're no relying on just two scorers as well."
The tournament began with a triple overtime victory over Quincy, something Walton had never been a part of. Live Oak's small team had fouled out down to their last five, but were able to win the third overtime and pull out a 78-73 win.
Melissa Anderson led the Lions with 20 points (three three-pointers), while Rachel DeWitt had 15, Amyah Clark had 11, Jessica Mejia and Margaeux Fenn had 10 (one three), Jennifer DeWitt had six and Sandra Alcantar had four.
In their second game, the girls were able to avenge an earlier loss to Williams with their second largest win of the year, 58-40. An 18-10 second quarter and 17-10 third quarter led to the 18-point win.
Rachel DeWitt led the team with 16 points, Jennifer DeWitt had 12, Fenn had 10, Anderson had nine (all threes), Clark had six, Alcantar had four and Heather Scarberry had one.
In the championship game, Live Oak fell behind 30-18 at halftime before exploding for a 22-5 third quarter. Still, they trailed by one with time running out before Jennifer DeWitt was fouled with 11 seconds left. She hit the first to tie the game and nailed the second to take the lead.
After a deflection on the inbounds pass gave the Lions the ball again, DeWitt hit another free throw that led to a final 51-49 win.
Anderson was named MVP of the tournament and Rachel DeWitt and Fenn were all-tournament.
Gridley 40, Colusa 38
The Lady Bulldogs won their second straight game going back to before winter break, and their fourth of the last five, to improve to 6-5 overall.
Biggs 37, Westwood 46
Biggs 35, Durham 55
Boys Basketball
Gridley 43, Corning 70
Gridley 51, Central Valley 60
Gridley 71, Yreka 54
The Bulldogs ran into their first bump in the road at the Corning tournament, where they dropped two of three games. After beating the Cardinals by seven earlier in the year, Gridley lost to them by 27 in the first game of the tournament.
Vincent Spring led the team with 10 points, while Israel Garcia had eight, Kris Dirks and Anthony Paredes had five, Ty Nichols and Trevor Scott had four, Bryan Monzon had three and Daniel Carmona had two.
In the second game, the Bulldogs had a strong finish but couldn't pull out a win against Central Valley. Nichols had 23 points, Dirks had eight, Monzon had six, Daniel Carmona and Josh Pippitt had three, and Scott, Garcia, Paredes and Zane McFarlane had two.
They bounced back to finish with a 17-point win over Yreka. Nichols led the team with 17 points, Dirks had 13, Spring and Scott Peck had 10, McFarlane had six, Scott had five, Monzon had three, Carmona, Garcia and Paredes had two.
Gridley dropped to 9-4 overall.
Biggs 42, University Prep 72
Biggs 60, Princeton 54
Biggs 17, Westwood 51
Live Oak 37, Quincy 54
Boys Soccer
Live Oak 3, Esparto 0
Live Oak 0, Pierce 3
The Lions split their games last week, with one shutout win and one shutout loss. On Tuesday, goals by Hector Cibrian, Jose Alvarado and Rudy Chavez, and two saves by Luis Ramirez led to a win over Esparto. Raul Diaz had two assists and Daniel Duenas had one.
Ramirez had four more saves against the Bears, but Live Oak never put the ball in the net. The Lions are now 5-3-1.
Girls Soccer
Live Oak 1, Esparto 1
Live Oak 5, Pierce 0
The Lady Lions played to a tie against Esparto, with six saves by Carina Gonzalez and a goal by Blanca Luquin, assisted by Melissa Curiel.
They had their biggest win of the season against the Bears, getting three goals from Luquin and one from Victoria Lepe and Rocio Topete. Luquin had two assists and Curiel had one. Allison Yanez had three saves.
Gridley 0, Orland 2
