Gridley Holds Its Own in Lady Bulldog Holiday Classic
Dec 09, 2021 12:00AM ● By Story and photos by Zachary Torres
Emily Luna #11 of the Lady Bulldogs isolates a Honker to avoid her passing to her team mates. Photo by Zachary Torres
GRIDLEY, CA (MPG) - They played their hearts out, they gave everything they could and left it on the court. That was the action the crowd saw this last week during the Lady Bulldog Holiday Classic.
All but forgotten with the GIBT tournament coming close, the Lady Bulldog Holiday Classic was held this last week. Teams from the surrounding areas were invited to compete in the 3-game round robin tournament including: Oroville, Orland, Gridley, Willows, and Enterprise.
Despite the Gridley team only being able to field eight players this year, they managed to hold their own against bigger teams.
The culmination of the tournament ended Saturday with a trio of impressive games. Defense was the tone of the first game as Gridley took on a larger Orland team. In the end Orland would out-score Gridley 30-21for the win, though the low score didn’t reflect the action and intensity of the game.
The second game of the day was Enterprise versus Oroville. Enterprise entered the game having won their two previous games, and after the first half of the game it was clear why. Despite the quickness and agility of the Oroville team there was little they could do to stop the physically taller Enterprise team. Final Score Enterprise 62, Oroville 20, Enterprise succeeding in claiming 1st place in the tournament.
The final game of the day saw the return of the Gridley Bulldogs versus the Willows Honkers. Down one player at the start of the game due to injury, Gridley came out hungry to win only to have another player take a bad spill and had to be carried off the court.
Gridley now had 6 girls to play, Willows brought suited up 13. The action the first half was completely dominated by Gridley and ended the half ahead: 30-13.
But the game wasn’t over yet. Willows came out of the locker room with renewed energy. The game that entailed was a back and forth that saw the Gridley team tiring even as they gave it their best. Coming down the to the last seconds of the games Gridley managed to hold to their lead eventually winning 43-41.
Next week the Boys Basket team will host their GIBT tournament in what always promises to be full of action.
