Gridley senior forward Aaron Kullar (23) tracks down a rebound in a Bulldogs loss to Sutter on Friday, December 15 at the Colusa tournament. Photo by Steven Bryla

Boys Basketball

GRIDLEY, CA (MPG) - The Gridley boys’ basketball team split their two games during the week of December 18th-22nd with a 31-point victory over Colusa and a four-point loss in double overtime to Marysville.

Gridley head coach Nathan Link expressed to the Herald that in the Colusa game, the Bulldogs were able to shoot the ball effectively and defensively didn’t let Colusa break out in transition in the Gridley 70-39 victory on Monday, December 18.

Link added that Colusa was also in the process of working their football players back into basketball shape as they recently just finished up a state football championship title run.

Link told the Herald the RedHawks will be a better team overall if they met again in the playoffs and not to let the score of this recent game be deceiving.

Gridley senior forward Aaron Kullar led the Bulldogs with 25 points, senior forward Kiko Castillo added 14 points and junior guard Luis Murillo added 11 points in the big win.

Gridley took the Marysville Indians to double overtime but fell 84-80 on Wednesday, December 20. The Bulldogs had a 10-point lead at the end of the first half.

Kullar had a team-high 26 points followed by Castillo’s 16. The Indians had a big fourth quarter comeback to tie the game and it took two extra time periods to pull away from Gridley.

The Bulldogs ended their 2023 part of the season by playing in the Dixon tournament that began this past Wednesday.

Link told the Herald he wants his team to continue to grow for the Butte View League competition and playoffs.

Girls Basketball
GRIDLEY, CA (MPG) - The Gridley girls’ basketball team lost both of their games from December 18-22 with losses on the road at Colusa and Marysville.

 Gridley lost an overtime game 58-49 at Colusa on Tuesday, December 19 and got doubled up in a 66-32 loss the following night at Marysville.

Lady Bulldogs junior forward Brook Marr and senior guard AnaGloria Luevano had 22 points each in the loss at Colusa and were the only two to score double-digits in the loss at Marysville with 15 (Marr) and 11 (Luevano).

Marr is averaging 19.1 points per game, 13.2 rebounds per game and 6.4 blocks per game, which was the second best in the nation as of Monday, December 25.

Luevano is averaging 10.4 ppg, 2.3 assists per game and 2.7 steals per game.

Gridley had a brutal schedule this week to close out 2023 as they are competing in a tournament at Lincoln against fierce Division I teams.

The Lady Bulldogs play Inderkum, Foothill and Capital Christian.

Luevano told the Herald the tournament will help with the team chemistry and find what one another’s strengths are going into Butte View League play for all kinds of different situations during a game.

Additionally, the Lady Bulldogs know what to expect when they begin their BVL opener against Corning on Tuesday, January 9 but they are pushing and striving to improve better as an overall team.