Merced grinds out overtime win over El Capitan to remain undefeated in CCC
The chances of the Merced High girls basketball team remaining undefeated in the Central California Conference weren’t looking good in the second half against El Capitan on Thursday night.
The Bears couldn’t hit a shot.
Nothing seemed to fall as Merced missed inside shots, 3-pointers and free throws as the Gauchos (14-11 overall, 5-4 CCC) stretched out an eight-point lead with 1 minute and 24 seconds left in the third quarter.
Somehow the Bears rallied in the fourth quarter, forced overtime and pulled out a 39-36 victory on Vince Clemons Court. The Bears have now won 12 consecutive games.
“In the first half we were one for eight from the free-throw line, we shot 8 percent from behind the three-point line and 12 percent on twos,” said Merced coach Art Solis, whose team improved to 20-3 overall and 8-0 in the CCC. “We couldn’t buy a basket. Everything was there. We had open shots.”
Sierra Smith came up big in the fourth quarter, scoring eight of her game-high 16 points. The senior guard started the quarter by sinking all three free throws after being fouled on a three-point attempt.
Merced senior Kaitlynn Perez played a big role in the win, finishing with eight points, 13 rebounds and seven steals.
She later drained a 3-pointer to give the Bears a 28-27 lead with 2:42 left.
The lead went back and forth in the final 2 minutes with Merced’s Kya Martin hitting a free throw to tie the game at 31-31 with 1:01 left that eventually sent the game into overtime.
Merced scored the first six points of the overtime as Amari Stamps made a 3-pointer and Martin scored on a putback. Martin finished with eight points and 11 rebounds.
The Bears led 37-31 with less than a minute left, but didn’t make it easy on themselves closing out the win by taking quick shots.
Caly Curran cut the lead to 39-36 late with a 3-pointer before the Bears were able to close out the victory.
“For us, we just have to pay attention to the game,” Solis said. “The last two times we played (El Capitan) we rushed some shots. We have to be disciplined and run our stuff.”
Curran, Keira Flores and Rosealyn Delgado all finished with nine points for the Gauchos.
Atwater 71, Patterson 45 in Atwater — Samantha Trejo scored 15 points as the Falcons remain in striking distance of Merced in the CCC standings at 7-1.
Faith Ward added 11 points for the Falcons.
Golden Valley 39, Central Valley 16 in Merced — Charde’ Proctor led the Cougars with 14 points. Isela Gonzalez added nine points for Golden Valley (15-10, 5-4 CCC).
Boys Basketball
El Capitan 39, Merced 29 in Merced — For the second straight game the Gauchos went into the fourth quarter tied and were able to pull out a victory to remain tied with Golden Valley atop the CCC standings.
The Gauchos outscored the Bears 10-0 in the fourth quarter to improve to 15-10 overall and 8-1 in the CCC.
Dillon Greenwood led the way with 13 points. Dishawn McCutchen added 11 points.
Kortez Tyler, Jaryll Acosta and Siaosi Langi all scored eight points for Merced (9-15, 2-6 CCC).
Golden Valley 70, Central Valley 35 in Ceres — Christian Magallanes scored 18 points to lead the Cougars to a road win. Aurrion Harris, Anthony Mendez and Joshua Rockholt all scored 10 points for Golden Valley (18-6, 8-1 CCC).
This story was originally published January 31, 2020 at 12:27 AM.
