Roundup: Merced girls open basketball playoffs with convincing win over Los Banos.
The Merced High girls basketball team wasn’t worried about a scouting report in the first round of the playoffs. There wasn’t any complicated game plan coming in.
The Bears just wanted to play their brand of basketball.
Why not?
It had helped them win a Central California Conference championship and win 16 straight games.
Merced did just that, forcing turnovers on defense and picked up extra scoring opportunities by dominating the boards as the No. 5 seeded Bears defeated No. 12 Los Banos easily 58 to 30 on Tuesday night in the first round of the Sac-Joaquin Section Division III playoffs at Clemons Court at Merced High.
“We just wanted to play like we know how to play,” said Merced senior Sierra Smith.
The Bears (25-3) dominated from the start, outscoring the Western Athletic Conference champions 21 to 4 in the first quarter.
Khya Martin and Kaitlynn Perez controlled the boards for Merced with Martin finishing with 18 points and 10 rebounds. Perez added six points and eight rebounds.
“One thing I’ve always taken with me playing for coach (Keith) Hunter (at Golden Valley), ‘Defense wins games and rebounds wins you championships,’” Merced coach Art Solis said. “Those rebounds were key. We need those. We need those second-chance opportunities.”
The Tigers (16-13) were just overwhelmed with Merced’s speed and athleticism as they fell behind 51-16 after three quarters.
“We just had way too many turnovers and we didn’t have anybody who could score,” said Los Banos coach Lorinda Sanchez. “We went from scoring 50 to 60 points a game to barely scoring 30.”
Amari Stamps added 14 points for Merced.
Sienna Hampton led the Tigers with 14 points.
Merced won’t need much of a scouting report for its quarterfinal opponent on Thursday in East Union. Two of the Bears three losses on the season came to the Lancers. Merced lost 60-58 on Dec. 17 and 53-29 on Dec. 27 at the Tracy Tournament.
“We’ve faced them twice and we lost twice,” Solis said. “We’ll get right back to work watching film. We’ll work on correcting our mistakes.”
East Union 59, El Capitan 36 in Manteca — It was a six-point game at halftime before the No. 4 seed Lancers pulled away in the second half.
Caly Curran led El Capitan with 18 points and 14 rebounds. The Gauchos finished with a 15-14 record.
Del Oro 53, Golden Valley 13 in Loomis — The Cougars fell behind 19-3 in the first quarter and never recovered against the No. 3 seed Golden Eagles in the Division II playoffs. Golden Valley finishes with a 16-13 record.
Livingston 38, Sonora 27 in Livingston — The fourth-seeded Wolves were led by Victoria Montes’ nine points and 17 rebounds as they opened the Sac-Joaquin Section Division IV playoffs with a win.
Carolina Aguilar added eight points for Livingston (22-6), which will host No. 12 Hughson, which upset No. 5 Orestimba 55-48, on Thursday in the quarterfinal.
Le Grand 45, John Adams 27 in Le Grand — Alexa Ultreras scored 19 points as the No. 6 Bulldogs defeated No. 11 John Adams in the first round of the Division V playoffs. Le Grand will travel to No. 3 Millennium on Thursday.
Stone Ridge Christian 56, Sac Waldorf 45 in Merced — The Knights advance to the second round of the playoffs for the first time in school history. Ki’Onna Hilliard led all scorers with 29 points. Stone Ridge will travel to No. 1 seed Valley Christian on Thursday.
Boys Soccer
Pacheco 2, Florin 0 in Los Banos — Osiel Garcia and Jake Perkins scored goals and David Aguilar-Munguia assisted on both goals as the Panthers opened the Sac-Joaquin Section Division III playoffs with a win. The No. 3 seeded Panthers will host No. 6 East Union on Thursday.
East Union 2, El Capitan 1 in Manteca — The No. 11 seeded Gauchos saw their season come to an end despite a goal by Angel Rivera and an assist by Omar Delgado. El Capitan finished with a 10-6-5 record.
Atwater 1, Christian Brothers 1 (Atwater 4-3 PKs) in Sacramento — The Falcons came back from a 3-1 deficit in penalty kicks as Abraham Montero kicked the game-winner to second the Falcons into the second round.
Alfonso Torres scored the Falcons’ goal in regulation that gave No. 9 Atwater a 1-0 lead early in the second half. Christian Brothers scored on a header on a corner kick with 4 minutes left in regulation to send the game to overtime.
Livingston 4, Center 2 (OT) in Livingston — The No. 2 seeded Wolves worked overtime to defeat No. 15 Center to advance to the second round. Livingsto will host No. 7 Liberty Ranch, which defeated Sonora 5-2.
Daniel Cruz scored two goals for Livingston (15-2-3). Jairo Olivares and Navvir Singh both added goals and Yareth Martinez saved 11 shots.
Girls Soccer
Hilmar 2, Summerville 2 (4-3 PKs) in Hilmar — Emily Vieira and Liliana Johnson scored goals for the Yellowjackets in regular and Hilmar won in penalty kicks. The No. 4 seeded Yellowjackets will travel to No. 1 Colfax on Thursday.
