Golden Valley’s Moore named MVP

The Golden Valley High School girls basketball team hadn’t won a conference championship since 2006 or made the playoffs since 2009.

Stephanie Moore helped change that.

The junior transferred from Modesto Christian and, along with her freshman sister Delia, helped the Cougars turn around the program. After winning just three Central California Conference games last season, Golden Valley went 10-0 on its way to the conference title.

Stephanie Moore led the way, averaging 15.1 points, 5.8 rebounds and 2.7 steals and was named the conference MVP by the CCC coaches.

“That means a lot,” Moore said. “They must have noticed how much I worked in practice and how I tried to make the people around me better as well.”

After sitting out because of the 30-day transfer rule, Moore made her season debut Jan. 8 in the CCC opener against Pitman and scored 20 points. The Cougars started 14-0 with her in the lineup before losing to Elk Grove in the first round of the Sac-Joaquin Section Division II playoffs.

“It was a great experience,” Moore said. “The girls were great in helping me fit in. To go from them not doing very well last year to win a league championship was a great feeling for me and the whole team.”

The all-CCC first team was comprised of Lexi Thompson and Alexis Pierce of Merced, Camille Flores of Golden Valley, Whitney Barnes of Pitman, Brandy Coward of Buhach Colony and Caitlyn Duval of Turlock.

The second-team selections were Chynna Peterson and Brittany Massa of Atwater, Delia Moore of Golden Valley, Kynisha Turner of Merced and Kaelee Lynch of Buhach Colony.

Matt Thissen of Golden Valley was named Coach of the Year.

All-WAC boys

After leading Central Valley on a perfect 12-0 run through the Western Athletic Conference, Jaron Dickson was named the league MVP.

The all-WAC first-team selections were Daevon Brown (Central Valley), Puneet Sahi (Ceres), Isaiah Knott (El Capitan), Harman Singh (Livingston) and Kevin Phelps (Patterson).

The second-team picks were Parker Griffin (Central Valley), Nick Burt (Ceres), Brevin Welch (Los Banos), Juwan Epperson (Pacheco) and Gary Bonney (Patterson).

Mariposa hits the road for NorCal playoffs

The Mariposa boys basketball team will begin the NorCal Division V playoffs Wednesday against Woodside Priory (17-9) at 7 p.m. in Portola Valley.

The Panthers defeated Stevenson 52-45 to win the Central Coast Section championship.

The Grizzlies (24-6) lost to Brookside Christian 68-62 in the Sac-Joaquin Section semifinals. If Mariposa wins, the Grizzlies would get a rematch at Brookside Christian on Saturday.

‘A Game for Joe’

The Livingston and Atwater baseball teams will honor “Sweet Potato” Joe Alvernaz when the teams play Saturday at Joe Alvernaz Ballpark in Livingston.

They’re calling the event “A Game for Joe.”

Alvernaz was a longtime supporter of the Atwater/Livingston Yams American Legion baseball program and a lifetime supporter of youth baseball in the two communities.

As a way of keeping the memory and spirit of Sweet Potato Joe alive, the schools came up with this event that will help offset the costs for kids to play in the Atwater and Livingston summer baseball programs. The event also will serve as an Atwater/Livingston Yammer reunion.

Players from both teams will take batting practice at 3:40 p.m. There will be a home run derby at 4:40, with a pregame ceremony scheduled to start at 5. The game will start at 5:10.

Special concessions will be provided by the Crossface Cafe, including sweet potato fries and burgers.

This story was originally published March 9, 2015 at 9:17 PM with the headline "Golden Valley’s Moore named MVP."