Roundup: Atwater, Livingston girls clinch conference championships.
The Atwater High girls basketball team broke a 31-year drought on Tuesday night when they clinched at least a share of the Central California Conference championship with a 71-42 win over Golden Valley at Cougar Arena.
It’s the Falcons first CCC championship since 1988.
“It means a lot to this group, but they’re selfish. They want it all to themselves,” said Atwater coach JR Davis, whose team improved to 21-6 overall and 10-1 in the CCC. “There was a mini celebration, but they were like we still got one more to go.”
The game was tied at 16-16 at the end of the first quarter. The Falcons then outscored Golden Valley 30 to 2 in the second quarter to open up a 46-18 lead at the half.
“(Golden Valley) came out in a different zone that we hadn’t seen,” Davis said. “It took a little bit for our girls to adjust.”
Kelsey Valencia paced Atwater with 19 points. Twin sister Lexi Valencia added 18 points.
The Falcons can clinch the outright CCC championship on Thursday in the regualr season finale at Buhach Colony.
Merced 61, Patterson 30 in Merced – Amari Stamps helped the Bears pick up a win over the Tigers with 21 points. Kaitlynn Perez added 13 points as Merced improved to 13-9 overall and 7-4 in the CCC.
Livingston 54, Hilmar 15 in Livingston – The Wolves outscored the Yellowjackets 18 to 2 in the second quarter to open up a 32-6 lead as the Wolves went on to clinch at least a share of the Trans-Valley League championship.
Livingston improved to 18-8 overall and 10-1 in the TVL. It’s the Wolves seventh league championship in school history.
Annie Winton led Livingston with 21 points with the help of six 3-pointers. Victoria Montes added 17 points.
“For the girls it means a lot, but for Annie it means the most,” said Wolves coach Nina Garcia. “She got one her freshman year as a role player. This one she earned as the front runner on our team.”
The Wolves can wrap up the outright TVL championship on Thursday at Riverbank.
Girls Soccer
El Capitan 1, Central Valley 1 in Merced – Anaya Shelton scored the Gauchos goal on an assist from Kayla Yang to help El Capitan earn a tie with the Hawks. El Capitan is now 7-2-3 in the CCC.
Boys Soccer
Golden Valley 5, Atwater 0 in Atwater – Carlos Garcia, Carlos Meljarejo, Manny Madrigal, Jair hernandez and Josue Campos all scored as the Cougars (5-4-2 CCC) cruised to a victory over the Falcons. Ulises Zavala picked up two assists for Golden Valley.
Atwater dropped to 1-8-2 in the CCC with the loss.
This story was originally published February 5, 2019 at 9:46 PM.