El Capitan girls basketball can’t survive cold shooting night in loss to Patterson
After scoring just 11 points in the first three quarters, a 23-point deficit was just too much to overcome for the El Capitan High girls basketball team on Tuesday night.
Patterson withstood a fourth-quarter surge from the Gauchos to secure a 44-27 win at the Stable Center in a key Central California Conference game.
“I think their defense gave us some problems, but we just couldn’t get shots to fall,” said El Capitan coach Tyler Dietz-Powers. “We couldn’t buy a bucket tonight.”
The Tigers controlled the paint, handled the El Capitan press and pulled away from the Gauchos to take control of the game early.
Patterson sophomore forward Rayne Tago dominated inside, scoring in the paint and on second-chance opportunities, leading the Tigers with 18 points.
The Tigers used an 11-0 run to start the second half to open up a 34-10 lead, which was their biggest lead of the game.
Tago scored six points during the run.
The Gauchos managed to score just five points in the second and third quarters combined.
The bright spot for El Capitan came in the fourth quarter as the Gauchos used a 14-0 run to cut the lead to 38-25 with 3:25 left in the third quarter.
Mya Farr scored all five of her points during the run.
Giselle Partida hit two 3-pointers in the first quarter and led the Gauchos with eight points.
“We can build from that,” Dietz-Powers said. “When we put the ball in the basketball we are a good team .We scored 11 points in the first three quarters and 16 points in the fourth quarter. Unfortunately we didn’t make anything until the fourth quarter.”
El Capitan dropped to 14-4 overall and 2-1 in the CCC.
Unlike many teams in the Merced-area, the Gauchos have been able to avoid a COVID outbreak. According to Merced County Department of Public Health safety guidelines, when athletic teams have three or more players test positive for COVID-19 the team has to shut down for 10 days.
The Merced and Buhach Colony girls basketball teams are currently in a COVID-19 pause. The Atwater girls just restarted after an outbreak. The Merced and Golden Valley boys are also currently dealing with outbreaks. The El Capitan and Atwater boys are restarting play this week.
The El Capitan girls were without two starters on Tuesday due to COVID-19 protocols.
“We haven’t had a full squad since our first game,” Dietz-Powers said. “We’ve had girls miss practices. Every team is dealing with it.”
Despite the loss, Dietz-Powers likes his group, especially their effort game in and game out.
“We’re so close,” he said. “We play so hard, we rotate so hard on defense. It’s just frustrating when you can’t finish on the other end. The effort is there. They buy-in to playing hard for four quarters. I love the buy-in. Our girls get on each other if they don’t rotate hard on defense. I love the effort. You can’t question that aspect. We’re 14-4 because we’ve outhustled better teams.”
This story was originally published January 11, 2022 at 9:22 PM.
