Golden Valley, Atwater girls basketball both pick up wins against crosstown rivals
Hector Nava expects to see a different Golden Valley High School girls basketball close the season.
The Cougars coach feels his team hasn’t hit its potential yet.
Thursday night’s 34-20 victory over crosstown rival Merced in Cougar Arena was a good start.
“We were able to get into a rhythm early, we had some shots go in and that carried over and gave us energy on defense,” Nava said.
One advantage Golden Valley has over the rest of the Central California Conference teams is their size.
The Cougars start two 5-foot-11 players in Amyra Navarette and Valentina Moreno. When they brought either Zoe Gonzales or Zariyah Hughes off the bench against the Bears, Golden Valley had the three tallest players on the floor.
Moreno led the way with 11 points for the Cougars, who improved to 11-11 overall and 2-4 in the CCC. Navarette added six points.
“It makes it tough (with GV’s size),” said Merced coach Willie Steverson, whose team dropped to 9-9 overall and 2-3 in the CCC. “We didn’t play well fundamentally. We didn’t box out. If we would have boxed out it would have helped us rebounding and we could have drawn some fouls.”
The Bears struggled to score against the Cougars defense.
Golden Valley led 7-2 after the first quarter and extended the lead to 18-8 at the half.
Cougars senior Emily Rowan closed out the second quarter with a 3-pointer and scored six consecutive points with three free throws and another 3-point to help GV open up a 29-11 lead in the third quarter.
“Our press helps our defense become our offense when we’re able to get turnovers,” Nava said. “It helps us get into a better rhythm offensively.”
Nava wants to see his team play with confidence in the second half of league play.
“We really need to establish inside and then work it inside-out,” Nava said. “We have to be ready to knock down shots when the ball gets kicked outside.”
Atwater 68, Buhach Colony 61 — The Falcons extended their CCC winning streak to 27 consecutive games and improved to 11-10 overall and 5-0 in the CCC with a win over the Thunder.
Karissa Hukill led Atwater with 19 points and Jolie Hart added 18 points.
Kaylen Moreno led Buhach Colony with 14 points and Jasmin Murillo chipped in with 12 points.
