Turnovers plague young Golden Valley girls team in loss
With a lineup that features two sophomores and one freshman, Golden Valley High School basketball coach Matt Thissen figures there will be bumps in the road early this season.
The Cougars hit one of those bumps Friday night.
Golden Valley committed 30 turnovers and struggled to keep Madera out of the paint in a 46-31 loss in the semifinals of the 20th annual Lady Cougar Classic at Cougar Arena.
“It’s early on in the year, and we’ve done a lot of good things so far,” Thissen said. “We’re learning and getting better. This was a good learning experience for us.”
Golden Valley’s sophomore bigs, Kayla Commons and Abbee Croninger, struggled against Madera’s post players. Junior Lauren Powell scored eight of her 10 points in the second quarter to help the Coyotes (3-0) take an 18-13 halftime lead. Sophomore center Alyssa Burton then scored 10 of her 14 points in the fourth quarter to help Madera put away the game.
After scouting Madera on Thursday night, Thissen said most of Golden Valley’s focus was on containing Madera guard Bria Fernandes, who scored 15 points.
“We felt (Fernandez) was their best player,” he said. “We might have focused too much attention on her. She was good, but from what we saw (Thursday) night, we weren’t as concerned about their post players. They did a solid job. They outmuscled us.”
The Cougars were never out of the game. The Coyotes stretched their lead to 11 midway through the third quarter, but Commons scored two baskets as Golden Valley started breaking down Madera’s 2-2-1 press to cut the lead to 30-24.
The turnovers just became too much to overcome for the Cougars, as Madera ran away in the fourth quarter.
Madera did a nice job of switching defenses, and it took Golden Valley a while to adjust to zones and presses.
“I don’t think we’re used to that aggressiveness,” said Cougars senior Camille Flores, who scored 10 points. “They put that press on us, and we panicked a bit. It’s a good eye-opener. That’s what we expect to see from Merced.”
The Cougars will face Merced (1-2) in the third-place game today at noon. Madera faces Buhach Colony (3-0) in the championship game at 1:30 p.m.
Boys
Central Catholic 74, Atwater 41 in Modesto – The Falcons lost to the Raiders in the Modesto City Classic as Jared Rice scored 15 points for the Raiders. Brody Patterson led Atwater (2-2) with 12 points.
Davis 52, Buhach Colony 36 in Modesto – It’s been a difficult tournament for the Thunder, which lost its first two games by 75 points, then had bus trouble that postponed its arrival for its third-round game at Johansen.
The Spartans took advantage with a fast start, getting out to an 18-3 lead in five minutes. Both teams substituted freely as Davis’ lead was never challenged. Talolo Limu-Jones scored 19 points for Davis, and Ethan Howe had 11 for the Thunder.
Mariposa 42, Downey 41 in Modesto – Jadin Battles scored 14 points as the Grizzlies improved to 3-0 in the tournament. Bradley Chambers added 12 points for Mariposa.
Pioneer 71, El Capitan 50 in Morro Bay – James Sellers paced the Gauchos (1-1) with 17 points. Pioneer jumped out to a 19-6 lead in the first quarter and never trailed.
Le Grand 46, Langston Hughes 37 in Modesto – Sergio Gomez scored 14 points for the Bulldogs.
Sun-Star staff writer Shawn Jansen can be reached at (209) 385-2462 or sjansen@
The Modesto Bee contributed to this report.
This story was originally published December 6, 2014 at 12:02 AM with the headline "Turnovers plague young Golden Valley girls team in loss."