Merced girls almost shoot their way out of win over Los Banos

The Merced girls basketball team is still searching for an identity.

Led by sharpshooter Lexi Thompson, the Bears have a handful of players who can knock down shots around the perimeter. Merced is probably most effective going to the basket, however. With a number of ball handlers and quickness to spare, there aren’t many teams that are going to keep the Bears out of the paint.

Finding a balance between the two styles has plagued the Bears in their first four games. Nothing was different Tuesday night as Merced used an aggressive defense and attacking offense to build a big lead on Los Banos at the break. Merced became content settling for jumpers after the intermission, and the Tigers came storming back. Coach Rob Pierce’s squad righted the ship in time and pulled away for a 49-42 victory at Vince Clemons Court.

“We definitely settle for a lot of jump shots,” Pierce said. “They were coming easy for us, and so we’d make one pass and hoist up an open look. The problem was we weren’t knocking those shots down.

“We showed our extreme opposites in the second and third quarters. I told the girls at halftime I don’t care if we never run our offense if we’re playing aggressive defense and creating layups. For some reason, we get away from what’s working for us.”

Pierce’s squad took advantage of an inexperienced Los Banos squad early. Danny Crosby’s team has only one player with varsity experience; most were playing just their second game.

It showed as the Tigers (0-2) wilted at times against the Merced (2-2) press, turning the ball over 30 times. Thompson (game-high 23 points) and Symone Gilliam (15 points) profited most, combining for 25 first-half points at Merced took a 32-20 lead into the break.

Los Banos settled down during halftime.

The Bears eased up on their defensive pressure, and the Tigers found an offensive rhythm. Juniors Jacey Bourbon (team-high 17 points) and Natalie Cantu (10) displayed nice scoring touches.

Merced couldn’t say the same. The Bears went ice cold from the field but continued firing away from the outside as the Tigers went on an 8-2 in the third quarter, pulling within six.

“We’ve got some pieces, but it’s a young team still trying to learn how to play together,” Crosby said. “They apply a little pressure, and we start panicking. The girls worked through it a little bit in the second half, and you could see some things were clicking with our offensive execution. We’re playing bigger schools tough, and hopefully that’s going to pay off for us come league.”

Los Banos had a couple chances to get closer than six but couldn’t knock down shots when it needed them. Merced eventually broke the game back open with a 7-0 run. A Thompson three-pointer with 3:53 to play pushed the lead back to 13 and all but ended it.

“We definitely went away from what was working tonight,” Thompson said. “I think most of us are pretty good shooters and when someone knocks down a three, everybody else wants to get going. We probably have to do a better job of identifying when things aren’t working and be able to change course faster.”

This story was originally published December 8, 2015 at 10:45 PM with the headline "Merced girls almost shoot their way out of win over Los Banos."