Merced girls defeat Atwater to win basketball tournament championship

Lexi Thompson scored 23 points as the Merced High School girls basketball team defeated Atwater 67-44 in the championship game of the Delta Queen Classic on Saturday night at Stagg High.

Symone Gilliam scored 15 points and Jordan Pierce hit four three-pointers for 12 of her 14 points for Merced (6-2).

Heaven Mazon paced the Falcons with 10 points.

Firebaugh 57, Dos Palos 53 in Dos Palos – Kayla Hall scored 16 points and pulled down nine rebounds in a loss for the Broncos.

High school boys

Atwater 62, Livingston 48 in Atwater – Kyle Anaya poured in 28 points as the Falcons finished the ABC Tournament with a win. Reggie Ricks scored 13 and Juan Walle 12 for Atwater.

Josh Penrod scored 17 and Kevin Alvarez 15 for Livingston.

Escalon 69, El Capitan 54 in Atwater – The Cougars outscored the Gauchos 22-4 in the third quarter to pull away. Tommy Pangan scored 22 points and Caleb Hansen 20 for Escalon.

Marcellus Jones led El Capitan with 11 points.

Will C. Wood 74, Golden Valley 61 in Grass Valley – A poor second quarter doomed the Cougars (3-5) in the final game of the Nevada Union Invitational. Wood outscored Golden Valley 15-3 in the second quarter.

Collin Hayes led the Cougars with 26 points.

College women’s basketball

Merced College 57, San Jose 47 in Reedley – Mele Tupouata paced the Lady Blue Devils (8-5) with 17 points at the Reedley Tournament. Jovanah Arrington added 15 points for Merced College.

This story was originally published December 13, 2015 at 4:12 PM with the headline "Merced girls defeat Atwater to win basketball tournament championship."