Freshman leads Turlock girls past Merced

Sports fans that grew up in the 1970s and ’80s are well-versed with ABC’s thrill of victory and agony of defeat slogan from its “Wide World of Sports” television show. Jaydon Williams felt the full spectrum of those emotions on Thursday night at Clemons Court.

The Turlock freshman went to the bench in tears in the third quarter after taking a shot to the eye while being called for an offensive foul. The emotions were further heightened when Bulldogs coach Mark Mussleman drew a technical foul for arguing the call and Williams’ mother was removed from the stands for venting her displeasure.

The forward composed herself and came back when Turlock needed her most. The Bulldogs trailed for almost the entire second half, but a Williams layup gave them a two-point lead with 58 seconds to play. She followed with another basket on Turlock’s next possession to all but seal the 48-44 victory over Merced.

The Bulldogs’ victory, coupled with Atwater’s loss, makes it a three-way tie between them, the Falcons and Bears for the Central California Conference’s third and final playoff spot with three games to play.

“I knew they had it in them the whole time. It was just a matter of them believing they could compete and win in this league,” Mussleman said. “This was a true team victory. They’ve really come to play defensively the last two games. I don’t know what Lexi (Thompson) and Symone (Gilliam) finished with, but I bet it was way under their averages.

“Williams came through when we needed her to. She got a black eye on that offensive foul call and was understandably upset when she went to the bench. She talked with our assistant coach and was able to refocus. To go back in, in that situation and not to rush her shot or not be aggressive shows an incredible amount of emotional maturity on her part.”

Merced (15-9, 3-4 CCC) missed out on a golden opportunity to take a commanding two-game lead for third place in the league.

A poor shooting night helped see to that.

The Bears entered the fourth quarter with a 37-32 lead. A Raelynn Blackwell (team-high nine points) three-pointer gave Merced a 43-39 lead with just over three minutes to play, but it would be the only basket Merced would make from the field in the quarter.

Jordan Pierce (seven points) exiting the game in the second quarter with a finger injury certainly didn’t help the offensive cause, but with the game on the line, the Bears hit just 1 of 14 attempts in the fourth.

“We didn’t pass the ball around and move off of screens like we’d planned coming in,” Merced coach Rob Pierce said. “I think what happened, particularly in the fourth quarter, was we got stagnant a lot. People started standing around watching, and so several possessions the ball only touched one person.

“That threw off our court balance, and so we’d see bad shots with no one in position to rebound. They just wanted it more tonight.”

The one thing Merced did do effectively throughout the game was draw fouls to get to the free-throw line. The Bears, unfortunately, only made 19 of 36 attempts. Gilliam (seven points, 11 rebounds) had the last of those, sinking one of two free throws to trim the lead to 47-44 with 10.6 seconds to go.

Merced was forced to foul after failing to steal the inbound pass. Hope Salsig missed her first free-throw, but took any drama out of the last six seconds by sinking the second and sealing the victory.

Salsig led all scorers with 12 points while Williams and Shea Glasgow (10 rebounds) each added 10 points for the Bulldogs.

This story was originally published January 28, 2016 at 10:56 PM with the headline "Freshman leads Turlock girls past Merced."