Delia Moore sparks Golden Valley in first start of season

At this time last season, Golden Valley High School sharpshooter Delia Moore could only watch from the bench as the Cougars lost in the first round of the Sac-Joaquin Section playoffs.

Moore injured her knee in the last game of the regular season against Riverbank. After offseason surgery, the sophomore guard missed half of this season and had her minutes limited as she made her worked her way back.

On Tuesday night, Moore made her first start of the season and scored 15 points to help the fifth-seeded Cougars (24-4) defeat No. 12 Franklin-Elk Grove 68-52 in the first round of the Division I playoffs at Cougar Arena.

“I was very excited,” Moore said. “I was looking forward to it. I found out I was going to start in the last week. I knew I had to control my emotions and play like I normally play when I come in later in the game.”

Moore gave the first unit more offensive firepower and forced the Wildcats (18-10) to extend their defense.

“It helps to have her out there because it gives us a really good ballhandler to take care of business up top,” said senior Naomi Peterson, who added 11 points. “That allows everybody else to do other things.”

When Moore came back midway through the season, she played three to four minutes at a time. The plan was to bring her along slowly, and she had to deal with a couple of setbacks along the way.

On Tuesday, she played more than 20 minutes for the first time this season. She sank two three-pointers and had four rebounds and four assists.

“This is kind of what we’ve been aiming toward,” Golden Valley coach Matt Thissen said. “We had to get to the point where she was 85 to 90 percent. I think she’s probably at 90 percent right now. We talked to her parents and her physical therapist and we decided to take the reins off her a bit tonight. She played more minutes than she has all season and she was a big reason we won.”

The Cougars advanced to the second round for the first time since 2006. They’ll visit No. 4 Folsom (20-7) at 7 p.m. Thursday. The Bulldogs beat No. 13 Napa 66-48.

Although the victory margin against Franklin was large, the Cougars had to work to pull away.

The 14-day layoff didn’t hurt Golden Valley, which sprinted to a 14-2 lead, scoring the first 11 points. That was the trend of the night. Golden Valley opened each quarter strong, and Franklin cut into into the lead late.

The Wildcats closed the first quarter with a 14-0 run to lead 16-14 entering the second quarter. AriyanHudson scored 10 of her 12 points in the first quarter for Franklin.

Golden Valley responded with a 13-2 run to begin the second quarter as Delia Moore scored seven points to help the Cougars open a 27-18 lead. Franklin battled back to cut the deficit to 29-25 at halftime.

“I felt like there was always a sense or urgency for us at the beginning of each quarter,” Delia Moore said. “Then (Franklin) would call a timeout and then come out of that timeout strong.”

The Cougars caught a break when Franklin point guard Ashleigh Mayeda injured an ankle with 23 seconds left in the half and didn’t return.

With Golden Valley’s post players, Abbee Croninger (10 points) and Kayla Commons, in foul trouble and Mayeda out, Thissen switched to a 2-3 zone in the second half.

“Unfortunately their point guard got hurt and she’s their other legitimate outside threat,” Thissen said. “We decided to go zone when she didn’t come back in and we concentrated on (Chanel Stuart). We tried to limit her shots on the perimeter.”

The Cougars built their lead to 41-30 lead in the third quarter before Franklin’s Caitlin Barton and Stuart (15 points) sank two three-pointers to cut the deficit to 43-38 at the end of the third quarter.

Golden Valley put the game away at the free-throw line in the fourth quarter, going 13 for 13. The Cougars made 21 of 25 overall.

Fourteen of Stephanie Moore’s game-high 22 points came on free throws, including six in the fourth quarter. She also had seven rebounds and four steals.

“We wanted to win this one because it had been 10 years since we won a playoff game,” Peterson said. “We all wanted this one.”

This story was originally published February 23, 2016 at 10:45 PM with the headline "Delia Moore sparks Golden Valley in first start of season."