Golden Valley girls survive physical game with Atwater

Golden Valley High girls basketball coach Matt Thissen decided to err on the side of caution on Thursday night by holding out Camille Flores.

The senior guard hadn’t been diagnosed with a concussion after banging her head in Tuesday’s game against Buhach Colony, but she had suffered headaches the past two days.

Thursday’s game against Atwater could have been played with helmets and pads. Bodies crashed into each other all night before Golden Valley emerged with a 41-32 win at Cougar Arena that snapped the Falcons’ 11 game winning streak.

“Tonight was about perserverance,” said Thissen, whose team improved to 13-3 overall and 3-0 in the Central California Conference. “Atwater was very aggressive and initially we didn’t do a good job of adjusting to the game. We were a little unfocused because I told the girls just before the game we were going to hold Camille out. Maybe I should have told them earlier.”

The first half was a turnover fest as the teams combined for 32 turnovers and just 22 points as Golden Valley took a 13-9 lead at halftime.

The Cougars led despite making just 4 of 26 shots in the first half.

“It was hard to get in a rhythm for both teams,” Thissen said. “It turned into more of a rugby scrum than a basketball game unfortunately. You have to be able to adjust to what is being allowed to happen on the court. You can’t let your frustration get the better of you. Most of our talk at halftime wasn’t about Xs and Os, it was about body language and keeping your composure.”

The Falcons (14-5, 2-1) had their own issues. Not only did they turn the ball over 17 times in the first half, they also made only 3 of 20 shots. Atwater improved its shooting in the second half, making 7 of 22, but the turnovers (32 total) kept coming.

“Maybe it was because this was our first big game in a while, I don’t know,” Atwater coach J.R. Davis said. “We can’t turn the ball over a million times and expect to win.”

The Falcons were still trailing just 28-23 early in the fourth quarter before the a Cougars’ 10-2 run opened up a 38-25 lead. Abbee Croninger scored six of her eights points during the run.

Stephanie Hall paced Golden Valley with 12 points. Britney Massa (11 points) and Heaven Mazon (10) led Atwater.

Merced 59, Pitman 55 (OT) in Turlock – The Bears (9-7, 3-0 CCC) erased a 17-point deficit in the second half behind a career high 31 points from Lexi Thompson. The Merced junior’s four-point play (3-pointer and free throw) with 7 seconds left in regulation sent the game into overtime.

“I just shot it with confidence and it went down,” Thompson said. “She fouled me on the way down. As soon as it went in, all I could think about was getting back on defense to make sure the game went to overtime.”

Dos Palos 60, Fowler 30 in Fowler – Kayla Hall scored 25 points to lead the Broncos and freshman Teya Vincent added 14 points.

Orestimba 42, Le Grand 40 in Le Grand – Monica Perez’s 17 points paced the Warriors. Jackie Blitch scored 22 and Madison Furtado added 14 for the Bulldogs.

This story was originally published January 15, 2015 at 11:11 PM with the headline "Golden Valley girls survive physical game with Atwater."