Golden Valley clinches CCC title with rout

J.R. Davis may not want to rewatch this game on video anytime soon. The Atwater girls basketball coach may want to toss the stat sheets without seeing them.

“I can only imagine how many turnovers and fouls we had,” Davis said. “We just weren’t in sync. We couldn’t do anything right.”

That pretty much sums up Golden Valley’s 65-28 rout of the Falcons on Tuesday night in the Nest.

The emotions of senior night didn’t carry over into the game for Atwater (15-9 overall, 3-5 Central California Conference) as the Cougars took control early with a 15-2 run to start the first quarter.

Golden Valley’s press had the Falcons flustered all game until Matt Thissen finally called off the full-court pressure after the third quarter.

If you’re an Atwater fan this is where you might want to turn away: The Falcons made just 9 of 55 shots for a 16 percent shooting percentage. Combine that with 35 turnovers and you have a recipe for a blowout.

“We knew it was going to be an emotional night with their senior night,” said Thissen, whose team won their 13th consecutive game to improve to 20-3 and 8-0. “We talked about coming out strong and taking them out of their game as much as we could. Adrenaline can take you far in this game. We wanted to get to them early.”

It was a much different game than the first matchup between the two teams that saw Golden Valley clawing their way to a 41-32 win on Jan. 15.

The Falcons tried to be as physical the second time around except this time the contact led to fouls and the Cougars capitalized by making 27 of 36 free throws.

The Cougars started the second half the same as the first as Stephanie Moore scored six straight points to lead an 8-0 run that extended GV’s lead to 40-11 with 6:18 left in the third quarter.

Moore was forced to sit out the first 30 days after transferring from Modesto Christian. Since she made her debut in the CCC opener on Jan. 8 at Pitman, Golden Valley is 11-0.

She scored a game-high 20 points and added 10 rebounds.

“I got to see how the team fit together early in the season and how I could be a part of it,” Moore said. “Each game we’re getting better and our chemistry is getting better.”

Moore’s sister, Delia, added 15 points. Abbee Croninger was big inside with five points and 13 rebounds.

Heaven Mazon led Atwater with 15 points.

The win clinched an outright CCC title for Golden Valley.

“Obviously those don’t happen all the time,” Thissen said. “It’s been a while since we’ve had one. The girls worked hard for this. I’m proud of them.”

This story was originally published February 4, 2015 at 3:18 PM with the headline "Golden Valley clinches CCC title with rout."