Dinkins propels Merced past Atwater in final home game

Samra Dinkins knew it was her last game playing on Clemons Court, and the Merced High senior played like it.

Dinkins picked up the slack on a night the Merced offense struggled, scoring 13 points and adding nine rebounds and four steals to lead the Bears to a 42-21 win over Atwater in her final home game on Thursday.

“It’s saddening, but I’m glad we got the win so everybody could enjoy tonight as much as I did,” Dinkins said. “I can’t believe how fast four years went by. Knowing I wasn’t going to play another game in this gym made we want to go out and play as hard as I could.”

The Bears honored their six seniors during a pregame ceremony, and Merced coach Rob Pierce played only his seniors in the first quarter.

Dinkins scored seven points during the opening period to help Merced take a 12-10 lead. She added six points in the fourth quarter as the Bears (13-10 overall, 6-3 Central California Conference) pulled away.

“I know Sami is always capable of putting up big numbers,” Pierce said. “It’s a matter of her staying motivated. A lot of the girls she plays against are going to be bigger, and tonight she was ready to take advantage of that. She got some big baskets and rebounds tonight when we needed them.”

Most of the night was a turnover-fest for both teams, and neither team got into a rhythm offensively.

There were 35 turnovers in the first half combined. Atwater made just 5 of 23 shots. Merced didn’t fare much better, making 7 of 23, but the Bears took a 23-10 lead into halftime by scoring the final 11 points of the second quarter.

Alexis Pierce and Lexi Thompson both hit key 3-pointers during the spurt.

The Bears went cold in the third quarter, making just 1 of 16 shots. However, the Falcons (15-10, 3-6) couldn’t take advantage as they hit just 2 of 15 shots in the quarter and could only trim the lead to 26-17.

“Offensively, we struggled the majority of the game,” Pierce said. “We ran a few good sets. The good thing is we played good defense. Our defense kept us in the game.”

Jasmine Xiong, who led Atwater with seven points, started the fourth quarter with a basket to cut the Merced lead to 26-19.

The Bears responded with an 16-2 run to finish the game. Dinkins had three steals and three rebounds to go with her six points in the quarter. Thompson added five points and finished with nine.

The Falcons made just one of their final 10 shots and finished 8 for 48 in the game. One of the few bright spots was Chynna Peterson, who had six points and 10 rebounds.

Golden Valley 57, Turlock 27 in Turlock – Stephanie Moore had 15 points and seven rebounds to help the Cougars extend their winning streak to 14 games.

Camille Flores added 11 points, and Abbee Croninger chipped in eight points, seven rebounds and four blocks.

Buhach Colony 42, Pitman 29 in Turlock – Kaylee Lynch scored 14 points, including three treys, to help Buhach Colony remain in a second-place tie with Merced at 6-3 in the CCC.

Livingston 51, Los Banos 32 in Livingston – Evelyn Johnson scored 11 points and pulled down 11 rebounds for the Tigers in the loss.

Mariposa 41, Le Grand 36 in Le Grand – Kirsten Dubberke’s 18 points paced the Grizzlies in this rivalry win. Madison Furtado led the Bulldogs with 14 points.

This story was originally published February 5, 2015 at 11:02 PM with the headline "Dinkins propels Merced past Atwater in final home game."