Page 9 - Sanger Herald 1-4-18 E-edition

SangerSports
SANGER HERALD * PAGE 1B * THURSDAY, JANUARY 4, 2018
Varsity boys grind out one win after another but take 2nd
By Mike Nemeth
Sanger Herald
The holidays can be a grind.
While some get the week between Christmas and the New Year off to do what they want, others have to work. And that was the case with Sanger High’s basketball teams. Both boys and girls varsity participated in tournaments.
No rest for the weary. No sitting on the couch binge watching “Stranger Things 2” or heading to the theater to see anything besides “Ferdinand.”
Just basketball. “The day after Christmas it’s pretty hard,” said boys coach Al Alvarado. “Got to come to practice.” Compounding that he said some members on the team got sick, one may have dropped off the roster and a couple other issues came up.
Normal stuff really. But at 4:30 p.m. Dec. 27 Alvarado’s team had to suit up for a game against Petaluma High’s Trojans for their first game of the Clovis Elks Christmas Classic tournament.
The game started a little slow. Petaluma is a North Coast Section team in the California Interscholastic Federation. And Division II.
But the Apaches didn’t stick to that script. They won 57-27. Then, ignoring any desire to
Mike Nemeth / Sanger Herald
Apache guard Cameron Stanley goes up for two points against West Bakersfield. Stanley and Morice Norris were named all-tournament players.
High’s two gymnasiums, both teams initially focused on defense. Shots didn’t fall.
Then newcomer sophomore Jesse Piceno, who made good use of his time on the court, buried a three at in the closing seconds of the first period, bringing the score to 13-9 with the Apaches leading.
And that was it. The Trojans never really found their offensive stride. Their shots missed their mark, they didn’t have much luck rebounding and even their ability to get the ball up the court and past the defending gauntlet of Apaches fell short.
In the second quarter, Petaluma landed only a single free throw, likely to the unnoticed disappointment of their senior heavy lineup. Sanger scored 17 in the same period. And although the Trojans would find a way to collect 17 more points in the second half, they didn’t make it nearly as competitive as some of the recent games the Apaches have had in the past several weeks.
Alvarado wasn’t overly impressed with his team’s scoring that game. After all, this was the same group of Apaches who won the Hoover Holiday Invitational and has been averaging 70 points a game for extended stretches.
Alvarado said he was looking into February and
March. He wanted his team prepared when the competition really heats up.
“We should be getting 20 points on these guys every quarter,” he said to the team after the game. “You already cracked them. You already broke them.”
And he mentioned something else.
“If you want to play college basketball, you have to play defense,” Alvarado said.
That’s not to say this year’s version of the Apaches don’t play defense. It’s just that Alvarado and his coaching staff have set the bar pretty high. They expect this team to steal, grab rebounds and stop offensive drives by the other team like it’s second nature. Like they shut teams down all the time.
Senior Isaiah Rodriguez tried on a couple Alley Oops during the game. The play involves a teammate throwing the ball near the rim while another jumps up to the rim and slams it home. Rodriguez nailed one of them in statement- making fashion. His effort got the attention of the Sanger crowd in the stands. He also scored on the second by way of a less impressive layup.
Rodriguez addressed the intensity of the workouts and schedule. “I’m used to it,” he said. “This is my fourth year. The other guys, they’re not so much used to
it. But they’ll get there. “We’ll get there.” Another newcomer to
varsity, junior forward Sal Dhillon, has begun to shoulder an increasing part of the offensive load along with a large number of rebounds.
“What you see us do, we just need to do more,” he said. He said he team is improving and the players are getting to know one another. “I think we’re getting there, but we’re not all the way there. We don’t hustle as much as we should.”
Leo Leon, the team’s junior center, said, “I like how things are going now. We have to stop turning over the ball. But other than that I love my team. We’re getting closer and practices are getting better.”
Then he added, “We go hard in practice.”
Freshman and offensive threat Luke Dillon said the past couple weeks have made a difference. “Before we were getting used to the system,” he said. “Now we’re more like a family. We’re gelling well. I think we’ll be alright.”
And Alvarado said, as they all went to eat pizza, “I was pleased with their effort.”
The reporter can be contacted by email at sangerheraldsports@gmail. com or by phone at the Herald at (559) 875-2511.
take the vacation easy, they won round two on Dec. 28 against a faster West Bakersfield, 77-56. And Sanger repeated the performance with a little less lopsided win over host Clovis Cougars, 68-63, on Dec. 29.
The Dublin High Gales of Alameda County dashed Sanger’s hopes of another tournament win with a 76-68 victory on Dec. 30 at Clovis High. Dublin, like Clovis, is Division I. Sanger is Division III but
likely will not remain at that ranking long. Still, a second place remains an accomplishment and won high praise from Sanger master statistician Ron Blackwood.
“Sanger is off to one of their best starts in school history,” he wrote in his game notes. “Morice Norris and Cameron Stanley made all-tourney.”
And many players contributed.
In the first round game, in the smaller of Clovis
Girls win tournament in slow roll to finals
By Mike Nemeth
Sanger Herald
Sanger’s girls varsity basketball team started the season with a series of losses.
The Lady Apaches had signed a new but veteran coach, David Campbell, and sported quite a few younger players unfamiliar with the system. In general, typical growing pains.
But something happened on the way to the Old Town Clovis Kiwanis New Year’s Eve Classic at Buchanan High over the past week. Despite the fact that veteran Savannah Rocha had to pull out of play for personal reasons, the Apaches discovered something. They tapped into that Sanger competitive spirit.
The team won the tournament, battling the Kerman Lions back from a 11-0 first quarter deficit to go an 18-0 run and finally winning the nail-biter 57-55 on Dec. 30. This came after a rather dismal setback the day before, losing to Clovis North 70-22. However, the Lady Broncos are ranked No. 10 in California and No. 37 nationally by MaxPreps.com, and, more importantly, the game was a tournament fill-in. It didn’t count.
Senior Alina Vazquez, little sister to Desirae “Downtown” Vazquez who plays for Fresno City, tried to shed light on what’s motivating her team. She spoke after the Apaches’ round two 53-46 win over North Bakersfield’s Stars on Dec. 28.
“Iseealotof improvement from the first game we played until now,” Vazquez said. “We
Miike Nemeth / Sanger Herald
Senior Stephanie Herring proved to be a big reason for the Lady Apaches winning the Buchanan tournament. She wasn't the only one. The young team is getting a lot out of many of its players this season.
“The girls believe it’s a slow journey, where we learn something every day. They are starting to trust each other, and that’s going to be the key to our success.”
In the first round of the Old Town tournament, Anelise “Annie” Lopez, a junior guard, shot six three-pointers against Immanuel’s Eagles in the 44-39 win Dec. 27. Ron Blackwood, Sanger’s master statistician, said the feat put her at No. 4 all- time in school history for three-point shots scored in a game.
Lopez finished with a team-high 18 points.
“I don’t know what it was,” she said. “They were just going in, and I was like, ‘OK.' Coach tells me, ‘If you’re on fire, take the shot.’”
Lopez was on fire. She took the shot. She scored a game-high 20 points against Kerman, pulled down seven rebounds and dished five assists. Herring scored 15 points in the game and grabbed seven rebounds.
Lopez also commented on the team’s progress. “In the beginning, we had chemistry socially,” she said. “But not playing as a team. Now, we’re learning to work together. We’re learning to fill in the missing spots.”
After the game with North, she had a bag of ice wrapped around her left elbow. It didn’t appear to bother her. “We feel great,” she said.
The reporter can be contacted by email at sangerheraldsports@gmail. com or by phone at the Herald at (559) 875-2511.
have a lot of returners, but many of us didn’t get a lot of playing time last year. We were 0-4 at the start of the season.
“But now, we’re together. Now, it’s much better. We’re learning every day. Our slogan is ‘Every day, one step closer.’ So we try making that work.”
Vazquez made her minutes on the court count, pulling down a rebound and shooting a basket. And she wasn’t the only one. Senior Maryann Jaramillo went toe to toe with the aggressive Stars, also scoring a basket and grabbing a rebound. Sophomore Kelly Anderson
also scored as did junior Alyssa Hansen before going down with a bruised shoulder.
The game’s standout, however, proved to be multi-sport senior Stephanie Herring, whose energy on the court reflected in the final statistics. She scored 11 points, dished five assists and pulled down a game- high 11 rebounds. She was everywhere.
After this observation was mentioned, she said, “I’m so tired though.”
Herring smiled and shared congratulations with her teammates. “Not just one of us,” she said of
the reason for her Apaches’ previous two wins. “It takes all parts to make it work. It’s nice to feel like (the game has been) a team effort. We just picked up in different areas.
“We’re more structured on defense and what we needed to do. (And) we’re playing together. If someone goes for the ball, someone’s there to help.”
Coach Campbell took a moment after the game when gathering his girls together for a post-game chat that night after beating North. “Whew,” he said. “You guys like playing tough games. Here’s the thing, when we play pretty
good defense, we don’t have to score a lot of points to win.
“We could’ve had a down year. Instead, we’ve been in every game since we started playing.”
Campbell said out of necessity, Vianey Turner was brought in to play for varsity. “We were short- handed at her spot,” he said.
For his team, he had nothing but praise. “They’re a bunch of hard workers,” Campbell said. “We’re continuing to get better. There’s a lot of room to grow, but if we continue to work hard we can get places.