Page 9 - Reedley Exponent 2-28-19 E-edition

B3 | Thursday, February 28, 2019 www.reedleyexponent.com
Central Section Division 3 boys basketball championship — Immanuel 70, Dinuba 39
Sixth straight Valley crown for Eagles
IHS gains Northern Regional home game after dominating an all-CSL finals matchup
By Jon Earnest
jon@midvalleypublishing.com
For the first time in a roller-coaster postseason, Im- manuel High's boys finally put together four quarters of quality basketball. And after the first eight minutes of play on Feb. 23, the Dinuba Em- perors didn't stand a chance as the Eagles put on a show at Fresno's Selland Arena.
The Eagles (22-8) took charge with a 16-5 second quarter, then dominated the rest of the way while limiting Dinuba (24-8) to 34 percent shooting from the field in a 70- 39 rout in the Central Section Division 3 finals. It marked Immanuel's sixth consecutive section championship – the second straight at Division 3 after three in Division 4 (2015- 2017) and one in Division 5 (2014).
"It's amazing. The past two years I've been here, it's an awesome feeling," said senior forward Kaleb Daglish, who earned the "Fighting Spirit" award after scoring 13 points and pulling down 11 rebounds. "We knew [Dinuba] didn't have experience in this [level of] game, but we did. So that was a big factor. One of our main [goals] was to get them tired early."
Mission accomplished, as the Eagles pressed the tempo in key spots and applied de- fensive pressure while taking away the inside. They limited the Emperors — who rely on a strong three-point shoot- inggame–tojust6of25(24 percent) from beyond the arc and 15 of 44 overall. Led by Daglish, they held a 36-24 advantage on the boards and forced 19 turnovers.
Senior guard Jordan Ro- driguez had just one three-
Preps
Pirates baseball now 3-1 after split Staff Report
Reedley High's baseball team bounced back from its first defeat of the sea- son last week to capture its opening game of the Cen- tral Valley Diamond Clas- sic.
The Pirates (3-1) dropped a 9-1 decision at Sanger High on a blustery afternoon Feb. 20, then re- bounded to defeat Mission Oak from Tulare by a 7-1 score on Feb. 23 at RHS varsity diamond. Reedley hosted Sierra Pacific of Hanford in another CVDC game on Feb. 27, then will play at Kingsburg in Clas- sic action at 5 p.m. on Sat- urday, March 2.
Nick Torres allowed just three hits in six in- nings of work against Mis- sion Oak. Jacob Franco and Justin Rackley knocked in two runs apiece with Fran- co going 3-for-4 and Rack- ley belting a double. Felipe Ranallo went 2-for-3 while Matt Vargas scored three runs.
In the loss to Sanger, Pirates coach Russ Sauce- da said the team ran into good pitching in the form of Apaches lefthander Jake Harrell. He allowed a
See PREPS on page B4
pointer, but it opened the game and kick-started a 7-0 run that kept Immanuel in front from the opening tap. The Eagles built an early 10-point lead before a pair of three-point- ers by Josh Magana helped Dinuba close the gap to 12-11 by the end of the quarter.
Immanuel went back to work in the second. Two inside baskets by Daglish began to open the lead, and an 8-0 run to end the half was capped by a driving layup from Rodri- guez to make it 28-16 at half.
"We wanted to focus on de- fense, because we knew if they started making their shots and get on a roll they could be dan- gerous," said Rodriguez, who
See EAGLES on page B4
ABOVE: Immanuel High's Jordan Rodriguez dribbled toward the foul line while defended by Dinuba High's Sebastian Garza (0) in the first half of the Eagles' 70-38 triumph in the Central Section Division 3 championship game at Selland Arena in Fresno on Feb. 23. Senior guard Rodriguez scored 12 points and collected six rebounds and four assists, hitting his lone three- pointer of the day to open the game as the Eagles jumped to a 7-0 lead and never looked back.
Jon Earnest / The Exponent
LEFT: Kaleb Daglish (23) pulled down one of his 11 rebounds
in the game over Dinuba's Jose Lara (33) as teammate Winston Williams, right, looked on. Senior forward/center Daglish scored 13 points and was 5 of 10 from the field, and his inside presence earnedhimthe"FightingSpirit"award byCIFofficials.
Kirk Kawagoe / Photo Contributed
OC duo posts wins at state wrestling
Immanuel High (22- 8) was awarded the No. 5 seed in the CIF Northern California state regionals Division IV bracket, and hosted the Leigh High Longhorns (13-13) from the Central Coast Section on Feb. 26 at IHS gym. Results were unavailable at press time. If the Eagles win, they would play the winner of No. 13 Brookside Christian (26- 3) and No. 4 Carlmont (22-6) at 7 p.m. Thursday, Feb. 28. If the Eagles play Carlmont, the game would be in Belmont, located in the Bay Area just south of San Mateo. Regional semifinals are scheduled for Saturday, March 2, and the Northern Regional finals will be played on Tuesday, March 5.
LEFT: Orange Cove High's Clarissa Alvarez, left, had her arm raised in victory after a first-round pin of Pitts- burg's Meletoto Misi at 162 pounds on Feb. 22 at the CIF State Wrestling Championships in Bakersfield. RIGHT: Orange Cove High's Martin Chavez, left, stalked his opponent Izzy Tuberra from Pittman High in a 115-pound match at the state meet. Chavez lost the match, but went 2-2 to close out a 39-10 season.
Orange Cove High School / Photos Contributed
Staff Report
Orange Cove High's Clarissa Alvarez and Mar- tin Chavez became the first wrestlers in school history to win matches in CIF State Meet competition.
Alvarez, a junior, and Chavez, a senior, claimed victories at the two-day girls and boys state tourna- ment at Rabobank Arena in Bakersfield on Feb. 22-23. Alvarez, in fact, came one victory short of becoming the Titans' first state med- alist.
Competing in the girls 162-pound class, posted a 3-2 record with two pins and a decision. A 1-0 loss in the fourth overtime to Stock- dale's Ehireme Ohens was the only thing preventing Alvarez from medaling.
Earlier, Alvarez lost by major decision to medalist Chamira Cooper of Cerritos before rebounding with first- round pins of Meletoto Misi of Pittsburg and Miranda Koppi of Corona. Alvarez then edged Mission Oak's Mariana Salazar in a 2-1 de- cision before the tight loss to Ohens.
"Clarissa has raised her wrestling level this postsea- son, showing amazing grit and has shown that she can be a state medal contender next year," OC coach Pablo Saenz said of Alvarez, who finished the season 30-9 with 25 pins.
Chavez, meanwhile, fin- ished as a winningest wres- tler in school history by
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Women's basketball qualifies for NorCal Regionals
Contributed Reports
After finishing in third place in the tough Central Valley Conference, the Reedley College Tiger women’s basketball team is headed to the Cali- fornia Community College Athletic Association’s Northern California Regionals.
The 13th-seeded Lady Tigers (7- 5, 15-12) will head to third-seeded San Joaquin Delta (23-5) for a 5:30 p.m. game on Saturday, March 2, in the second round of the 18-team tournament. Two first round games were played Feb. 27. The four third- round winners on Saturday, March
Reedley College
9, advance to the CCCAA Women’s Basketball Championship on March 17-19 at Ventura College.
Delta finished second in their con- ference behind top seeded Diablo Val-
ley.
One of the biggest Reedley wins
of the season came on Feb. 20, when the Lady Tigers traveled to their dis- trict rival Fresno City College and came home with a 76-73 victory. It was the first time in many years that Reedley recorded two conference vic- tories in the season over the Rams, who finished at 6-6 in CVC action and
18-11 overall. FCC was seeded ahead of the Tigers, as they were 12th.
In a contest that was close all the way, Stephanie Cervantes (Dinuba) made four 3-pointers and led RC with 16 points. I’man Conley (Edison, Fres- no) recorded a double double with 15 points and 12 rebounds while Zavia Barlow (Washington Union) also had 15 points.
All eight Tigers scored on Feb. 23 in a 76-33 rout of Porterville Col- lege. The contest was close early, as Reedley led by only a 10-7 count af- ter one quarter. But the Lady Tigers stepped up the defense in the next 10 minutes, holding the Pirates to just
three points to take a 27-10 halftime lead. Reedley exploded for 32 third quarter points to increase the advan- tage to 59-20.
Conley led the winners with 23 points. Barlow followed with 11 while Jelani Williford added 10.
Head Coach Dan Kilbert started the all-sophomore starting lineup of Kristy Berry (Minarets), Cervantes, Williford (Stockton), Barlow and Conley.
MEN'S BASKETBALL Tigers drop final two games
Reedley College finished the 2018- 19 season with a 9-19 record after two
See REEDLEY COLLEGE on page B4