Page 11 - Reedley Exponent 3-7-19 E-edition

B3 | Thursday, March 7, 2019 www.reedleyexponent.com
CIF State Div. 4 final — Immanuel vs. Ribet Academy, Saturday, March 9, noon, Sacramento
Eagles top Wood, reach state finals
Double OT classic on March 2
part of four-game regional run
By Jon Earnest
jon@midvalleypublishing.com
Immanuel High School's rich boys basketball tradition has never included a trip to the state finals.
That all changed March 5 before a raucous capac- ity crowd at the IHS South Gym. Led by a press-slashing 16 points from sophomore guard Shawn Rodgers and a suffocating defensive effort, the Eagles took charge in the second half to defeat the Wood High Wildcats from Vacaville, 60-48, in the Northern Califor- nia championship game.
The emotional triumph puts the Eagles (26-8) one win away from the program's first-ever state basketball championship. The final ob- stacle is a big one, the top- seeded Southern California champion Ribet Academy from Los Angeles. The Fight- ing Frogs (26-3) rolled their way to the south state crown with a 20-point victory in their final on March 5.
The game will be played at noon Saturday, March 9, in the Golden 1 Center in Sacra- mento. The two-year old arena is home to the NBA's Sacra- mento Kings.
"Man, I'm than excited. I can't even put it into words," said Rodgers, who kept Im- manuel in striking distance with 10 first-half points. "This team, what we've been through. And now we're vic- torious, and going to state in Sacramento. It's what we dream of, but we made that dream come true."
The Eagles' defense ignit- ed the decisive third quarter
domination. Trailing 31-26, they ran off 11 unanswered points and capped a 19-2 run with an inside basket by Ka- leb Daglish (nine points) to build a 45-33 lead that wads 45-35 going into the final quarter. Rodgers was key in neutralizing Wood's full-court pressure.
"He was awesome. He came in and made some big layups in transition," IHS coach Chris Woods said of Rodgers. "We were prepared for their press and knew what areas would be open. I'm glad [teammates] found Shawn on that weak side."
Rodgers said he felt no ill effects from a rolled right ankle he suffered during a 74- 69 quarterfinal victory over Brookside Christian on Feb. 28. He was going full-speed in the Eagles' thrilling 88-86 double-overtime victory over Mission of San Francisco on March 2.
"It was tough definitely, but I had good recovery and made sure to get it worked out. The adrenalin took over
LEFT: Immanuel's Shawn Rodgers (11) and Winston Williams embrace in a leap after the Eagles defeated Wood High of Vacaville, 60-48, in the Northern California championship game at IHS South Gym on March 5.
ABOVE: Winston Williams drew a foul late in the second overtime against Mission High on March 9. WIlliams finished with 22 points.
Photos by Jon Earnest / The Exponent
BELOW: Shawn Rodgers (11) went up high on a drive to the basket against Brookeside Chris- tian on March 7. Rodgers had 12 points , four rebounds and five assists in the 74-69 victory.
Kirk Kawagoe / Photo Contributed
Immanuel High (25-8) will play the Southern California champion Ribet Academy from Los Angeles in the Division 4 final in Sacramento. The top-seeded Fighting Frogs (26-3) defeated No. 3 seed Silverado High 84-64 on March 5. Tickets will be on sale at the Golden 1 Center box office in Sacramento or through Ticketmaster.
RHS baseball trounces Kingsburg
Staff Report
Reedley High School bounced back from a home shutout loss to Si- erra Pacific in a big way, scoring 11 runs over in the final three innings in a 15-2 road rout of the Kingsburg Vi- kings on March 1 at the Central Valley Diamond Classic.
Matt Vargas, Roger Ortiz and Ryan Warkentin all collected for the Pirates (4-2, 2-2 in the Classic) against Kings- burg. Vargas drove in two runs while Jacob Franco doubled and scored three runs. Will Gagnon picked up the pitch- ing victory, working five innings scat- tering four hits while striking out six.
On Feb. 27, the Pirates were lim- ited to three hits against Sierra Pacific in a 4-0 loss to RHS varsity diamond.
Weather permitting, Reedley had a CVDC game at Chowchilla on March 6 and then play an opponent to be deter-
mined on Saturday, March 9.
Immanuel collects three wins
The Immanuel Eagles improved to 6-1 on the season after three more non-league victories last week. The Ea- gles won 5-2 at Firebaugh on Feb. 26, trounced Independence 14-1 on March 1 and rolled past Garces 13-3 on March 4. A March 2 home game with Temple- ton was delayed by weather.
JT Friesen pitched a four-hit com- plete game with nine strikeouts against Firebaugh, while Matt Tiger went 2-for- 3 with two runs scored. Friesen went 3-for-4 with three runs scored, Trace Pires, Derek Wood and Roman Rosales all collected two hits while Justin Pa- boojian belted a three-run homer in the
See PREPS on page B4
Jon Earnest/TheExponent
Reedley High's Matthew Jarrett led Fresno High's Noe Canseco on the back- stretch of the boy's 1,600 meters run during a Feb. 27 North Yosemite League meet at Sal Gonzalez Field. Jarrett won the 1,600 and 800 races at the meet.
and I was ready to go," he said. Fellow sophomore Win- ston Williams scored 14 points, provided solid rebounding and had a big blocked shot in the second half before fouling out late in the fourth quarter. By that time, however, the Eagles had a double-digit lead and their ticket to Sacramento
punched.
Senior guard Jordan
Rodriguez finished with 13 points, including a three-point- er to give the Eagles a 13-point lead with just under two min- utes remaining. Sophomore forward Amren Purewal con- tributed five points — includ-
ing a three-pointer during the third quarter eruption — while fellow sophomore guard Landon Yamada scored his three points in that same run when the hosts took charge.
Jeremiah Jones led Wood (26-8) with 25 points, but the Wildcats were done in by cold shooting from the field and numerous turnovers caused by a ball-hawking Immanuel defense.
The most exciting game of Immanuel's four regional games came in the double overtime battle with Mission
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Preps
Rotary track and field meet March 14
Staff Report
Elementary and junior high track and field athletes from the area will compete at the 48th an- nual Reedley Rotary/Kings Canyon Unified School District track meet Thursday, March 14.
Track and field events begin at 5 p.m. at Reedley High School's Sal Gonzalez Field. Events will be con- tested in three age groups: bantam, midget and junior. They are rep- resenting their elementary, junior high and K-8 teams from their re- spective KCUSD school.
Reedley College softball enters CVC play with 13-2 record
Danny Jimenez / Photo Contributed
Reedley College's Sandra Vallejo slid home safely to score a run against Ohone Col- lege during the Tigers' doubleheader sweep of the Renegades on Feb. 26. Fielding a late throw is Ohlone pitcher Ana Beard (8).
Regional playoff loss ends season for RC women's basketball
Contributed
Following a doubleheader sweep of Ohlone College last week, the Reedley College softball Tigers took a season record of 13-2 into Central Valley Conference action scheduled for this week, weather permitting.
The Lady Tigers, ranked seventh in the state and third in Northern California in the latest poll, defeat- ed Ohlone 2-1 and 3-0 on Feb. 26 in Reedley.
Pitcher Emily Grimbeby threw a four-hit shutout in the nightcap af- ter recording a save in the opener. Hunter Young pitched the first six innings of the first game, allowing six hits and an unearned run.
That run came in the top half of the first inning. Reedley tied the
Colleges
contest in the second with a two- out rally as Amanda Beltran scored on a wild pitch. Beltran eventu- ally scored the deciding run in the fourth on Ohlone’s only error of the game. Patty Hernandez recorded half of Reedley’s four hits with a
pair of singles.
Samantha Lizaola scored twice
and drove in a run to highlight the offense in the second game. Lizaola walked and scored on an Aunika Cas- tellanos double in the first before walking again in the third and scor- ing on a Sandra Vallejo single. Her- nandez led off the fifth with a double and scored on a Lizaola single.
Reedley opened defense of its co- championship from 2018 with a home doubleheader March 5 against the West Hills Coalinga Falcons. Results were unavailable at press time, and the game may not have been played because rain was in the forecast.
Officials announced that a rained
out Feb. 14 three-way doubleheader with Bakersfield and San Joaquin Delta will be played on Saturday, March 30. The action is scheduled to begin at 10 a.m.
WOMEN'S BASKETBALL Delta 77, Reedley College 57
Four Central Valley Conference women’s basketball teams competed in the Northern California Regional playoffs last weekend.
Co-champions Merced and Col- lege of the Sequoias advanced while Reedley and Fresno City College fell short.
Third seeded San Joaquin Delta had to come from behind to elimi- nate the Lady Tigers in Stockton on March 2. Reedley finished the season at 15-13 with Delta taking a 24-5 re- cord into a Saturday, March 9, home game with Sierra.
The Lady Tigers jumped out to an early 16-7 lead before the Mus- tangs went on a 20-6 run to take con-
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