Page 9 - Dinuba Sentinel E-edition 12-21-17

Sports
“There is always room for improvement. But this is definitely a good start to the season.”
- Jeff Schofield, DHS Basketball Coach
The Dinuba Sentinel
B1
Emperors go 3-1 in Bedoya Classic
Dinuba’s Luke Rodriguez named to All-Tournament Team
a matchup with Corcoran. Dinuba got back on track and outscored the Panthers 23-14 in the first half. They went on to beat Corcoran 62-30 and moved on to play Monache in a game for fifth place in the tournament.
It was a tough fought game for the Emperors. After finding themselves tied with the Marauders 17-17 after the first quarter, Dinuba’s offense slowed in the second quarter and
at halftime the Emperors were down 22-18.
But Dinuba, as they’ve done all season, came out and performed much better in the second half. They outscored Monache 19-13 in the third quarter and closed out the game by putting up 26 points in the final quarter to win the game 73-68.
Sophomore Josh Magaña led the team against Monache, scoring 18 points. Rodriguez, who was named to the All- Tournament Team, scored 15 points in the final game. Dinuba junior point guard Sebastian Garza was named the tournaments Most Inspirational Player, an award given in honor of the late Jon Lamb.
This was the 10th year Dinuba has hosted the Holiday Classic. For the past three years the tournament has been
called the Andrew Bedoya Holiday Classic, in honor of the late Dinuba JV basketball coach.
Hanford took first place in the tournament after beating Porterville in the championship game in a come-from-behind victory. The Bullpups found themselves trailing the Panthers 31-27 after the third quarter. Hanford then outscored
See Emperors, Page B6
Thursday, December 21, 2017 High School Basketball
By Rick Curiel
Sports@thedinubasentinel.com
The Dinuba Emperors varsity basketball team went 3-1 at the recent Andrew Bedoya Holiday Classic and ended up placing fifth in the tournament.
Dinuba started off strong with a convincing victory over cross-town rival Orosi. In last
Wednesday’s tournament opener, the
Emperors controlled the game from
the get-go, opening up with a 7-0 run that turned into a 15-5 lead after the first quarter.
Dinuba then broke it open in the second quarter, putting together a 6-0 run that led to the Emperors outscoring the Cardinals 17-6 to lead 32-13 at halftime.
The Emperors would go on to easily handle Orosi as the second half was much the same as the first. Dinuba beat Orosi 65-26 and was led by junior Luke Rodriguez, who scored a team high 19 points.
In the second round Dinuba was
matched up with Mission Oak of
Tulare, a team they had just beat last
Monday 65-58. This time, however, it
was the Hawks who were able to jump out to an early lead. Mission Oak outscored the Emperors 21-9 in the first quarter and Dinuba found themselves playing catch up the rest of the game. And though the Emperors were able to make it a closer game, outscoring the Hawks 36-26 in the second half, it was not enough to pull off the come-from-behind victory as Dinuba fell to Mission Oak 62-58.
The loss put the Emperors in the consolation bracket in
Andrew Bedoya Holiday Classic Winners
1st place - 2nd place - 3rd place - 4th place - 5th place - 6th place -
Hanford Porterville
Mission Oak CVC
Dinuba Monache
Rick Curiel | The Sentinel
Dinuba junior Luke Rodriguez goes up for an easy bucket (near-dunk) in the Emperor’s tournament opener against Orosi. Rodriguez scored a team high 19 points to help Dinuba beat Orosi 65-26. His tournament total points were 69 and he was named to the All-Tournament Team.
First annual Dinuba-Orosi Holiday Classic held this week
Sentinel staff report
Yesterday the 2017 Dinuba-Orosi Holiday Classic kicked off in the first of an annual event for girl’s basketball in the valley, with both Dinuba and Orosi High being the hosts.
Sixteen schools from the valley will be participating in the tournament, with half of the pool competing at Orosi High and the other half at Dinuba High.
Yesterday’s games began at 3:30 p.m. with Golden West of Visalia taking on Liberty Madera in Dinuba and Strathmore taking on Roosevelt in Orosi. The 5 p.m. games featured Reedley against Edison in Dinuba and Kingsburg versus Hanford West in Orosi.
In the late games, McLane took on Cesar Chavez at Dinuba High and Porterville played against Mt. Whitney of Visalia in Orosi.
Both Dinuba and Orosi hosted the late game at
Dinuba boys close out year with
two big wins
Sentinel staff report
The Dinuba varsity boys soccer team closed out the 2017 year by winning both there matchups last week, one of which went double- overtime, to improve their record to 6-4-2 this season.
The Emperors began the week by hosting Tulare Western and found themselves tied at halftime, 1-1, and also at the end of regulation 2–2. After no team was able to score in the first overtime, Dinuba was finally able to score the winning goal in double- overtime to beat the Mustangs 3-2.
Dinuba then traveled to Washington Union on Thursday and after a slow start by both teams in the first half the Emperors rallied off three goals in the second to beat the Panthers 3-0.
The boy’s soccer team will be off during the winter break and will return to the field on Jan. 3 when they travel to play Porterville. Dinuba will then host cross-town rival Orosi on Jan. 5.
Earlier this month the Dinuba boy’s soccer team placed second in the Jim Ingils Soccer Tournament in Lemoore, losing only to El Diamante in the championship game.
8 p.m., with Dinuba taking on Kennedy High of Dinuba enters the tournament with a 7-2 record including two 3-pointers. She also had seven
Delano and Orosi playing against Madera High. Today’s games will feature the winning bracket games at 6:30 and 8 p.m. at Dinuba High and 1:30 or 3 p.m. (depending on outcome of Wednesday brackets) and 6 p.m. at Orosi High. Both schools will also have consolation bracket games today, with Dinuba’s games being held at 3:30 and 5 p.m. and Orosi’s games at 1:30 or 3 p.m and 4:30 p.m. Tomorrow Dinuba High will host both semi-final games, with the first game starting at 6:30 p.m. and the second starting at 8 p.m. Orosi will host both consolation bracket semi-final games. The first game will start at 6:30 p.m. and the second
game will start at 8 p.m.
Both championship and consolation
championship games will be held at Dinuba High School on Saturday. The consolation championship game will start at 3 p.m. and the championship game will start at 8 p.m.
to start the season and are currently on a four-game winning streak, having beat Corcoran, Mt. Whitney and Lemoore, all convincingly, and then squeezing out a narrow victory last Tuesday at Tulare Union.
In the game against the Tribe, Dinuba found themselves down 41-36 after the third quarter but clawed back in the game in the final quarter, outscoring Tulare Union 13-7. Down 45-40 late in the fourth quarter, the largest lead by either team in a tight race to the finish, two back-to- back 3-pointers by Dinuba helped the Emperors pull ahead. The first 3-pointer was made by Dinuba High freshman Ashley Flores to pull the Emperors within two points. Dinuba High senior Sam Mendoza then hit a 3-pointer late in the game to give her team a 46-45 lead. The Lady Emperors would then close out the game with free throws and won 49-48.
Mendoza led the team in scoring 21 points,
rebounds, three steals and three blocks. She is also currently the second leading scorer in the league, averaging 14.2 points per game. In fact, Dinuba has three of the top 10 scorers on their roster, with Dinuba senior Mireya Hernandez at fifth, averaging 10.9 points per game, and Yasmine Villarrel-Harris slightly behind her at seventh, averaging 10.7 points per game.
Dinuba currently sits atop the Central Sequoia League with the best overall record.
As for Orosi, their season is off to a rocky start. Having just started their season last Wednesday by competing in the Exeter VIP Tournament, the Lady Cardinals dropped their first three games, losing 41-33 to El Diamante in the opening round and then to Exeter, 53-30. They then suffered a lopsided defeat to Strathmore in their final game of the tournament, with the Spartans outscoring the Lady Cardinals 61-28.
High School Soccer
Lady Cardinals continue to roll
Orosi remains unbeaten with 15 wins
bench more game experience.
“It was good to see everyone play and
have different players contribute to the score,” said Carter.
The team then went on to play in the Dinuba Varsity Soccer Tournament this past weekend as a late entry. The Lady Cardinals didn’t skip a beat, easily handling Farmersville 8-1 in the first round of the tournament.
The victory over the Aztecs earned them a matchup against Hoover High. Outside of their 2-2 tie to Fowler earlier in the month, the game against the Patriots represented the Lady Cardinals toughest matchups.
Defense played the biggest role in the game against Hoover as both teams went scoreless in both the first and second half, setting up penalty kicks to decide the winner.
A save by Orosi High sophomore goalkeeper Mireya Lua led Orosi to a 5-4 win in penalty kicks.
The victory over Hoover put Orosi in the championship game for their bracket against Sierra. That game was also a defensive effort, with the lone score coming in the first half on a goal
See Cardinals, Page B6
Orosi High freshman Melanie Davila dribbles the ball up the field in a home game against Parlier last Thursday. Davila scored one goal in the Lady Cardinals dominant 11-0 victory over the Panthers.
Davila is one of five freshman on the Cardinals varsity girl’s soccer team and has played an instrumental role in the team’s success this season.
With ten goals this season, Davila not only leads the team in points, she also is the ESL’s leading scorer and second in scoring in Div. V.
Rick Curiel | The Sentinel
The Lady Cardinals soccer team is taking the soccer world by storm this season, having won an astounding 15 of their first 16 games, and remain unbeaten with only one tie to Fowler on their record.
Last Thursday the team hosted Parlier for one of only seven home games for the Lady Cardinals. This was the second time Orosi faced the Panthers this season. They defeated Parlier 4-1 earlier this month in the Corcoran Tournament, a tournament the Lady Cardinals went on to win.
From the very start of Thursday’s game it was evident how strong the Orosi girl’s soccer team was in an obvious mismatch, as the Lady Cardinals rallied off six goals in the first half alone.
The Panthers had no answer for the onslaught put on by Orosi as the Lady Cardinals went on to score five more unanswered goals in the second half to win the game 11-0.
The game allowed Orosi High girl’s soccer coach Sara Carter to utilize more of her players and give an already deep
By Rick Curiel
Sports@thedinubasentinel.com