NEWMAN – In a home game on Friday, the Orestimba High girls basketball team looked like it was going to come away with a Trans-Valley League win.
But the visiting Sonora High squad returned to the foothills with a close 41-37 victory over Orestimba (2-5 in the TVL, 7-16 overall).
“We really struggled in the first half offensively,” said Orestimba head coach Dwain Bell, whose squad only had 12 points. “We just couldn’t get anything started. Every time we had a good defensive play, we would turn it over or miss an open shot on the other end.”
What also hurt the Warriors were getting into foul trouble early in the home game against the Wildcats.
“We started in a box and 1 on (Sonora post Isabella Ahrens) and she got our girls in foul trouble pretty early,” Bell said. “She ended up going to the free throw line 20 times (16 in the first half) and making 11 of them (12 total in the game).”
Orestimba adjusted to the play of Ahrens, who would only score three points in the second half after she had 12 in the first 16 minutes of the game.
“Then we started to get some stuff going offensively,” Bell said. “We shot ourselves in the foot on three straight under our basket out of bounds plays where we threw the bounce pass to hard and turned it over. But the girls fought and stayed in the game and kept their heads up and played hard for all 32 minutes. I’m very proud of them.”
Ashlynn Bell, a senior forward, finished with 18 points in the game for the Warriors. Mallory Solano, along with Natalie Corella and Salece Machado, scored five points each and Laylahni Garcia and Mirella Fregoso finished with two each.
Escalon 48, Orestimba 26
The Warriors had another home game on Jan. 26, where they used another box and one defensive strategy against Escalon guard Arian Velasco, a junior who scored 20 points and dished out five assists, in the second half. That worked, as she only had two points in the final 16 minutes of the game.
“I was really proud of how hard the girls played and how they never quit and when we had to adjust defensively, they did an awesome job carrying out the game plan,” said Dwain Bell. “We just needed a few more shots to fall, and it would have been a different game I believe.”
Garcia was the leading scorer for the Warriors on this night, with seven points. Ashlynn Bell followed with six points, Fregoso four, Perez three and Corella, Marian Queveda and Solano two each.
Upcoming games
Orestimba has three games this week.
On Tuesday, the Warriors played at Ripon High.
Moving to Thursday, Orestimba plays at Hilmar that has a 5:30 p.m. tipoff.
The third game is Friday when the Warriors play their third road game, this time at Hughson at 7 p.m.
Mike Bush is a multimedia journalist who was born and raised in the Stanislaus and Merced County areas. Follow him on X/Twitter @MikeBMultimedia and Instagram @mikebushmedia.
