Lady Pintos take out Lady Cardinals 65-49

California senior Meleigha Caudel gets set to shoot a free throw during the varsity game against Tipton Monday night at California High School. The Lady Pintos won 65-49. Caudel was 12-12 at the free-throw line and led California with 23 points.
California senior Meleigha Caudel gets set to shoot a free throw during the varsity game against Tipton Monday night at California High School. The Lady Pintos won 65-49. Caudel was 12-12 at the free-throw line and led California with 23 points.

The California Lady Pintos hosted Tipton Monday night, where the varsity girls captured a 65-49 win from the Lady Cardinals.

Tipton started the night off leading 14-11 after one quarter and 26-25 at the half, however, California came back in the second half to outscore the Lady Cardinals 22-10 in the third quarter and 18-13 in the fourth to secure the win.

Meleigha Caudel led California with 23 points, followed by Cameron Meyer with 10 and Kamryn Koetting with nine. Kayla Allison and Morgan Henley each contributed eight. Ashton Pace led Tipton with 16 points.

Missing for California due to injuries were senior Sydney Deeken, junior Kelsey Roush and sophomore Mara Caudel.

"It's a rough situation, but we can't fight mother nature," California Coach Bobby Sangster said. "We have so many undefined roles right now. We're rebuilding from our initial plan because of injuries, so I'm not sure what the future holds for us. But I have to say, tonight all of our girls stepped up. Meleigha did a great job. She took the shots we fed to her and she hit 12 of 12 free throws."

California's JV defeated Tipton 44-23. Katie Imhoff led the Lady Pintos with nine points, while Erica Volkart and Adrienne Strickfaden scored seven each, and Renne Roberts chipped in with six.

Previously, after defeating #6 seeded Versailles 82-22 in the first round of the Eugene Invitational Dec. 2, the top-seeded Lady Pintos defeated #4 seeded Russellville 62-56 Wednesday in the semifinal round to advance to the championship game Friday against #3 seeded Boonville, where California lost 49-30 to finish the tourney in second place.

The Lady Pintos led 11-8 after one quarter, however, the Lady Pirates had pullled ahead 21-16 by the half. Boonville went on to outscore California 14-8 in the third quarter and 14-6 in the fourth to win the championship.

Deeken and Koetting led California with seven points each. Boonville was led by Morgan Edwards with 14 points.

In the semifinal win against Russellville, the Lady Indians led 13-10 after one quarter and 25-23 at the half, however, the Lady Pintos turned up the heat to outscore the Lady Indians 22-11 in the third quarter to pull ahead 45-36 going into the final frame. California added 17 points to Russellville's 20 to pull off the win.

Mara Caudel led California with 14 points, followed by Koetting with 10.

A.J. Grellner led Russellville with 23 points, while Hannah Matthews added 10.

Russellville went on to defeat #5 seeded Eugene Thursday to win the consolation, and Blair Oaks defeated Versailles in the contest for third place Friday.

California's JV girls also participated in the Eugene Tourney, where they defeated Blair Oaks 49-28 Dec. 2, then defeated Russellville 54-12 Dec. 4. Imhoff led California scoring against Blair Oaks with eight points, followed by Emma Bailey with seven. Strickfaden and Jasmine Wells chipped in with six points each. Roz Martensen and Roberts led the Lady Pintos against Russellville with 10 points each. Allison had eight and and Cameron Meyer scored six.

The Lady Pintos will be back at Eugene Thursday. The JV game will begin at 6 p.m. with the varsity game to follow.