Lady Pintos basketball opened their 2021-22 season Monday night with a home matchup against the Centralia High School Lady Panthers.
The game was back-and-forth most of the way, but in the end the Lady Pintos pulled out to a double-digit lead in the third quarter and kept ahead all the way to a 56-46 win.
The Lady Pintos and Lady Panthers have played each other six times since 2014, with California winning all six times. This year's matchup saw the Lady Pintos as a small team in size compared to Centralia. Because of this, California head coach Bobby Sangster said he knew his team needed to create open space on the floor so it would be easier for them to operate.
California also took risks during the game in trying to offset Centralia's defense by having multiple possessions with cross-court passes, which in turn could make it easier to turn the ball over. But the Lady Pintos held their ground and found themselves with a 14-8 after the first quarter.
In the second quarter, California began to find themselves in foul trouble and weren't able to knock down shots. In addition, Centralia turned to a full-court pressure defense, which further frustrated the Lady Pintos. Within minutes, Centralia had come back to take the lead on a 13-2 run and left California searching for answers. With less than two minutes remaining in the second quarter the Lady Pintos came back to life, scoring seven straight points including a three-pointer at the buzzer from junior Lauren Friedrich.
Despite their second-quarter struggles, California took a 23-21 lead into the locker room.
In the second half, California started off by pounding the ball inside to senior center Ellie Clay for two layups and forced Centralia into a quick timeout. Those two field goals for Ellie Clay were her first four points of the game.
However, it was the California defense that took command during the third quarter.
Though Centralia converted a trio of three-point plays in the third quarter, California always seemed to have an answer and made plays that forced the Lady Panthers into critical turnovers. The Lady Pintos received another huge lift in the third quarter when senior Trishelle Porter hit back-to-back three-pointers to give California a mental boost. The Lady Pintos scored 20 points in the third quarter and took a ten-point lead into the final period.
In the fourth, both teams went back-and-forth, but neither could stay away from foul trouble. Both teams had a player foul out in the fourth quarter -- Ellie Clay for California and Morgan Ross for Centralia. But the Lady Pintos were fortunate when Centralia struggled to get their free throws to go down.
California secured their victory as Porter made her third three-point shot of the night with less than two minutes on the clock to put the game out of Centralia's reach.
The Lady Pintos saw out the remainder of the game and won by 10. Lauren Friedrich was California's leading scorer with 14 points.
Sangster said he knew the first game of California's season was not going to be the prettiest one. But he also knew that Centralia was going to make the Lady Pintos work for everything.
"The one thing that's always consistent with Centralia is effort and physicality. It comes from their head coach, Becca Schemmer. She does a fantastic job and that's been their calling card for years. Even since she got there," Sangster said. "They're going to win something every night. They're going to win the basketball game or the fight, and tonight they lost both. So, I'm just happy with our girls and how we came out on top."
Sangster said he believes his team came out on top largely because of the lessons they learned when they struggled for points and stops in the second quarter. His Lady Pintos better paced themselves and composed themselves to not beat themselves more than Centralia was beating them.
"I felt like our girls handled the composure of the game well. I felt like we had a little low in the second quarter. But then, the execution phase comes in and our girls did a tremendous job of continuing to battle," Sangster said. "They continued to fight through the adversity and they handled that extremely well. Our girls did a great job of taking their physicality and making basketball plays and make the game turn out in our favor."
The Lady Pintos will now set their sights on the Tri-County Conference Tournament in Boonville, which will begin Monday. California enters as the No. 4 seed and will take on the No. 5 Hallsville Lady Indians at 5:30 p.m.
