California Lady Pintos basketball started the new calendar year in style with a pair of home wins last week.
The Lady Pintos' first game came on Jan. 2 against the Fatima Lady Comets, who were ranked the fourth best team in Class 4 girls basketball.
California got off to a slow start offensively in the first quarter by making only three baskets. However, all three baskets were three pointers, and the Lady Pintos trailed by only two points, 11-9, at the end of the first quarter.
Early in the second quarter, California struggled with defending the Lady Comets in their transition defense. Head coach Kevin Carr called timeout with his team down 19-12 with just under five minutes remaining in the first half. After the timeout, the Lady Pintos came out firing behind the hot shooting of forward Isabelle Rohrbach and guard Hailey Rademan. Behind them, California ended the first half on a 19-7 run and led 31-26 into the half. Rademan and Rohrbach combined for 25 of the 31 first-half points.
Rademan and Rohrbach continued to lead California's charge in the second quarter, but California got another key contribution from forward Tayte Higgins. Higgins' defense helped limit the Lady Comets to only eight points in the third quarter.
Up by 13 points going into the fourth quarter, the Lady Pintos looked to hold off Fatima for eight more minutes. However, Fatima came back to cut the lead to five points with six minutes to play. Now in danger of letting the game slip away, Rademan helped put California over the top with her sixth and seventh three-pointers of the game in the final minutes. Her seventh three, with less than a minute to go, sealed the win for California. The final scoreboard read 64-55.
California shot 38 percent from the field (23-60), a season-high 44 percent from the three-point line (11-25) and 58 percent from the foul line (7-12).
Fatima shot 35 percent from the field (20-57), 19 percent from the three-point line (5-26) and 43 percent from the foul line (10-22).
For California, Rademan had a game-high 21 points with five rebounds, four assists and a steal. Rohrbach had a season-high 16 points to go along with nine rebounds, two assists and a steal. Forward Ella Bailey had ten points and six rebounds. Higgins had nine points, five rebounds and three steals off the bench. Guard Penelope Cotten had five points, four steals, a rebound and an assist.
For Fatima, Kristen Robertson led the Lady Comets with 12 points, five rebounds, three assists and two steals. Vivian Bax had ten points, six rebounds, two steals, an assist and a block. Alli Robertson had eight points, five rebounds and a block. Madelyn Backes had seven points, five rebounds, two assists, a steal and a block.
"We talked about how we've been having some slow starts. We missed a lot of 'little bunny' shots in the first half, but our girls came ready to play tonight. We had to make sure we had to get back in transition defense because they like to get up and down the court like we do," Carr said. "Isabelle Rohrbach had a ten-point second quarter tonight. For that quarter, she really put us on her back. Hailey shot the three-ball very well with seven makes and Tayte is scary sneaky on defense and she made several key plays for us in the second half. It was a nice win tonight. I'm ecstatic."
Two days later, the Lady Pintos were back on their home court for a conference game against the Eldon Lady Mustangs. California defeated Eldon 57-44 earlier in the season at the Tipton Tournament in December.
Ella Bailey led the charge early on for the Lady Pintos with eight early points to give California a 16-7 lead in the first quarter. With the rest of the California's starting lineup applying pressure, the Lady Mustangs struggled to keep up with the Lady Pintos.
California took a 21-point lead into the half and never looked back. Although Eldon guard Sydney Halderman scored 19 points in the second half, the Lady Pintos had two players score career highs in the game. The Lady Pintos defeated the Lady Mustangs by a final score of 78-54 to increase their winning streak over Eldon to 12 games.
California shot 46 percent from the field (32-69), 33 percent from the three-point line (10-30) and 80 percent from the foul line (4-5).
Eldon shot 32 percent from the field (18-56), 22 percent from the three-point line (3-14) and 64 percent from the foul line (14-21).
For California, Rademan scored a career-high 24 points to go with five rebounds, three assists and a steal. Bailey recorded a double-double with a career-high 20 points, 14 rebounds and two blocks. Lawson had 18 points, seven assists, three rebounds and three steals. Higgins had 14 points, seven rebounds, two assists and two steals. Rohrbach had two points, eight rebounds, two assists, a steal and a block. California out-rebounded Eldon 51 to 24 in Thursday's game.
For Eldon, Halderman had a team-high 23 points, four assists, four rebounds and three steals. Guard Mckenzi Ward had eight points, three rebounds, an assist and a steal.
"They had been playing well over their last several games and we knew that coming in. I did not anticipate a game like this. Tayte Higgins was the one that guarded Sydney Halderman most of the night and we had to make sure we had somebody to stop her when they ran the screen and roll. Most of her points came in the second half, which was a benefit to us at that time," Carr said. "We had four girls in double digits tonight and it's good to see that up on the scoreboard. If we can have that every night, we're going to be in a lot of ball games. We've had two really good games this week and I think that sets us up going into our tournament. We'll see Eldon again on Monday."
The Lady Pintos were scheduled to play Eldon again Monday in the first round of the 90th annual California Tournament. However, due to inclement weather, the game was postponed and will be played at a future undetermined date and time.
(Democrat photo/Evan Holmes)
Forward Ella Bailey had a double-double with a career-high 20 points and 13 rebounds in California 78-54 win over Eldon on Thursday night.
(Democrat photo/Evan Holmes)
Forward Isabelle Rohrbach scored a season-high 16 points with nine rebounds, two assists and a steal over the Fatima Lady Com
(Democrat photo/Evan Holmes)
Hailey Rademan went for a career-high 24 points with five rebounds, three assists and a steal against the Eldon Lady Mustangs.
(Democrat photo/Evan Holmes)
Guard Kierstyn Lawson had 18 points, seven assists, three rebounds and three steals in California's win against the Eldon Lady Mustangs.
(Democrat photo/Evan Holmes)
Forward Tayte Higgins (left) had nine points and three steals in the second half against the Fatima Lady Comets on Jan. 2.
(Democrat photo/Evan Holmes)
Tayte Higgins went for 14 points, seven rebounds, two assists and two steals against conference rival Eldon on Thursday.