MOBERLY — The week-long break between games did not seem to have a negative impact on the California Pintos girls basketball team as they won in commanding fashion against the Clopton Hawks 68-33 at the Dec. 28 Moberly Holiday Shootout.
Head Coach Bobby Sangster said it is always important to come out with a good foot forward during the Christmas break.
“The girls did a good job of putting the work in to have some success, and we were a little short handed tonight without Tristan Porter, but the girls responded and executed tonight,” Sangster said. “I am really happy with the outcome.”
The Pintos led early on, as they were up 12-4 with around 2:34 to go in the first quarter. Clopton ended the quarter on a 6-3 run to make it a 15-10 game going into the second quarter.
KaLynn Irey made it a 17-10 game to start the second quarter. With just under six minutes to go, California was up 21-13. With just over two minutes to go in the quarter, Lillie Eichelberger made a three-pointer to extend the Pintos lead to 26-16. That three-pointer began an 8-1 run that made it a 34-17 game at half time.
The Pintos outscored Clopton 22-12 in the third quarter, as their lead grew even wider. In the quarter, Trishelle Porter scored nine points on three three-pointers.
Trishelle Porter has the ability to get it going when it comes to shooting, Sangster said.
“She is that player” Sangster said. “She has that capability, and with her sister being out tonight, she stepped up in a big way, and we are proud of her. We know she can do it, and tonight, she put it all together.”
In the final quarter, the Pintos held Clopton scoreless until the 3:39 mark, when the Hawks finally got on the board to make it a 64-31 game. The Pintos led by 35 points in the win.
California went 9-12 from the free throw line and made six three-pointers in the game.
Sangster said he liked the team’s execution in the game.
“We executed; we followed the plan. We thought about the game, and we did not have a lot of mistake repeaters,” he said. “We had just one or two situations where we made the same mistakes. We can handle a mistake, we can handle a hustle mistake, but we can’t handle lack of aggression, and we can’t have a mistake repeater. The girls did a nice job of fixing their mistakes after they made them and learning from those mistakes and getting better.”
Trishelle Porter led the team with 16 points, followed by KaLynn Irey with 13 points, Lillie Eichelberger with eight points and Lauren Friedrich with seven points. The team’s next game is at 6 p.m. Jan. 6 at home vs. Fatima.