TRACY — For some people, 12 points, four assists, a pair of rebounds and a steal would not be a bad night. For East Union’s Ruby Daube, that is just the first quarter.
Daube helped the Lancers to a 30-2 first period Friday with those stats and finished with 23 points, seven rebounds, five assists and two steals to lead East Union to a 60-35 win over Mountain House for fifth place in the Tracy Breakfast Lions/Tom Hawkins Tournament at Tracy High’s Swenson Gym.
“We came out really strong,” said Daube, who was named to the all-tournament team. “We came into this game focused and playing defense. Our offense was on because of our defense.”
“It was a great game for everyone. People came off of the bench and played great. It was an overall great team win.”
The Lancers (9-2) have had problems with slow starts this year, but not on Friday. East Union scored the last 23 points of the first quarter and started the second on a 6-2 run to push the Lancers lead to 36-4.
“We have struggled at the start of games,” East Union coach Jim Agostini said. “We have had bad, slow starts – it has been in the paper also – but these four games here we got off to good starts, especially this one with a 30-2 first quarter. We have not played the defense we played tonight all year.
“Four games in a row is tough on everybody. We may have caught them a little bit down, a little bit flat. If you are not ready to play these varsity games things can happen to you.”
Donja Payne patrolled the paint with a vengeance for the Lancers as she did for the whole tournament, finishing with a double-double at 12 points, 12 rebounds, three steals and a block.
“We did good in this tournament,” Payne said. “It felt good to go 3-1.”
Hailey Gosney provided some balance in the back court, chipping in 12 points and three assists..
“We had a very good first half,” Gosney said. “We played really aggressive and we communicated very well. It was a good game.”
East Union owned the boards, outrebounding the Mustangs 43-26, with Mountain House (8-7) only getting five rebounds in the first half.
Tokay-Lodi 55, Ripon 53
The Tigers (4-9) outscored the Indians (6-7) 43-30 in the second half to force overtime in the 13th-place game.
Tokay’s Anessa Spradley was the dominating force in the game with 28 points.
““I thought we played well, but you really have to give credit to Spradley,” Ripon assistant coach Danielle Swangler. “She is a big force on that team that we just couldn’t match up with. Tokay fought hard out of a halftime deficit to come back and make it a heck of a game.
“I keep forgetting how young of a team (head coach) Rick (Inderbitzen) and I have. Today showed that we still have a lot of learning and growing to do.”
Reina Sausedo was the lone Indian in double figures with 20 points.
