With its starting center sitting out the entire first quarter and best player getting into early foul trouble on Thursday, East Union’s girls basketball team put forth disjointed effort in a 52-36 loss to Gregori in the Tracy Breakfast Lions/Tom Hawkins Tournament at Tracy High’s Swenson Gym.
The Lancers (10-4) will play Ripon for seventh place today at 1:30 p.m.
Donnese Payne made an immediate impact when she entered the game at the start of the second quarter, but four-year standout guard Taylor Snaer was whistled for her third foul with still 6:37 left in the half.
“With Taylor picking up the fouls, she’s one of our best players and she was out for a good part of the game,” East Union coach Rick Marsh said. “It’s hard to get into a rhythm like that.”
Without Payne, East Union struggled with Gregori’s length. And with Snaer sidelined, the Lancers lacked the scoring punch to keep up with the more balanced Jaguars (9-6) and were held without a point during a 6-minute, 45-second stretch in the second half.
Snaer fouled out in the fourth quarter, finishing with a game-high 16 points despite the limited playing time, while the 6-foot Payne racked up six points, 10 rebounds, two blocks and two steals. Freshman Nylah Dyson tried to pick up the slack but could not get fully untracked, ending with 12 points and three assists.
East Union’s best stretch came in the first quarter after falling behind, 7-0. The Lancers went to a full-court press and scored 12 unanswered points, all of it provided by their dynamic backcourt tandem of Snaer and Dyson.
The Jaguars responded with a 5-0 run to tie it by the end of the first quarter. Dyson’s jumper momentarily put East Union ahead 16-14 with 5:20 to go in the second quarter, and that wound up being its final lead of the contest.
“We were trying to switch defenses on them,” Marsh said. “We’ve played them before (Gregori won 50-41 last week), and they adjust to whatever defenses you’re playing. Last time, we played man (to-man defense), and they figured it out and were cutting and passing and really working us toward the end of the game.
“We’ve seen other teams play zone against them to slow them down, so we were just trying to mix it up. Going full-court, I thought we could do that for periods of time, but I didn’t think we could do that the whole game.”
The Jaguars again had their way at the end of this one,
Alexa Zuniga snapped East Union out of its big scoring funk with a jumper in the middle of the fourth period. Gregori countered with six straight points to take its largest lead of the game, 52-32.
Sara Davis highlighted the Jags’ final spurt with a reverse layup. She finished with a team-best 12 points to go with seven rebounds. Savannah Peterson contributed 10 points, and center Sofia Heutmaker secured 13 rebounds. The Jags take on tourney host Tracy in the fifth-place game today starting at 4:30.
East Union lost to another familiar foe in the second round Wednesday, falling against Golden Valley — a team the Lancers have twice this season by double-digit margins. Today, they’ll get acquainted with friendly rival Ripon, their annual opponent in the Hoops for the Cure Classic.
“We just want to get back on the winning track,” Marsh said. “This is our first two-game losing streak, and people are down and not feeling too good about things right now. Whoever we play, we need to come out and play a good game and get a win. Next week we start league, so we have to clear our heads real fast here and get ready for that.”
Tracy 42, Ripon 31
The Indians (5-6) had three starters foul out in the final period, allowing Tracy (8-8) to break away with an 11-2 finishing run.
Aliya Tipton paced the Bulldogs with 21 points and five rebounds. She struggled with her outside shot for much of the game but hit the dagger 3-pointer with 2:52 left to stretch Tracy’s lead to 35-29. The margin later grew to double digits for the first time when Tiana Coble converted a traditional 3-point play, getting fouled on a put-back bucket off a missed free throw.
Emily Sesser recorded seven points and five rebounds for Ripon. Kailee Inderbitzin added six rebounds and three assists. Shayla McKeon grabbed a team-high seven boards.
