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GIRLS HOOPS: BUFFS TAKE 1st LOSS
Oak Ridge holds on to reach Trojan Clash final
Bulletin girls basketball 2018-19
Manteca's Kyaira Jacobs drives between Oak Ridge's Brooklyn Barraza (20) and Teagan Brown (11). - photo by DAVE CAMPBELL/The Bulletin

STOCKTON — Oak Ridge of El Dorado Hills closed out the first half on an 11-0 run and withstood a late rally by Manteca to post a 44-39 win in second-round action of the Trojan Clash at Lincoln High School.
This is the first loss for the Buffaloes who are 4-1.
“This is the first game so far this season that we have had to scrap,” Manteca coach Ryan Bono said. “We are a young team and our learning curve this season has been pretty steep. Our guards are young and I am really proud of the way our girls battled back and didn’t quit.
“At times during the game we got kind of stagnant on offense and we kind of looked for someone else to score for us, and I think that is kind of a learning process this team is going to be going through in certain games.”
The Buffaloes were 9 of 12 from the free throw line.
“That’s impressive,” Bono said of his team’s free-throw prowess. “We just didn’t get there enough.
“The one thing we preach in practice is to be you and play with confidence. So far, the girls have and when they step to the line they are being them and they are shooting confident. That’s all I expect from them and that’s what they do.”
The Trojans (5-2) led 41-29 in the fourth quarter. Marissa Serrano then hit a pair of 3-pointers in a 10-1 run to help Manteca claw back to within 42-39 with 1:13 left in the game, but that was as close as the Buffaloes would come.
 Kyaira Jacobs scored nine of her 11 points in the first period and between her and Jayda Jackson (13 points, four rebounds), Manteca took a 21-12 second quarter lead when freshman Teagan Brown (19 points) led Oak Ridge on that 11-0 half-ending run with eight second-quarter points.
Whereas the Buffaloes are senior light with just two, the Trojans have only one senior on the roster. They’ll play tournament host Lincoln for the championship today at 2:30.
“We are a young team,” Oak Ridge coach Stephen White said. “We didn’t have our only senior suit up tonight due to injury. So, we have that roller-coaster ride at times and we had a thrill ride at the end of the second quarter. We came out and held on at the end of the game.
“You have to give credit to Manteca because they played a great game. For having one day to see what we were doing they put together a pretty good game plan.”
Brown is one of two freshmen on the roster.
“We are trying to let her (Brown) know that just because she is a freshman she is still a varsity basketball player,” White said. “Sometimes she defers to teammates when she shouldn’t but she is learning and her teammates are learning to play with her.”
Paige Peterson had eight rebounds, a block and a steal for Manteca.
The Buffaloes play Pitman for third place.