Manteca’s Kyaira Jacobs was on fire Friday night.
With the Buffaloes clinging to a one-point halftime lead over visiting Weston Ranch, Jacobs poured in eight straight points and 11 total in a 16-0 run to start the second half, and they rolled to a 68-53 Valley Oak League win.
“When we went zone in the second half Kyaira was at the top and I told her to play big and anticipate some passes and she did,” Manteca coach Ryan Bono said. “She was a spark and she was solid tonight. She helped turn things around for us.”
Jacobs scored a career-high 30 points along with six steals, five rebounds and an assist.
“We pushed and kept up the intensity,” Jacobs said. “As a team we never give up and we want to keep pushing and fight back.”
The Buffaloes (5-1 VOL, 14-7 overall) had some fighting back to do as Weston Ranch (2-4, 9-11) shot out to a 14-3 lead to start the game.
“Weston Ranch came out hitting shots,” Bono said. “We switched up to a zone to try and take away their perimeter game and it worked. I told the girls at the start of the second quarter that they were going to keep shooting and we needed to keep rebounding. And we did a better job in the second, third and fourth quarters of rebounding.”
With 1:01 left in the first half, Jacobs converted on a fast-break layup that gave Manteca a 29-28 lead it would not relinquish, and then Jayda Jackson (nine points, 15 rebounds, four assists, steal) capped a 10-2 run with another transition basket on the way to a 31-30 halftime lead.
“We came out ready to play,” Weston Ranch coach Chris Bauer said. “We want to start fast and start quick and we did. We sustained it until the middle of the second quarter and then we slowed down our pace and just passed it around the perimeter. That’s when they came back on us.”
With three minutes left in the fourth quarter, the game may have been decided but nobody bothered to tell Cougars freshman Shania Watts (team-high 14 points, six assists, five rebounds, five steals). In those closing minutes Watts nabbed five steals, two assists and five points.
“That’s her personality,” Bauer said of Watts. “She doesn’t know when to stop, slow down or back down and that’s a great example of the grit she has and everybody feeds off of it. She attacks, we get it and go.”
Kyshanti King added 10 points, six assists and five steals for Weston Ranch. Jennalyn Laminero flirted with a double-double with nine points, nine rebounds, six assists and three steals and Darnaysha Huff added eight points.
For Manteca, Marissa Serrano scored 12 points, Jayda Jackson (15 rebounds, four assists) and Jadyn Nieman (six steals) nine points each and Jaslyn Woods had eight points, seven rebounds, four steals and two assists.
“We didn’t come out as aggressive as Weston Ranch,” said Nieman, a recent call-up from the junior varsity. “But we picked it up in the second half.”
With the Buffaloes clinging to a one-point halftime lead over visiting Weston Ranch, Jacobs poured in eight straight points and 11 total in a 16-0 run to start the second half, and they rolled to a 68-53 Valley Oak League win.
“When we went zone in the second half Kyaira was at the top and I told her to play big and anticipate some passes and she did,” Manteca coach Ryan Bono said. “She was a spark and she was solid tonight. She helped turn things around for us.”
Jacobs scored a career-high 30 points along with six steals, five rebounds and an assist.
“We pushed and kept up the intensity,” Jacobs said. “As a team we never give up and we want to keep pushing and fight back.”
The Buffaloes (5-1 VOL, 14-7 overall) had some fighting back to do as Weston Ranch (2-4, 9-11) shot out to a 14-3 lead to start the game.
“Weston Ranch came out hitting shots,” Bono said. “We switched up to a zone to try and take away their perimeter game and it worked. I told the girls at the start of the second quarter that they were going to keep shooting and we needed to keep rebounding. And we did a better job in the second, third and fourth quarters of rebounding.”
With 1:01 left in the first half, Jacobs converted on a fast-break layup that gave Manteca a 29-28 lead it would not relinquish, and then Jayda Jackson (nine points, 15 rebounds, four assists, steal) capped a 10-2 run with another transition basket on the way to a 31-30 halftime lead.
“We came out ready to play,” Weston Ranch coach Chris Bauer said. “We want to start fast and start quick and we did. We sustained it until the middle of the second quarter and then we slowed down our pace and just passed it around the perimeter. That’s when they came back on us.”
With three minutes left in the fourth quarter, the game may have been decided but nobody bothered to tell Cougars freshman Shania Watts (team-high 14 points, six assists, five rebounds, five steals). In those closing minutes Watts nabbed five steals, two assists and five points.
“That’s her personality,” Bauer said of Watts. “She doesn’t know when to stop, slow down or back down and that’s a great example of the grit she has and everybody feeds off of it. She attacks, we get it and go.”
Kyshanti King added 10 points, six assists and five steals for Weston Ranch. Jennalyn Laminero flirted with a double-double with nine points, nine rebounds, six assists and three steals and Darnaysha Huff added eight points.
For Manteca, Marissa Serrano scored 12 points, Jayda Jackson (15 rebounds, four assists) and Jadyn Nieman (six steals) nine points each and Jaslyn Woods had eight points, seven rebounds, four steals and two assists.
“We didn’t come out as aggressive as Weston Ranch,” said Nieman, a recent call-up from the junior varsity. “But we picked it up in the second half.”
