East Union bounced back from its first loss of the season and will play for fifth place in the Tracy Breakfast Lions/Tom Hawkins Tournament today.
The Lancers grinded out a 55-45 win over Orestimba on Monday, two days after losing by a point to tourney co-host Tracy.
While pleased to get the win, East Union coach Jim Agostini said it didn’t always go smoothly. It was tied at 28-28 at halftime, and his Lancers (7-1) slowly pulled away in the second half.
“We need to play better defensively and not get into bad foul situations,” Agostini said. “We’re getting ourselves into these drag-out games.”
On the plus side, they got another stellar performance from sophomore guard Ruby Daube, who pumped in 22 points and four assists. It was a must needed boost with standout point guard Olivia Vezaldenos (four points, six rebounds, four steals, four assists) having a rare off night scoring-wise. Rena Dragony contributed 13 points and six rebounds, and Destiny Flores contributed eight points.
“We’ve had a starter out all tournament, and there will be nights when some people are going to be a little off,” Agostini said. “Daube has been solid for us.”
East Union will be met with its toughest test in the tournament today against Liberty (11-2) of Brentwood back at Tracy High’s Swenson Gym. Tipoff is scheduled for 4:30.
“We will have to play a much better game,” Agostini said.
Lathrop 36, El Capitan 27
At West, Lathrop (5-7) used an 11-6 third quarter to pull away from the first-year varsity team out of Merced.
Lauren Collins led the Spartans with 11 points. Terrina Phillips chipped in seven. Laura Garcia scored all four of her points in the fourth quarter, but they were instrumental in staving off El Capitan (1-8). They square off with Riverbank in the 13th-place game today.
“I liked our intensity in this game,” Lathrop coach Dwayne Davis said. “We kept pushing the pace on both ends of the floor. …We played faster and it wore them down in the second half.”
Manteca 49, Chavez 44
With starting guard Rubel Dehal out with a bruised knee, the Buffaloes (7-4) still managed to sneak out with an overtime win and advance to the consolation championship. Leah Manuleleua accounted for three of Manteca’s five points in the extra period while Chavez was held scoreless.
Manuleleua finished with 14 points and 12 rebounds. Elizabeth Tolbert added 10 points, and Mildred Perez contributed seven rebounds, three steals and three blocks. Marina Castellanos drilled four 3s and led the Titans (2-9) with 14 points.
The Buffaloes face Gregori at 4:30 for ninth place.
