East Union isn’t chasing style points.
At this point in the season, the Lancers are more concerned with stacking up wins any way they can to keep their lead in the Valley Oak League with a much-anticipated rematch against Central Catholic looming.
On Thursday, they slugged it out with visiting Sierra and prevailed in the defensive battle, 38-26.
It’s East Union’s 26th straight victory against the cross-town foe and 39th in the last 40 meetings going back to 2007.
“We wear the hard hat very proudly,” East Union coach Jim Agostini said. “We’re OK with the dirty work. We bring the lunch pail, we bring the helmet.”
And they bring Ava Barrera, whom Agostini refers to as his “Swiss Army Knife.”
The versatile wing gave East Union (9-0 VOL, 21-4 overall) a needed lift early on with offensive rebounds that led to put-back lay-ups after the Timberwolves (4-4, 11-11) charged out to an 8-2 lead.
Eight of her 15 total rebounds came off the offensive glass.
“Those rebounds really helped,” Barrera said. “Coaches are always telling us to crash the boards, and somebody has to do it. Normally, when they have their back turn, I just go right by them.”
Barrera also collected 11 points, three steals and two blocks.
“She’s just doing everything for us,” Agostini said.
Included in her to-do list is drawing the toughest defensive assignment in every match-up. This time, it was former Lancer Isabellah Crabb, who came into the contest averaging 17.5 points per game. She led Sierra with 10 points and nine rebounds.
East Union led by as much as 18 in the second half, as Barrera converted her fourth put-back layup of the contest to make it 33-15 late in the third period.
Crabb made two free throws with 2:43 left to close the Timberwolves in, 36-26. That capped a 6-0 run for Sierra, which was held scoreless the rest of the way. Another highlight during that spurt came from scrappy sophomore Tessa Zalunardo (five points, seven steals), who blocked a lay-up and grabbed the defensive rebound before taking it coast-to-coast for the layup.
Barrera helped put an end to Sierra’s comeback hopes, blocking a 3-point attempt from Crabb at the top of the arc. Shebra Rezaye (four points, nine rebounds) scored a short-range fadeaway on the Lancers’ following possession.
“The game plan was to limit her scoring, and that’s why coach matched me up with her,” Barrera said. “He said I have the biggest assignment, and I took that to heart.”
Zyondupree Beasley added 13 points, five rebounds, five blocks and three steals for East Union. Kymoni Beasley provided a spark off the bench, contributing seven points, seven rebounds and three steals.
Emalina Latu had seven points, 14 rebounds and three steals for Sierra, which also played well defensively and had its share of offensive boards. The Timberwolves, however, struggled to get shots to fall and had several open 3-point tries rim in and out.
“You just don’t know sometimes when your shot’s going to fall, and some of those were so close to going down,” Sierra coach Rudy Valencia said. “There’s nothing that I feel like we could change, because they were good shots. When we run our offense, we know we can get open looks. We just couldn’t put them down, but these girls are competing.”
Sierra hosts Oakdale next Tuesday, while East Union has a bye. The Lancers travel to Modesto two days later to square off with Central Catholic, which is eager to avenge its lone loss of the season. A win would guarantee at least a share of a sixth consecutive league title for EU.
“The VOL is always close,” Agostini said. “The margin of error is not great for us, compared to past teams, but this team just keeps find ways to get it done.”
Junior varsity
East Union 37, Sierra 25
The Lancers held Sierra to a single point in the fourth quarter to come away with the win. They led 26-24 after three periods.
Elle Baluyut paced East Union with 11 points, Lilyan Frye tallied 10 and Andrea Nibbler chipped in eight.
Amanda Magana knocked down three 3s and scored 13 points for Sierra. Ekam Khehra added 10 points.
