STOCKTON — Lathrop’s Dana Mandanas nabbed three steals to catapult the Spartans to a 14-0 run to start the opening-round game of the 44th Annual Joe Nava/Tony Contreras Classic with Franklin on the way to a 73-22 win at Stagg High.

Mandanas finished with 11 points and five steals.

“We needed to play disciplined on defense,” Mandanas said. “Because in our last tournament we fouled a lot.

“We have been working hard in practice on our defense and communicating on defense.”

Lathrop’s Sanah Sunner and Marianna Delgado earned high-point honors at 17 each. Sunner tallied 15 points in the first half and saw limited playing time in the second half. She finished with five steals and two rebounds.

“I thought we came out really aggressive,” Sunner said. “We knew defense was going to win us this game because we were going to get the steals and then finish our layups.

“We just played really hard on offense and defense.”

Delgado’s scoring was a little more even with eight points in the first half and nine in the second along with six rebounds and four steals.

“We did really well spreading out the floor and we had good ball movement,” Delgado said. “That led to a lot of open looks, especially in the post and we were able to hit more shots in the paint.”  

As a team, the Spartans (4-2) grabbed 26 steals and 32 rebounds — 12 off the offensive glass.

“We are trying to focus on getting our kids not to reach,” Lathrop coach Dwayne Davis said. “If we don’t get the reaching fouls, play disciplined and stay in front of people, we create our offense by having our opponent turn the ball over and not go to the line.

“We lost nine seniors from last year so we have a lot of kids that have come up and basketball is a little different at the varsity level than JV. We want to play with discipline and learning that will make us a better team.”

Takhiya Hardin led Franklin (0-5) with 15 points.

The Spartans will play either Kimball or Edison tonight at 7 in a semifinal contest.