Rhiannon Genilla can make lemonade out of lemons.
Genilla got six of the first eight Manteca points Wednesday night off of offensive rebounds and had five offensive rebounds in the first quarter on the way to a 55-30 Valley Oak League win over visiting Sierra at Winter Gym.
“I made the best of the opportunities I had early on,” Genilla said. “I was able to get some put-backs.
“I was working hard and being aggressive with the rest of my team.”
Genilla finished with 10 points – eight in the first quarter – and eight rebounds.
“I have been waiting for Rhiannon to do what she did tonight,” Buffaloes coach Ryan Bono said. “She has been a little tentative to start the year and it is good to see her aggressive like she was over the summer.
“I have been pushing her buttons all year trying to get her going and hopefully I found the right ones to get her going. She was in the starting lineup earlier and I put her back in for league, and tonight it finally came together for her.”
The Manteca bench had plenty of playing time with freshman Jayda Jackson and Jasmine English making the best of their opportunities.
Jackson had nine points behind a pair of 3-pointers including a buzzer beater at the end of the third quarter off of a long pass from J.J. Santos.
“I think we played pretty good and that we did everything we could to get good shots,” Jackson said. “I was so happy that I made that buzzer beater.”
English hustled defensively in the fourth quarter when she got four of her five rebounds and two steals.
“As a team we work hard,” English said. “Defense is our main goal and key and without my team I would not be the person I am today.
“We wanted to make our defensive goal and we did it.”
Loretta Kakala played just two quarters for the Buffaloes (5-0 VOL, 8-9 overall) and flirted with a triple double, scoring a team-high 12 points with eight rebounds and six blocks.
Sierra’s Allison Edwards led all scorers with 13 points behind three 3-pointers and Brittney Spivey had nine rebounds for the Timberwolves (0-4, 2-14)
“I never feel mad or upset or disappointed,” Sierra coach Martha Spivey said. “Our effort is the same every night and we always go hard. We don’t roll over and we are going to keep fighting until the end.
“They consistently go hard. They bring it every game and do anything you ask them to do. They go above and beyond.”
Sophomore
Sierra 40, Manteca 31
Dulce Cruz had 15 points for the Timberwolves and Natalie Dias added 14.
Adriana Valencia and Arianna Melena paced the Buffaloes with nine points apiece. Kaleah Sanders added nine rebounds and four steals, Samanta Cerritos grabbed seven rebounds and Savannah Alvarez made seven steals.
Freshman
Manteca 49, Sierra 21
The Buffaloes held the Timberwolves to one point in the first quarter and two in the third.
Manteca’s Raelene Finley flirted with a triple double in just three quarters of play with 10 points, 21 rebounds and nine steals and teammate Malana Sogapolu added 10 points and four steals.
Dominique White scored 12 of her 16 points for Sierra in the fourth quarter.
