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Manteca mauls Spartans
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LATHROP - The Buffaloes made use of their advantages against host Lathrop High on Tuesday.

In doing so, the Manteca High girls varsity basketball team rolled to a lopsided 69-28 Valley Oak League victory.

“Manteca is so quick,” said Spartans coach Ed Fang of the first-place Buffaloes. “They stifled us with their press (defense).”

Lathrop (0-3, 2-11) was victimized by poor ball handling, resulting in an abundance of turnovers. In the opening period, Manteca (3-0, 12-2) employed its full-court press, and received immediate dividends.

Sharon Washington came up with a steal on the Spartans’ first possession, connecting with Mikayla Hasal for a quick lay-up in a sign of things to come.

The Buffaloes bolted out to an 18-2 lead thanks to a dozen turnovers and nine steals in the first eight minutes of the game.

All told, they collected 22 thefts, with Tia Tuuaga and Washington claiming five steals each.

On the offensive end, Manteca made use of its size advantage. Hasal, Tuuga, and Jaqi Gutierrez scored most of their points from underneath the hoop.

“We kept feeding the ball to our post players,” said Buffaloes coach Andrea Hiatt.

By the intermission, her team had a comfortable 43-11 advantage.

The Spartans had their best offensive output in the third period. Erica Sanchez buried a trey and freshman guard Diamond Gomez contributed with an up-and-under lay-up.

Gutierrez and Hasal answered with 3s for Manteca.

The Buffaloes closed out the third with a 60-24 lead, polishing things off with a 7-2 run in the fourth.

Washington led all scorers with 22 points. Hasal added 13, Tuuaga chipped with 9 and Gutierrez hit for 8.

Sanchez paced Lathrop with eight.

The Spartans will travel to Weston Ranch on Thursday.

Manteca will face the Sonora Wildcats that day in the much-anticipated VOL matchup.

“They beat us twice last year,” Hiatt said. “We put an asterisk for that game.”

Weston Ranch 50, Sonora 49

The Cougars were able to hold off the host Wildcats for a one-point win Tuesday in VOL action.

“We played a good game,” Weston Ranch head coach Chris Bauer said. “We just couldn’t quite pull away from them at the end.

“We were able to take care of business at the end and come home with the victory.”

Emoni Wilson led the Cougars with 18 points, while Timnesha Wilson poured in 12. Timnesha also dished out seven assists in the win. Jasmine Strane contributed eight points to the cause.

East Union 60, Kimball 25

The Lancers continued their impressive opening to the VOL season, dominating the Jaguars in every facet of the game in a 60-25 victory.

Briona Fontenot led all scorers with 15 points, while Lexy Posz finished with a dozen.

East Union (3-0,11-3) will try and remain perfect in VOL play when they travel to Oakdale Thursday to take on the Mustangs.

Sophomores

Lathrop 46, Manteca 35

The Spartans (1-2, 5-6) made the most of their outside shooting, getting key 3s from Celina DeSantis and Janet Visaya.

Both finished with 12 points.

Visaya also had eight boards.

Loreal Taylor, in addition, netted 11 points and hauled in 12 rebounds for the Spartans.

Weston Ranch 44, Sonora 40

The Cougars used a 17-4 run going into the second quarter to push past the host Wildcats 44-40 in VOL action Tuesday.

Aljanea Brown led the charge with 14 points.

The Cougars (3-0, 10-2) will try and remain perfect in league when they continue the VOL schedule Thursday.

Freshman

East Union 26, Kimball 19

The Lancers used a solid outing from Victoria Vezaldenos to push past the Kimball Jaguars Tuesday in VOL action.

Vezaldenos led the club with six points and a game-high nine rebounds in the win.