Manteca freshman girls basketball coach Kym Gause had the unique opportunity to coach a pair of games Thursday night as Mary Ann Tolbert was unable to make it to the sophomore contest, and Gause filled in well, leading the sophomore Buffs to a 55-30 win over Lathrop.
Savannah Reed scored 17 points and Emily Owsley had 14 to pace the Buffs.
The Spartans were led by Krystal Ruiz’ 11, while Erica Sanchez, Jasmine Elder and Shannon Quibuyen each had four.
“We competed well in the first half, we were only down six at halftime,” Lathrop head coach Ed Fang said. “But in the second half we couldn’t control their passing, and we struggled to defend the interior.
“But I’m proud of my girls, they competed well and you can see they’re starting to get there.”
Lathrop (0-2 Valley Oak League, 4-7 overall) heads to Modesto Christian Tuesday.

In Stockton, Arsenio Costa’s bunch moved to 9-1 on the season with the blowout win.
Alysia Atkins scored 14, Angel Viera had 10, and Jasmine Currimao turned in seven.
“Obviously, we had a good night on offense,” Costa said. “The defense played well.”
The T’Wolves kick off the 14th Annual Sierra High Lady Timberwolves Rotary Classic Dec. 26.
Up first will be Tracy High starting at 7:30 p.m.

Kym Gause collected her first of two wins on the night as her Baby Buffs handled Lathrop.
Mia Ramirez hit for 15, Brianna Bell had 10, and Jessica Reeder finished with eight.
Manteca led 26-6 at halftime.
“Our defense was on tonight,” Gause said.
Manteca (1-0 VOL, 3-3 overall)  kicks off the Sierra tournament Dec. 26 with a 6 p.m. matchup against Tracy.

Lia Unterholzner turned in another memorable outing Thursday night in the T’Wolves win, racking up 12 points, 15 rebounds and four steals.
Jessica Lopez and Kelly Paredes (4 steals) each had six, while Allison Armstrong scored four and grabbed seven boards.
“We hunkered down defensively in the third,” Sierra head coach Steve Unterholzner said. “We let them play with us in the first half and only led 17-7 at halftime, but we shut them out in the second half.”
Sierra (9-1) begins the freshman version of the Sierra Rotary Classic Dec. 26.

Ryan Culpepper and Eric Hasal both scored 12, while Rigoberto Gutierrez had nine, and both Josh Walters and Eric Godfrey scored eight as Manteca (5-2 overall) picked up its first VOL win of the year.
Manteca hosts Tokay tonight.

At the Cosumnes Oaks Tournament, the Cougars pulled out the close win behind Divante DeLeon’s 21.
Lorenzo Simmons went for 11, and Joseph Renaud did an excellent job filling in for a starter, scoring six.
The Cougars advance to the second round of the winner’s bracket today.

Donnell Pucker score 12 points, Jan Villanueva had eight, and Ricardo Chavez netted nine for the Spartans.
“We came out pretty good, we had a 12 point lead early on,” Lathrop head coach Jerry Cuevas said. “But then we went cold. A lot of calls didn’t go our way down the stretch.”
Lathrop kicks off the Manteca tournament Dec. 27 against West High.