MODESTO – After what had been a Ripon Christian blowout turned into a nail-biter, the Knights held Sonora scoreless the final two-plus minutes and pulled out a 39-33 win in opening-round action of the MST Gallo girls basketball tournament at the Mark Gallo Health and Fitness Center.
“We played really good down the stretch,” Ripon Christian coach Mike Vander Molen said. “Reagan (Van der Hoek) has really come around being a junior now, and Maddie (Yonker) played better today.”
After Ella Kaiser (10 points) narrowed the Knights lead to 36-33 with 2:32 left in the fourth quarter, Ripon Christian (6-4) held the Wildcats scoreless with Yonker and Van der Hoek taking over. Yonker scored the game’s final six points, and Van der Hoek pulled down two rebounds and dished an assist to Yonker.
Sonora jumped out to a 6-0 lead before the Knights erupted on a 10-0 run behind six Yonker points. The Wildcats worked ahead by 15-12 in the second quarter only for Ripon Christian to close out the half on a 15-0 run with Yonker pouring in eight points to lead 27-15 at halftime.
The third period was a different story. Yonker was held scoreless and the Knights managed only four points as the Wildcats closed to within 31-25 going into the final quarter.
“They kind of switched to zone in the third quarter, which kind of threw us off a little bit,” Vander Molen said. “The third quarter has been a problem for us. Maybe I over-coach them in the locker room.”
Yonker led all scorers with 20 points and pulled down eight rebounds.
“We always seem to come out a little slow out of halftime,” Yonker said. “We need to focus up and we will get better at it. That’s something we need to work on, and once we get that down we will be good.
“Rebounding is more of a mindset. You are outworking one person and you have to get the ball, so for me it is like pushing everyone you can out of the way to make sure I am the one getting that ball and I am the one dribbling the ball up the court to get our offense started.”
Van der Hoek (10 rebounds) and Mikaela Oosterman (nine rebounds) added eight points apiece.
“We have a tendency to kind of hit a third-quarter slump,” Van der Hoek said. “We finally clear up and start to play aggressive because that’s when we know we are in crunch time.
“My first goal on rebounding is to find my person and box her out. And then if I can I will jump for it.”
Ripon Christian faces Liberty Ranch of Galt in a semifinal contest tonight at 8.
