It was a foul fest at Sierra from opening whistle to the last.

Well, almost the last.

After making just one of two free throws with nine seconds to go, the Timberwolves tried to extend the game by fouling. There was no whistle this time, as visiting Tokay left with its first win of the season, 55-54.

There were 61 free throws attempted in all, with Sierra (3-3) making 15 of 29 and the Tigers (1-5) draining 18 of 32.

“We spent a lot of time standing around,” Sierra coach Steve Unterholzner said.

There was no stopping Sierra freshman Kayla Wilson, however, whether she was on the move or not. She led all players with 26 points and was 10 of 16 from the foul line. Valerie Nestor contributed 11 points before fouling out midway through the fourth quarter.

Jasleen Singh rattled in four 3-pointers and scored 20 points to lead Tokay. Justine Lynch added 13.

The tone was set early on as Sierra’s two main ball handlers, Celine Barber and Asia Cortez, were each tagged for two fouls inside the first two minutes of the contest. Tokay was ahead 13-6 going into the second quarter.

Barber, who came in averaging 21.6 points per game, was limited to just nine after going down with an ankle injury early in the third. Despite having their top scorer sidelined, the Timberwolves produced their best single-quarter effort in the third, outscoring Tokay 20-11 to take a 40-35 lead.

But in the end, it all came down to free throws, though Unterholzner said that area deserves only part of the blame.

“It stinks to lose a game like that,” he said. “We probably didn’t rebound as well as we could, and we couldn’t get into a rhythm. There were so many different things we could have done better to win.”



Ripon 52, Franklin 34

Point guard Ruth Waters poured in 18 points as Ripon rolled to its fourth straight win to start the season. Taylor Vernon chimed in with eight points.

“Franklin played pretty scrappy and we had to overcome their toughness,” Ripon coach George Contente said. “It was a good win for us. There are things we need to get better at but we’re coming along.”



Sophomore

Ripon 52, Franklin 25

Karissa Carlson’s 12 points paced the Indians to victory. Jourdan Ricther and Zaire David each added 10.

“We played hard and were down two players due to illness and injury, but our bench really stepped up today,” coach Manuel Valdez said.

Ripon was coming off its tournament championship in the East Union Camelot Tournament. Led by tournament MVP Elle Waters’ 14 points, the Indians pasted Trans-Valley League rival Escalon 34-4 in the title game. Emily O’Brien made the all-tournament team.



Freshman

Sierra 47, Tokay 15

Trayana Davis spearheaded the Timberwolves (5-2) with 15 points, while Vanessa Rodriguez contributed seven in the win.