Sierra was outscored 20-1 in the second quarter of its nonleague contest at Franklin of Stockton on Thursday.

Yes, one point. Against a winless Franklin team.

“I don’t know any other way to describe it, but we left our brains in Manteca for that first half,” first-year Sierra coach Martha Spivey said.

Down 14 at halftime, the Timberwolves rallied back to race past the Yellowjackets for a 50-39 win. Sierra (6-2) tied it with Celine Barber’s 3-pointer with 3 minutes left in the third. That was part of a staggering 24-4 run that Franklin (0-7) could not recover from.

Barber would end up with 15 points, while sophomore Kayla Wilson led the way with 17. Keanna Barber contributed eight points.

“We easily could have lost this game, but we were able to regroup at halftime and show resiliency by playing fundamental basketball.”Spivey said.

Sierra can ill afford a similar meltdown Saturday when it heads to Riverbank to face the 6-1 Bruins.

Ripon 37, Linden 27

The Lions of Linden had no answer for Ripon center Morgan Carrico, who collected 16 points in the Liberty Ranch Tournament opener.

Jill Jamero and Ellie Waters scored six apiece. Ripon improved to 4-1 and meets the winner of the Liberty Ranch-Mira Loma game in 8 o’clock tonight.

Sophomore

Ripon Christian 37,
Chowchilla 24

Hailey Van Laar (five assists) and Lauren DeVries (seven rebounds) fired eight points each to lead Ripon Christian in its opening-round game of the Golden Valley Tournament in Merced.

The Knights encounter El Capitan or Golden Valley at 8 tonight in the semifinal round.

Freshman

Lathrop 36, Downey 10

On Wednesday, Lathrop pitched a first-half shutout and was well ahead 23-0 at the break. That allowed the reserves to get considerable court time over the final two periods.

Danya Phillips finished with nine points, eight rebounds and four steals. Molly Moakler grabbed 10 rebounds to go with four points. Gurveen Bal chipped in seven points, and Shaianne Brito had six.