Coyotes turn it over in loss to Apaches
Wendy Alexander/The Madera Tribune Madera’s Camile DeAnda drives to the lane to score two of her team high 14 points in Wednesday’s loss.
The Madera Coyote girls basketball team committed 38 turnovers in a 50-39 County/Metro Athletic Conference loss to the Sanger Apaches.
What hurt the most is that the Apaches scored 34 points off of Madera’s 38 turnovers. Meanwhile, the Coyotes forced 33 turnovers from the Apaches, but only scored 14 points off those turnovers Wednesday evening.
“That’s the game right there,” head coach Jason Smith said. “The problem all night long was turnovers. You can’t win a game with 38 turnovers.
“We told them at halftime, we have to cut down our turnovers,” Smith said. “We have to catch, turn and face before we go. We came out in the second half and turned the ball over three straight times.”
The Coyotes committed 13 turnovers in the pivotal third quarter where they were outscored 15-3 and went 1-of-9 from the field.
Camile DeAnda led the Coyotes with 14 points with seven steal and was one of seven Coyotes to score. BriAnn Houghton added eight points and Sofia Perez scored six points with 13 rebounds.
“When we played under control, we were getting layups against their press,” Smith said. “We would go away from what worked. When we stuck to the gameplan, we got open looks. When we panicked, we turned the ball over.”
Sanger gave the Coyotes opportunities. They were 1-for-11 from the free throw line and turned the ball over. However, Madera was just 11-of-25 (44 percent) from the line.
Sanger opened the game with three 3-pointers, but the Coyotes stayed with them. DeAnda made a layup and fed to Houghton for another. Perez put back a miss and DeAnda converted a 3-point play to tie the score at nine.
After six straight Sanger points where the Coyotes committed five turnovers, Madeleine McNeil found Houghton for a layup and put in a short jumper to cut the lead to two at the end of the first quarter.
Houghton opened the second quarter with a 10-foot jumper to tie the score. Sanger then scored nine straight points.
McNeil stopped the run with a jumper, but the Coyotes committed turnovers on their next four possessions and took just one shot.
Sanger hit a 3-pointer and a bucket to open a 13-point lead.
The Coyotes came back with a six-point run from DeAnda. She put back a miss, made two free throws and turned a steal into a layup to cut the Sanger lead to 31-24 at the half.
Sanger opened the second half with a 3-pointer, but Grace Castellanos found McNeil for a layup to stay within eight. The Apaches took advantage of nine Madera turnovers to go on a 10-0 run and extend the lead to 44-26.
The Apaches opened the lead to 21 with about two minutes left in the third quarter, but neither team scored until the fourth quarter.
Madera’s comeback attempt started with a Perez putback 40 seconds into the fourth quarter. Janessa Fernandes found Perez for a layup. After a Sanger bucket, Castelanos made two free throws and Houghton made another to cut the lead to 14 with about five minutes left in the game.
The Coyotes had a chance to get back into the game holding the Apaches to a lone field goal for the rest of the game.
Madera turned the ball over three times, missed seven of its last eight field goals — an offensive putback by Cathy Figueroa — and made three of four free throws (by DeAnda) in the 50-39 loss.
