Stallions run into Panthers buzzsaw
Wendy Alexander/The Madera Tribune
Madera South’s Lexi Cota puts up a layup to score the Stallions’ first points of the game Wednesday. However, San Joaquin Memorial scored 69 in a victory. Cota led the Stallions with four points.
The Madera South Stallions girls basketball didn’t have much of a chance after winning the opening tip of its County/Metro Athletic Conference opener against San Joaquin Memorial-Fresno.
The Panthers scored the first nine points of the game and 17 of the first 15. Meanwhile, the Stallions had trouble shooting and scored just 12 points in a 69-12 loss Wednesday at Madera South.
“I told them we got our butts whipped tonight,” head coach Johnny Sharp said. “We move on. It’s easier to get over a game like that than a close game.”
The Panthers put the game away with a 30-5 third quarter to invoke the 40-point running clock in the fourth quarter. The Panthers scored the first 23 points in the second half for the runaway win.
“We just want to keep playing hard,” Sharp said. “I tell the kids all the time that nobody is going to care who wins or loses these games. We just have to keep developing as a team and keep playing hard. We want to put our staple and brand on stuff. Our brand is to play hard. We were outmanned.
“In a perfect with a full team and full complement of players, we would have competed a lot better. Sometimes stuff happens and you have to go with what you have.”
Lexi Cota led the Stallions with four points. Jonese Feliu scored three points, all on free throws. Angel Ortega hit a 3-pointer and Jackie Cortez added a bucket.
While the Panthers scored the first nine points of the game and 15 of the first 17, the Stallions missed eight of their first nine shots. The only bucket was a Cota layup off an assist from Braya Walker.
After Memorial scored six more points, Ortega hit a 3-pointer. Edison scored a layup to close the first quarter with a 12-point lead.
Cortez opened the second quarter with a reverse lay-up off a Feliu steal.
However, Memorial scored the next 38 points, including closing the first half on a 15-0 run. In the run, Madera South missed its final 12 shots of the half and committed 10 turnovers while Memorial led 32-7 at the break.
After the Panthers took a 55-7 lead in the third quarter, Cota stopped the run with a three-foot runner. Feliu made three free throws in the final 1:36 of the quarter for a 62-12 Panthers’ lead.
Memorial, in running time, held the Stallions scoreless in the fourth while scoring seven more points for the 57-point win.
