Uninspired Coyotes fall to Edison
Wendy Alexander/The Madera Tribune
Madera’s BriAnn Houghton drives to the hoop against the Edison Tigers. Houghton scored a team-high 10 points in Wednesday’s game.
The Madera Coyotes girls basketball team couldn’t overcome the loss of starting point guard Cathy Figueroa in a 51-29 loss to the Edison-Fresno Tigers in Joe Flores Gym.
Figueroa hurt her ankle in last week’s victory over Sanger, but came back to play against Madera South two days later. However, she got an allergic reaction to the wrap and re-aggravated her injury against Madera South. The swelling didn’t go down enough for her to play Wednesday.
“Without Cathy showed,” head coach Jason Smith said. “We didn’t find out later in the day we didn’t have Cathy because of the aggravated injury. We thought better of it.”
Playing without Figueroa showed in the loss. The Coyotes committed 30 turnovers, including 17 in the first half. They also shot 24 percent from the field and just one player score in double figures — BriAnn Houghton with 10. Edison outscored the Coyotes 33-15 in the second half.
“Nobody stepped up,” Smith said. “It really showed. We had 17 turnovers at halftime. It was sloppy basketball. We couldn’t run the offense because nobody wanted to stick to the plan. Nobody was strong enough with the basketball. Injuries happen in sports, we all know that. But when injuries happen, other people have to step up. Tonight, nobody stepped up and that hurt us.”
In the first quarter, the Coyotes committed 11 turnovers. However, the Tigers couldn’t take advantage of the gifts, committing seven turnovers themselves. While the Tigers only hit two field goals and a free throw for five points, the only points Madera received was a 3-pointer from Stephenie Jordan.
Houghton immediately tied the game with a short bucket in the second quarter. After an Edison free throw, Jordan found Jasmine Levy for a layup and a 7-6 lead, the last Coyotes lead of the night.
Edison answered with a layup, an offensive putback and a 3-pointer to take a six-point lead.
Camile Nunez made the Tigers pay with a 3-pointer after the Coyotes had three offensive rebounds on the possession.
Off a rebound from Erika Perez, Houghton found Jordan for a layup to cut the Tigers’ lead to 13-12 with less than two minutes left in the half.
After the Tigers hit a 3-pointer, Nunez made a short jumper, but the Tigers scored at the end of the quarter for an 18-14 lead at the half.
The Tigers used the bucket at the end of the half for momentum into the second half. They scored the first 12 points of the half to jump to a 30-14 lead.
The Coyotes tried to come back with a Sofia Perez long jumper, but the Tigers answered with a free throw. Perez drained a 3-pointer, but the Tigers hit one of their own.
Houghton then put back a miss and made two free throws to cut the lead to 12, but the Tigers closed the third quarter with a layup at the buzzer.
Edison opened the fourth quarter with a pair of buckets before Nunez hit a 3-pointer.
However, Edison went on a 11-point run to put the game away leading 50-28 with 1:47 left.
The two teams traded free throws for the final score.
