Garces gets win No. 30
| Tuesday, Mar 10 2009 02:29 AM
Last Updated Wednesday, Mar 25 2009 06:16 PM
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Garces' LisaMarie Sanchez bring the ball up the court against Wilson's Michelle Venegas during the second half of their state playoff game at Garces on Monday.
Garces' Amanda Dickerson drives the lane against Wilson's Abigail Vasquez while teammate Jamie Swan looks for a possible rebound during the second half of their state playoff game at Garces on Monday night.
Garces girls basketball coach Tod Denison got both things he wanted Tuesday night.
First the Rams won their first-round Southern California Regional playoff game over visiting El Soreno-Wilson 55-42 for a school record 30th victory of the season.
And in turn, Denison got his second wish, a second-round Div. II matchup tonight against Mater Dei, the No. 1 ranked team in the country according to MaxPreps.
The Rams (30-2) jumped all over the Mules (22-7) early, scoring the first seven points of the game and were never seriously challenged after that.
“I thought they played pretty well coming off of the emotional loss to Hanford,” Denison said. “…We wanted to win 30 games in a season because it had never been done before. We did that so now our reward is Mater Dei.”
Senior point guard Amanda Dickerson had 15 points and Sarah Allen added eight points and 10 rebounds for the Rams who used their fullcourt press to force 24 turnovers.
The pressure also caused the Mules to rush their half-court offense and take numerous bad shots. Wilson shot just 37 percent from the field and never got its offensive rhythm going.
Garces had no such trouble with the Mules full court press, which they abandoned midway through the second quarter. The Rams scored numerous transition baskets, most by Dickerson and Caitlin Bernardin, who finished with 14 points.
“I pulled them out because they weren’t running our press right,” Wilson coach Maricela Rodriguez said. “We were picking up full court and then as soon as they would inbound the ball they would all get back. It was as if we forgot to run our press.”
Abigail Vasquez scored 18 points for Wilson including 12 in the third quarter to help the Mules whittled the Rams 10-point halftime lead down to seven with a putback early in the fourth period.
But Dickerson responded with consecutive coast-to-coast layups that started an 8-0 Garces spurt and put game out of reach.
“This win was really big,” Dickerson said. “I know we were down after losing to Hanford but they’re a really good team,” I just felt like we needed to come out strong. That was this weekend. We had to get over it and keep going.”
The Rams hope they can keep that momentum going against Mater Dei.
“We actually want to play them,” Denison said. “We want to see want the number one team in the nation looks like. It’s a privilege to play them. It’s a tough task but whether we win or lose its going to be a good experience for us and something they can always remember. We’re just going to do the best that we can.”
