Sierra had four freshman play in a cross-town rivalry game for the first time on Thursday, but they appeared to be unbothered by the pressure-packed atmosphere at Manteca.
Emalina Latu led the Timberwolves with 20 points, 11 rebounds, four steals and three assists, and she hit two free throws with 14.8 seconds left to punctuate the 57-49 win over the reigning Valley Oak League co-champion.
Fellow freshman Tessa Zalunardo contributed eight points, all coming in the second half. Older sister Taylor Zalunardo added 10 points. Junior Mya Everett also had 10 points to go with five rebounds, five blocks, three assists and three steals.
Sierra (2-1 VOL, 7-7 overall) is off to a strong start in league despite playing its first four games on the road. The T’wolves travel to Central Catholic next Tuesday.
“I’m really confident in our team,” Latu said. “This is our first year together and we’re developing, and I feel that we’re already building good chemistry.”
Freshman guards Felisa Cruz-Olenhouse and Kiana Uahinui each chipped in two points off the bench, but their buckets were go-ahead lay-ups early in the fourth quarter. Tessa Zalunardo accounted for Sierra’s only two 3-point makes, one of which came late in the second half and gave her team a 49-44 lead.
“We have a young team, and some of them have never experienced this before,” Sierra coach Rudy Valencia said. “They stayed super composed. I did not see them really get all that flustered.”
Manteca (1-2 , 6-11), which has dropped five of its last six, had a season-high 22 points from Talia Shelbourne. Michailla Springs fired 20 points, but the Buffaloes did not get much scoring elsewhere.
After a back-and-forth first half in which neither team led by more than three points — Manteca nursed a 23-22 halftime advantage — Sierra had chances to break away over the final two quarters.
The Buffaloes mounted multiple mini-runs that kept them in range. Springs knocked down a pull-up 3 to knot it at 44-44 with 4:28 to go, but Manteca then went on a 2-minute, 20-second scoring drought.
Sierra put the Buffs away with six unanswered points to end the game.
“We just have little lapses where we take ourselves out of the game,” Manteca coach Oscar Calix said. “We have good runs, but we have to be able to play every possession. Every possession for us matters, because we’re not a good enough team to take plays off. I think we can be a good team, but we just have to get over that hump.”
Junior varsity
Manteca 33, Sierra 24
Manteca limited the Timberwolves to just two points in each of the first two quarters.
Maylea Sims paced the Buffaloes with 11 points, Isabella Diaz scored 10 and Maleiah Garza pitched in nine.
Prabhnoor Kaur came alive in the second half for Sierra, scoring all 11 of her points.
