Although No. 6 Ripon Christian never trailed in its 34-21 win over visiting Rio Vista to open the Sac-Joaquin Section Division V girls basketball playoffs Tuesday night, the 11th-seeded Rams made things interesting with a 6-0 run to start the second half to come within four points.

“But playoffs are playoffs. Reagan (Van Der Hoek) really came around in the second half after a tough first half, and Cailyn Mouw did the little things. She hit a jumper and her free throws and showed the senior leadership that she always shows. She doesn’t always score, but tonight we needed her to score, and she did. It was fun to watch.”

Van Der Hoek grabbed six of her team-high 10 rebounds in the second half and had a double-double with 10 points, two assists, two steals and a block.

“We are told that playoff games are not any different,” Van Der Hoek said. “But there is always the pressure that it could be our last game, so we try to put our best foot forward and be aggressive so we can keep going.”

Mouw (eight points) was 4-for-4 from the free-throw line down the stretch and popped a long jumper early in the fourth quarter to ignite a 9-2 run to close out the game.

“Shooting free throws is pressure, but I spend a lot of time practicing on my free throws,” Mouw said.

Kara Kessler added six points for Ripon Christian (10-12) with Haley Kootstra chipping in five points, five rebounds, two steals and a block. Keniyah Banks led Rio Vista with six points.

On Thursday night at 6 the Knights will travel to Jackson to face No. 3 Argonaut.