Defensive pressure and depth helped visiting East Union pull away to defeat the Manteca Buffaloes 71-32 Tuesday night in a rematch of last year’s Valley Oak League co-champions.
Both coaches acknowledged there wasn’t much either needed to say to their teams to get them ready to play in what proved to be a hard-fought, physical match-up.
“It’s not difficult to get motivated to play this game,” Lancers coach Jim Agostini said. “When you grow up in this town playing basketball, you come ready to play your cross-town rivals, and there isn’t a whole lot a coach needs to say.”
East Union’s defensive pressure showed itself early on, with the Lancers coming up with 11 of their 19 total steals in the first half. That helped them go into halftime with a 30-21 lead.
“We came out spot-on defensively tonight,” Agostini said. “We had a tough loss to them last season, and I think it gave our girls a little extra on that end of the floor.”
The defense helped the Lancers (4-1 VOL, 14-6 overall) get out into transition where they were able to make the extra pass to get open looks for much of the game, with East Union racking up 15 assists on 28 made baskets.
“Every team practices it, making the extra pass,” Agostini said. “Just making the extra pass frees up other players and leads to easy baskets.”
Eight Lancers got on the score sheet, with freshman point guard Haven Stone leading the way with a career-high 23 points.
“Haven is thriving in this environment, Agostini said. “She scored a lot of points tonight, but she does a lot of things for us that don’t show up in the stat sheet.”
The depth of the five-time defending VOL champs was on full display late in the fourth when junior forward Shebra Rezaye scored 11 straight points herself, finishing with 14 points and five rebounds. The run put the finishing touches on a second half that saw the Lancers outscore their hosts 41-11 to finish the contest.
“Shebra is a third-year varsity player for us and is really coming into her own,” Agostini said. She’s had to wait her turn her and is reaping the rewards now, and it is great to see.”
For Manteca, coach Oscar Calix was proud of the way his team battled early on.
“I thought we played pretty well to keep it within nine at the half,” he said. “Credit to East Union for their defensive pressure and really making their shots tonight.”
The Buffaloes were led offensively by senior guard Michailla Springs, who scored a team-high 13 points to go along with eight rebounds.
“Michailla is really our heart and soul and played a great game tonight,” Calix said. We were able to get her going early, but once they started containing her, it became really hard for us to put the ball in the hoop.”
Both teams will play next in tough VOL contests on Friday night, with East Union traveling back across town to take on Sierra, and Manteca traveling to Patterson.
Junior Varsity
East Union 24, Manteca 17
East Union pulled away late in a defensive contest. The leading scorer for EU was Jedah Haywood with six points. Avianna Menzel and Kymani Beasley also scored five points each for the Lancers. Maleiah Garza led all scorers with 12 points for Manteca.
Freshman
East Union 30, Manteca 22
Elle Balyut led the Lancers with 13 points. Jisselle Tuggles also scored nine points for East Union. The leading scorer for Manteca was Myah Hunter, who had six points.
