The Lathrop girls basketball team held visiting Grace Davis to just three first-quarter points Monday and rolled to a 56-25 Western Athletic Conference win.

Grace Davis did not hit double digits in any period.

“The biggest thing was for us to come out and jump on them,” Lathrop coach Dwayne Davis said. “We didn’t want to let them hang around. Defensively, that’s where our focus is going to be, and we got our

Missing from the game tonight was the suffocating full-court relentless press that Lathrop (3-0, 11-6) often employs, but despite that Grace Davis (0-4, 3-9) still turned the ball over 19 times through three quarters and 20 in all.

“We stayed active,” Davis said. “Kalani (Soriano) played the best post interior defense we have had all year. She was in the passing lanes, she was jumping high on the switches on the screens, and she kept them from getting to the basket while at the same time not picking up any fouls. That made all the difference in the world not picking up many fouls tonight.”

Lathrop’s Sanah Sunner led all scorers with 18 points, and in a very balanced attack where 11 players scored she was the only Lathrop player in double figures.

“We were pretty balanced today,” Sunner said. “Both offensively and defensively.

“In my opinion, the biggest thing was we came out with a lot of energy, and I think that helped us gain momentum at both ends of the court. We passed the ball well and we came out aggressive on defense. A lot of their turnovers came from our high energy.”

Without pressing Lathrop posted 10 team steals, while pulling down 47 rebounds. Shakara Porter (three points) led Lathrop with nine rebounds. Tatiana Lowery (eight points) and Belinda Renteria (five points) grabbed eight rebounds apiece and Alaba Olaleye (eight points) had seven.

“I think our defense was really good tonight,” Lowery said. “They had a bunch of turnovers and one of the reasons is because we were moving our feet on defense better tonight than in some past games.”

Lathrop travels to Modesto tonight to play Beyer at 7:15.

Junior varsity

Lathrop 30, Grace Davis 25

The Spartans trailed 7-4 after the first period but clamped down from there, holding Grace Davis to just two points in the second half to take the lead for good.

Sirat Sidhu led the attack with 10 points, while Suhani Banwait had five. 

Freshman

Lathrop 63, Grace Davis 20

Lathrop (6-0) outscored the visitors from Modesto 13-4 in the opening quarter and led 31-12 at halftime.

Ten different Spartans scored and were led by Nevaeh Hubbard’s 14 points. Tatianna Lopez pitched in with 12, and Kriselle Matela added 11.