Zyondupree Beasley has made three buzzer-beating shots against El Capitan this season, and the latest was for an East Union win Friday during opening-day action in the 41st annual Tom Hawkins/Tracy Breakfast Lions Tournament.
The Lancers prevailed 57-56 at Tracy High on her contested layup in the key, which was set up by a pass from Jayda Anderson after breaking the El Capitan press defense.
“In that scenario, we just wanted to put pressure on the defense,” East Union coach Jim Agostini said. “We didn’t want to settle for a perimeter shot, we were looking to attack the rim. Nothing really drawn up, just knowing that we needed to take care of the ball in the backcourt, beat the aggressive pressure that they applied, get it over the top and make a play.”
Beasley made plays on both ends, finishing with 21 points, 10 rebounds, four blocks and three steals.
The game marked the season debut for senior center Alessandra Montes, who added 16 points, seven rebounds, five assists and three blocks off the bench. She’s coming off her second ACL tear in two years.
“It feels great to be back,” Montes said. “Got the nerves out. I was nervous, but I have a great team that supports me.”
The Gauchos (11-3) of Merced had an opportunity to take a three-point lead off a mid-court inbound play, but Alexis Valenzuela missed the uncontested layup. Julianna Gaspar secured the defensive rebound, and East Union (8-4) called a timeout with 9.0 seconds remaining.
The Lancers had to go the length of the court while traversing through El Capitan’s aggressive press for their final shot.
“Once we got down there, I just knew I had to do it,” Beasley said. “It was almost the same situation as last time, but we lost in overtime by one point. I just thought, ‘it’s not happening again.’”
El Cap previously downed East Union 59-58 in overtime on Dec. 3. Beasley made an acrobatic layup at the end of regulation to send the game into the extra period. She also beat the buzzer at the end of the third quarter in the rematch, making a put-back layup off Ava Barrera’s miss.
The Lancers arrived at Swenson Gym prepared for a 9 a.m. tip-off knowing what type of game it was going to be.
“We just had to come ready to play,” Beasley said. “We knew they weren’t going to be waiting for us to wake up, so we kind of had to do that on our own.”
It was a back-and-forth battle throughout, with both teams playing to their strengths. The Gauchos forced 18 turnovers and made eight 3-pointers with their up-tempo style. Madysen Dietz led them with 27 points nine rebounds, four assists and three steals, while hitting four 3s in the second half.
East Union did not make a 3-pointer but countered with its size advantage in the post, dominating on rebounds, 38-23. The return of the 6-foot Montes helped in that facet, but she brings much more to the Lancers.
“Alessandra has a great touch on her shot,” Agostini said. “With her basketball skills and basketball IQ back, it just helps. We didn’t know what we were going to get. I had a conversation with her this morning and said we’re going to see how it goes. We didn’t think she was going to get a whole bunch of minutes, but I think she got a whole lot more that what we had planned.”
Perimeter shooting kept El Capitan in the game down the stretch after the Lancers had mounted runs of 8-0 and 10-3. Montes banked in a jump shot from the free-throw line to give EU a 53-47 lead with 3 minutes left.
The Gauchos answered with a 9-2 barrage, getting a 3-pointer each from Dietz and Valenzuela. Dietz then converted a traditional three-point play off an inbound play to give them their final lead 56-55 with 33.6 seconds to go.
Valenzuela pitched in 10 points for El Cap. Barrera netted 10 for East Union to go with six rebounds and two blocks.
“Just two competitive teams playing hard,” Agostini said. “They come at you every possession, and you have to be aware of what you’re doing with the basketball on every single possession. That’s the challenge they present to you.
“It’s a great win,” he added. “We obviously have three more games here, but in the overall picture it keeps your strength-of-schedule number up and helps the ranking. That’s a tough draw we had.”
East Union continues pool play today against former Valley Oak League rival Kimball (7-1) at 3 p.m., and on Monday against Pittsburg (4-5) at noon. Final match-ups based on pool standings will take place Tuesday, with the first game tipping off at 8 in the morning and the title game beginning at 3:30 p.m.
Manteca 32, Pacheco 29
Neither team shot well at every level, but it came down to free throws down the stretch.
Michailla Springs made all four of her free throws in the final 4 minutes, and the Buffaloes (5-6) made six of eight in the fourth period.
Pacheco (7-3) which had a five-game winning streak snapped, were 3-of-8 in the in the quarter and finished 7-of-18 overall. Manteca was 12-of-23. Neither team made a 3-pointer.
“Getting Michailla to the line is really what we needed — she’s one of our best free-throw shooters,” Manteca coach Oscar Calix said. “We work on free throws a lot, so coming down in the clutch time when we need them, it really helps us out.”
Springs scored a game-high 16 points to go with four rebounds and five steals. Jaesha Dunn had six points, six rebounds and six steals despite early foul trouble. Center Amil Gaskins grabbed 11 rebounds while contributing three blocks and two steals on defense.
Sasha Siemiller paced Pacheco with 10 points, seven rebounds and four steals. Freshman center Nikki Nance netted 13 rebounds, three blocks, three assists and two steals.
Manteca had multiple chances to break away but was stymied by turnovers and missed layups. The Buffs had their largest lead at 25-16 after Springs’ runner with 1:45 left in the third quarter, but that ended up being their last made field goal of the game.
The Panthers pounced during Manteca’s drought, going on a 10-1 run to tie it at 26-26 following Ashley Jimenez’s second-chance opportunity. Pacheco did not make another field goal for the final 4:47.
“That’s been our problem all year, is that we’re just not consistent,” Calix said. “We have our moments where we can break away and separate ourselves in almost every game, but we just struggle to play four quarters consistently.”
Manteca plays Ripon this morning at 9, and tourney host Tracy (3-4) on Monday at 1:30.
Ripon 32, Tokay 28
Ripon (5-7) avenged its season-opening loss thanks to a clutch effort from senior guard Leila Sanchez, who accounted for seven of her team’s nine points in the fourth quarter. She ended with 12 points, five rebounds and four steals.
Danika Escola chipped in with six points.
Thalia Chavez scored all of Tokay’s eight points in the opening quarter, but she was shut out for the rest of the game. The Tigers fell to 8-4.
Ripon faces Manteca at 9 this morning and Pacheco on Monday at 3.
