Friday, Nov. 25, 2011
LB girls run alumni ragged in 51-28 alumni game victory
By David Wittesports@losbanosenterprise.com
Print
E-Mail
AIM
ReprintWednesday's alumni game gave the Los Banos varsity girls basketball team a chance to work on a few things in offense and defense.
It also gave former LBHS hoops stars a chance to take the court again to show they still have it.
It was the current stars that came out on top of a 51-28 victory, with recent San Francisco State signee Brianna Harden's 12 points leading the way.
"We wanted to work on our offense and see where we are defensively, and work on our full-court press," second-year Los Banos coach Danny Crosby said. "We had a couple of wrinkles on defense, but we ran the offense well. We're still a little bit lackadaisical on offense though."
The alumni jumped out by a few points at the start, but a Harden layup gave the varsity squad a 14-12 lead, and the junior-heavy team never looked back. The varsity squad outscored the alumni 23-2 in the second quarter.
In all, 20 former players returned to the court for the game.
"The reason I came was to play against my niece, Morgan Hurley," said 1993 graduate Betty Hurley-Lindeman. "I wish I would have had more time to play against her, but there was such a big turnout.
"I was nervous, but then I saw all my old teammates and that went away."
Other family on the court included junior Kiley Greer and her mother Annabel Greer; LB freshman coach Lorinda Sanchez, who played for the alumni, and her cousin, junior Valerie Lugo; junior Christina Soares and cousin Lauren Soares; and 2010 graduate Priscilla Gutierrez and junior Michelle Gutierrez, whose father Joe Gutierrez officiated the game.
Four alumni together led the team in scoring -- Lauren Steitz, Brooke Silva, Ieashia Isby and Jacqueline Johnson each scored four. Alexis Barcellos added 10 for the varsity squad, including a pair of 3-pointers in the second half.
LB's athleticism is something that actually gives Crosby stress -- he has trouble narrowing it down to five starters.
"It's a difficult one, makes for a good battle at practice," he said. "I can rotate five in and not lose a beat."
So he's lined up a vicious preseason schedule to make sure his team is battle-tested, including the Los Banos Booster Tournament starting this week and a trip to Arizona for the Nike Tournament of Champions, which attracts teams from all over the country.
"We have a tough schedule lined up for us," Crosby said, "but we have a great group of athletic girls."
Enterprise reporter David Witte can be at (209) 388-6565 or sports@
losbanosenterprise.com.