User Rating: / 0
PoorBest 

As warm-ups ended and the National Anthem was sung, both teams lined up to play for the win.

The first quarter started off with the jump ball possession in the Panthers’ favor. As the first shot in the game went up for the Panthers, they were unable to score and the rebound was recovered by Ashlee Halopoff. Taking it down the court, as Yo Sasorith got fouled, the ball was dead. As Lupita Flores passed the ball to Halopoff for the first three of the game, the play was successful.

The first quarter ended with Halopoff making a quick pass inside to Sasorith, who drove it to the hoop for a two pointer. The ending score for the first quarter was 20-6, Granite with the lead.

“The ladies did and amazing job. They really pulled together and worked hard to beat the Panthers,” stated Bailey Ross, cheerleader for Granite Hills.

As the second quarter began, Halopoff stole the ball for a successful lay-up. With the Grizzlies applying a lot of pressure, the Panthers were unable to score each shot. Elena Galvez recovered a missed free throw from Porterville and quickly passed to Sasorith who took it down the floor and got fouled for two shots. Sasorith swished both.

The second quarter ended with Porterville unable to score as Halopoff ran out the clock. The ending score of the first half was 31-16, in Granites favor.

Granite’s point guard Halopoff started off the third quarter with possession of the ball, but her pass to Flores fell short and Porterville recovered it. Once again with the Grizzlies tight defense, they were able to keep the ball outside the three point line. The Panthers threw the ball out of bounds. As Megan Carazolez entered the game, she got fouled and shot two free throws, making one.

The third quarter ended with Granite taking the ball down. As Halopoff passed to Flores, Flores turned to find Sasorith cutting hard to the basket and a lay-up for two points was scored by Sasorith. The ending score was 46-23, Granite still in the lead.

“It takes true team work and a strong defense to win a game mixed with strong attitude, and tonight we all had it,” stated Flores. “We all believed and that got us to win the game.”

During the fourth and final quarter, Marisol Cerda drove inside to successfully score a lay-up. Galvez was fouled going up for a shot, and ended up at the line shooting two free throws; she made one. Her missed free throw was covered by Flores who went up for the lay up and added another two points for the Grizzlies. As Kelsey Blackburn recovered a rolling pass on the ground, she passed it to Galvez who relayed it to Flores for another two points.

During the last play of the game, Halopoff passed the ball around to run down the clock as there were a few seconds left on the clock. The final score of the game was 54-41, with the lady Grizzlies taking the win.

“[The] girls played their best game of the season; [they had] great teamwork and better passes, we out rebounded PHS, we cut our turnovers down to half of any other games played, that’s big,” stated Head Coach Shelly Lozano. “I felt players played with their hearts. Ashlee had an outstanding game: as a 3 year varsity returner, that was the player I know she is capable of being. Her heart was on the court against rivals PHS. The girls wanted this win bad.”

Along with Ashlee scoring 21 points, she had 6 rebounds and 5 steals, the lady Grizzlies had two more players in double figures: Galvez had 16 points and Sasorith added 10 points. Sasorith had 8 rebounds, Galvez 7, Flores 6, Cerda 5.

The next home game for the Lady Grizzlies will be Monday Jan. 30 against the Cesar Chavez Titans.