The Spartans, Bulldogs and Braves

Hello sports fans! Another week in the can for the Lady Cats! They played three games this week, so I was a busy Dad. Here's how it all went down:

This week was a busy one for the Portola Lady Tiger cagers. Three games in 5 days. The week started with 2 wins, but ended on a down note, with a loss on Friday to move their overall record to 21 and 2. The two wins came back to back on Monday and Tuesday of last week as the Tigers mauled the Esparto Spartans, 46 to 20, and put down the Los Molinos Bulldogs 50 to 30. The Lady Cats second defeat of the season came on Friday against the highly rated Hamilton City Braves, 28 to 54.

On Monday, the Tigers leaped ahead of the Spartans by 9 points in the first quarter, and 11 points in the second, to make the score 30 to 10 at intermission. In the first half Portola shot 50 percent from the field and drained 6 out of 8 free throws.  The Spartans toughened up in the second half, but Portola still increased their lead by 6, to end the game at 46 to 20 and improve their league record to 5 and 0. Turnovers continued to plague the Tigers as they gave the ball away 20 times during the game. The Cat's defense almost balanced out the offensive miscues however, stealing the ball 16 times. Senior Bailey Holt led with 5 take-aways. Leading scorers for Portola were Emma Briggs with 16, Marissa Wehrman and Ellie Kibble with 7 apiece, and Anna Roach with 6. Roach also grabbed 7 rebounds, Lucy Wilbanks and Wehrman hustled 5 each, and Briggs pulled down 4.

Against Los Molinos , the Lady Tigers steadily outscored the Bulldogs through out the entire match. At halftime, the girls led 24 to 13, and after the break the Cats outscored the Dogs by 9 points to notch their 21st win of the season, 50 to 30. Briggs led the scoring with 14, senior center Camry Housel netted 8, Kibble tallied 7, and Holt lit up the board for 6. Portola overcame 21 offensive turnovers with 23 steals of their own, led by Briggs with 8. The Tigers dominated the glass pulling down 48 rebounds with Roach getting 11, Wehrman, snagging 10, Briggs retrieving 9, and Wilbanks hooking 7.

On Friday, the Hamilton City Braves, ranked number one in the Northern Section Division 5, brought the high flying third ranked Tigers back down to earth. Portola struggled from the outset with a very quick and aggressive Braves squad. The first quarter was the toughest for the girls as they sank only 1 of 23 shots from the field, and Hamilton outscored them 21 to 3. By halftime, the Lady Cats trailed 31 to 6. After the intermission the girls settled down a bit, playing the Braves nearly even with a final score of 54 to 28. Portola had their poorest shooting game of the season, sinking only 19 percent of their field goal attempts, although credit needs to be given to the tough Hamilton defense as there were very few uncontested shots to be had. At the charity line the Tigers did only slightly better, making 6 out of 20. Holt was a bright spot on defense stealing the ball 5 times. Leading the scoring for Portola was Roach with 8 points, junior guard Ida Pruitt knocked down 6, and Briggs contributed 5. The top Tiger rebounders were Wehrman and Briggs with 8 each, Wilbanks with 6, and Roach with 5.

On Tuesday February 8, the Portola girls took on their arch rival Quincy at home. No scores were available at press time.

In addition to my sports writing, and ride coordination duties, Kim and I have become the Team Statisticians. We have kept statistics all season, and have now entered them into the online statistics website maxpreps.com. Here is the link directly to their specific team page: http://www.maxpreps.com/high-schools/I_3RQ3AaAUOSZGW729Cr5w/portola-tigers/girls-basketball/stats.htm . It has been very enjoyable to do, and the girls enjoy looking at the site. Well, next Tuesday is the "BIG GAME" against Quincy, wish us luck!

That's All!!