GATOR CLASSIC: Rancho gets defensive in win over Silverado

Rancho's girls basketball team didn't need a detailed scouting report Monday night.

After getting torched by Silverado's Deja Siaki only 11 days ago, the Rams made sure to avoid a repeat performance.

Using a box-and-one defense on Siaki, Rancho limited the senior guard to 10 points and rolled to a 42-24 victory to finish unbeaten in pool play at the Gator Winter Classic at Green Valley.

"(Siaki) destroyed us last game," Rancho coach Ashley Vossen said. "We know how great of a shooter she is, so we had our defense centered around trying to slow her down. If we could slow her down, then everything else would fall into place for us."

Siaki had 24 points in Silverado's 64-57 win over Rancho on Dec. 17. With Alyssa Burt and Ashlynn McCall shadowing Siaki, the senior guard was limited to three points in the first half as the Rams took a 25-9 lead.

The Skyhawks were held scoreless in the second quarter and went nearly 14 minutes of game time without scoring.

Siaki finally broke Silverado's scoring drought with 3:54 remaining in the third quarter when she went 1-for-2 at the free-throw line to cut Rancho's lead to 31-10.

Lyric Knight led Silverado with 11 points.

"I'm very happy with our defense," Vossen said. "We are a very small team. We're very undersized. Our goal is to play good defense, and if we can keep them in front of us and limit them to one shot, that's successful for us."

Maureen Macato led Rancho with 16 points, and teammate Tatianna Lee added 13 points.

Lee finished off a fast break with a buzzer-beating layup to put Rancho on top 17-9 at the end of the first quarter, and McCall scored the final four points of the first half to give the Rams a 14-point advantage at the break.

Lee scored on a reverse layup after a nice pass from Macato to extend Rancho's lead to 41-20 with 5:44 left in the fourth quarter.

Silverado never got closer than 16 points in the second half.

"It's a good feeling to go 3-0 in our pool," Vossen said. "All of this is preparation for conference. Everyone knows that our conference ridiculously hard. We have Foothill and Green Valley the first week, so we're trying to prepare for that."

Green Valley 77, El Segundo (Calif.) 63 — Ellee Barton had 19 points, and Yamilei Rodriguez added 15 points as the Gators topped the Eagles and finished atop their pool with an unblemished record.

Gwen Garcia and Jamaica Lewis scored 10 points each for Green Valley, which had 10 players score.

The Gators went 19-for-26 from the free-throw line.

Paige Endo led El Segundo with 15 points. Hannah Nonoguchi and Quinn Adams had 12 points, and Anilupi Finau added 10 points for the Eagles.

Westchester (Calif.) 53, Western 47 — Capricia Pierce finished with 20 points, but the Warriors couldn't overcome a slow start and lost to the Comets.

Destiny Gonzalez added 14 points for Western, which fell behind 16-2 after the first quarter.

The Warriors stayed within striking distance in the second half but were unable to get closer than seven points until Adrianna Jones' putback basket with 9.5 seconds left provided the final margin.

Briana Anugwom had a game-high 24 points for Westchester, and teammate Heyavin Johnson scored 10.

White Pine 61, Malibu (Calif.) 16 — Ashlyn Huntington led four players in double figures with 13 points in the Bobcats' win over the Sharks.

Mikinley Prengel, Debra Kingston and Madison Rick each finished with 10 points for White Pine, which led 35-9 at halftime.

Nina Hungerland had seven points for Malibu.

Foothill 44, Spanish Springs 29 — Kylie Vint had a game-high 13 points, and the Falcons beat the Cougars to finish unbeaten in pool play.

Nine players scored for Foothill, which opened the game on a 16-2 run.

Anhelica Hafley led Spanish Springs with six points.

Coronado 63, Western 57 — Ksana Montoya had 22 points and 10 rebounds, and Haley Tyrell scored 19 as the Cougars held on despite big games from Warriors' duo of Gonzalez and Pierce.

Payton Caci finished with 13 points for Coronado, which used a 22-12 run in the third quarter to take control after the teams were tied at 29 at halftime.

Tyrell, who added eight rebounds, finished 8-for-11 at the free-throw line. Coronado made 21 of its 32 foul shots, while Western went 13-for-16.

Gonzalez poured in 31 points, including 12 in the fourth quarter to keep the Warriors close. Gonzalez was 10-for-10 at the free-throw line.

Pierce had 12 of her 20 points in the second half.

Spring Valley 64, Yosemite (Calif.) 35 — Essence Booker had 24 points, and the Grizzlies overwhelmed the Badgers.

Kayla Harris scored 14 of her 16 points in the first half to help Spring Valley take a 30-14 lead at halftime.

Kalynn Lesley added seven points, as eight players scored for the Grizzlies.

Jessica Fine led Yosemite with nine points. Allie Stearns, who had 28 points in a 68-47 loss to Dimond (Alaska), was held to eight points by Spring Valley's swarming defense.

Westchester (Calif.) 68, Durango 35 — Brittany Romo finished with 11 points in the Trailblazers' loss to the Comets.

Durango trailed by six points after the first quarter, but was unable to keep up with Westchester guard Briana Anugwom, who finished with 30 points.

Anugwom had 12 points in the third quarter as the Comets used an 18-6 run to take control.

Heyavin Johnson added 12 points for Westchester.

Silverado 62, Malibu (Calif.) 27 — Siaki made four 3-pointers and finished with 18 points, and Ja'Neal Coleman added 13 points to lead the Skyhawks past the Sharks.

Sidni Wise-Wright had 11 points, and Knight scored 10 for Silverado, which led 37-8 at halftime.

Hungerland led Malibu with 10 points.

Moapa Valley 34, Needles 30 — Tapanga Durham had a game-high 10 points to lead the Pirates past the Mustangs.

Kyla Shumway added nine points for Moapa Valley.

Preslee Murch led Needles with eight points.

Rancho 38, White Pine 23 — Lee and Kyndal Ricks each had 12 points as the Rams beat the Bobcats.

Rancho opened the game on a 12-5 burst and was never threatened in the second half despite finishing 9-for-23 at the free-throw line.

Kingston led White Pine with six points.

Needles 45, Spanish Springs 43 — Brenna Chavez had a team-high 15 points, and the Mustangs edged the Cougars.

Jayne Antone had 13 points, and Jasmine Mejia scored 11 for Needles, which held on after opening the game on a 13-4 run.

Antone had eight points in the third quarter to help give the Mustangs a 33-28 advantage. Chavez went 4-for-4 from the free-throw line in the fourth quarter, and Needles was 11-for-16 from the line overall.

Anhelica Shanrock had 15 points, including three 3-pointers in the second half, to lead Spanish Springs.

Spring Valley 53, Mainland (New Zealand) 40 — Harris had 20 points, and Booker added 19 points in the Grizzlies' victory over the Eagles.

Harris had 10 points in the first quarter as Spring Valley jumped to an 18-10 lead. The Grizzlies led 40-24 heading into the fourth quarter.

Harris and Booker each went 6-for-9 from the free-throw line as Spring Valley made 16 of its 27 foul shots, compared to an 8-for-21 showing by Mainland.

Sapphire Wairau led Mainland with 13 points. Roseie O'Shea and Zoe Richards added 10 points each for the Eagles.

Foothill 66, Del Sol 25 — Trinity Betoney had 15 points, and Rae Burrell added 12 points as the Falcons pulled away from the Dragons.

Katey Roquemore finished with 11 points and made three of Foothill's six 3-pointers.

The Falcons outscored Del Sol 49-11 in the middle quarters, including a 24-2 run in the third quarter.

Ana Ozuna led the Dragons with 14 points.

Green Valley 57, Moapa Valley 21 — Rodriguez had 13 points as the Gators pounded the Pirates.

Brooke Haney added 11 points, and Ashly Gale-Fernandez had eight of her 10 points in the second half for Green Valley.

The Gators led 32-12 at halftime and put away the game with a 19-3 run in the third quarter as Barton, Haney and Gale-Fernandez each made 3-pointers.

Kinlee Marshall led Moapa Valley with seven points.