Lemoore's girls' basketball team continued its winning ways on Tuesday, crushing El Diamante 68-42. The Tigers were never seriously challenged as they raced to a 42-18 halftime lead, but on Thursday dropped a disappointed league contest to Golden West 56-50 despite scoring 25 fourth quarter points. The Tigers improved to 12-6 overall and 3-2 in the West Yosemite League.
Previous game
Just two days after dropping the ball against Redwood, Lemoore’s Lady Tigers found their shooting touch in a 48-39 victory against Mt. Whitney on the Pioneers’ home court Friday. Lemoore improved to 11-4 overall and 2-1 in the West Yosemite League, trailing league-leading Hanford by a game.
The Tigers actually suffered from a bit of the Redwood “blues” in the early going Friday night, trailing the Pioneers 13-6 in the opening stanza, but began their comeback with a 13-point second quarter and trailed just 23-19 at the half.
Lemoore finally got on track and outscored Redwood 18-11 in the third and 11-5 in the final stanza to put away the Rangers.
Dani Kinder led all Tiger scorers with 15 points while Taylor Vasquez contributed nine points and Kiesha Loftin and Kodi Steen had eight each. The Tigers will host El Diamante in another WYL contest on Tuesday and then return to Visalia on Thursday (Jan. 23) for a game at Golden West.
Previous Games
It was not a Wednesday to remember for Lemoore High’s varsity basketball teams. Lemoore’s Lady Tigers managed to narrow the gap in the final minutes of their game against Redwood High School, but found themselves on the wrong end of a 43-37 score.
Meantime, in Visalia, the varsity boys lost 77-61 to the Rangers and fell to 1-1 in the West Yosemite League and 9-7 overall.
The ladies, who also fell to 1-1 in the WYL and 9-4 overall, trailed just 36-27 in entering the final period and mounted a furious rally that managed to close what was a big gap to just seven points at the 1:20 mark. Jazmine Taylor, who finished with 10 points, scored to cut Redwood’s lead to 43-37 and then followed up moments later with another basket to cut the gap to six at 43-37.
Taylor was on fire and came up with a key steal and was fouled. But she missed the two free throws as Lemoore failed to score the remainder of the game. Kayla Beck, along with Taylor, had 10 points to lead the Tigers. It was Beck’s three-pointer midway through the third period that sparked the Tigers climb back into the contest. Keisha Loftin followed Beck’s long range bomb with a bucket of her own, that came off an offensive rebound, to close the gap to 36-23.
Loftin wasn’t finished. Moments later she drove the lane and scored on a layup and Kody Steen found the basket for two as Lemoore suddenly found them within striking distance at 36-27.
The Tigers had trouble finding the rim all night and it got worse in the opening minutes of the fourth period when the Tigers managed just four points and the Rangers went into the stretch drive boasting a 42-33 advantage.
In Visalia, despite 18 points from Chris Garcia and 17 from C.J. Johnson, the Rangers got 26 points from Josh Carr to run away from the Tigers 77-61. Carr scored 14 in the first half as the Rangers fell behind and went into the half trailing the Tigers 36-35.
Garcia was on fire in the first half, scoring 15 points, including a three-pointer in the second period. Johnson had 10 points to complement Garcia.
Redwood broke it open in the second half, outscoring Lemoore 42-25.
The Lady Tigers travel to Visalia Friday (Jan. 17) for a matchup against Mt. Whitney and then host El Diamante in a Jan. 21 contest. The boys reverse the sites, hosting Mt. Whitney Friday and then taking on the Miners in Visalia.