NEWMAN, Calif – A new season begun for the Orestimba High girls basketball team on Tuesday.
Action in the Trans-Valley League for Orestimba (6-6 in the TVL, 14-12 overall) came to an end on Thursday.
Here is a breakdown of the Warriors’ games last week entering their playoff game.
Playoffs
On Saturday, the Sac-Joaquin Section released its playoff brackets on its website – www.cifsjs.org – for all six divisions.
Orestimba was placed in the No. 13 spot in Division IV and played at No. 4 West Campus of Sacramento on Tuesday.
“It’s gonna be a tough game for us,” said Orestimba head coach Dwain Bell in preparing his team for the playoffs. “They (West Campus) have a great team that is very well coached. But I believe we have heart. These girls don’t ever quit, and they will fight until the last whistle.”
The winner of the Orestimba-West Campus playoff game will take on the winner of the No. 12 Central Catholic-No. 5 Bear River, out of Lakes of the Pines.
Other teams in the same brackets as the Warriors are No. 9 Ripon at No. 8 Sutter, while top seed Liberty Ranch of Galt has the first-round bye. Liberty Ranch will play the winner of the Ripon-Sutter game.
TVL finale
Orestimba wrapped up TVL play at Escalon, on Thursday. Escalon came away with a 63-19 win.
“We knew Escalon was a good team and they have been on a roll,” said Bell of the Cougars. “We just couldn’t put anything together. I give credit to Escalon’s team defense on taking us out of our game.”
Olivia Gray was the leading scorer for the Warriors with eight points. Mirella Fregoso followed with five points and Ashlynn Bell and Shantelle Pizarro had three points each.
Orestimba 29, Ripon Christian 16
In their final home game of the season on Feb. 11, the Warriors were too much for the visiting Knights.
“This was the first game we were able to wear our new black jerseys,” said Dwain Bell. “All the girls came out prepared to play for the seniors and motivated knowing that it if we won, we would qualify for the playoffs. Our defense was really on point this game.”
Gray led the way in scoring for Orestimba with 12 points. Lilly Rocha followed with eight points, Fregoso four, Ashlynn Bell and Pizarro two each and Belle Martens one.
Mike Bush is a multimedia journalist who was born and raised in the Stanislaus and Merced County areas. Follow him on X/Twitter @MikeBMultimedia and Instagram @mikebushphotography.
