More than two seasons of frustration ended for the Live Oak High
girls basketball program, which won the first Tri-County Athletic
League game in program history Thursday night
– a 47-41 victory over visiting Salinas. (The TCAL was formed in
2002-03.) “This is exciting for us – it’s exciting for everyone,”
first-year LO coach Jeff Perkins said. “It’s something we can build
on. It’s a confidence thing. Once we get a little confidence,
everything starts falli
ng into place. It’s also a little bit about believing that we
belong with these teams.”
More than two seasons of frustration ended for the Live Oak High girls basketball program, which won the first Tri-County Athletic League game in program history Thursday night – a 47-41 victory over visiting Salinas. (The TCAL was formed in 2002-03.)
“This is exciting for us – it’s exciting for everyone,” first-year LO coach Jeff Perkins said. “It’s something we can build on. It’s a confidence thing. Once we get a little confidence, everything starts falling into place. It’s also a little bit about believing that we belong with these teams.”
LO’s senior guard Amanda Lytle and Acorn sophomore guard Megan Gulla were thrilled.
“This is my first (league) win so it feels great,” Lytle said.
“This is so much better (than losing),” Gulla said.
Not that it was easy. With a 21-game league losing streak on the line, it was little surprise that the game was a nail-biter at the end.
After LO rode a hustling defense to a 33-19 lead late in the third quarter, Salinas rallied.
The Cowboys went on a 15-5 run to pull within four points with just under four minutes to play before a Mattie Borges free throw and a Lytle bucket and free throw stunted the charge.
The Cowboys fought back with a 6-1 run to pull within 43-41 with 22 seconds left. But LO’s Lytle and Gulla scored the last four Acorn points on free throws to put the game in the win column.
“We hung on well and hit our free throws down the stretch,” Perkins said.
Borges led the way for the Acorns with 14 points, including a 3-pointer, and Gulla added nine.
Next week, LO plays at Notre Dame on Wednesday at 7pm before hosting Gilroy on Friday at 5:30pm in the opener of a doubleheader against the Mustangs that includes the Acorn boys taking on the GHS boys at 7pm.
LO boys hoops
On Wednesday night, the LO boys basketball team floundered at Salinas, losing by a 54-45 score.
According to LO coach Brett Paolucci, nothing went right for the Acorns, who managed just single digit scoring in each of the first two quarters and had just 13 points at halftime.
“Nothing much happened on our end,” Paolucci said. “We weren’t ready to play basketball. Salinas allowed us to get into our offense but we didn’t hit our shots, we didn’t play good defense and we didn’t get the ball into the post when we should have. We had them figured out pretty well but that doesn’t mean you’re going to win the game. You still have to go out and execute.”
Trailing by 12 points at the half, LO still had a shot at making a game of it in the second half but continued to struggle.
“It kind of carried over to the second half,” Paolucci said.
Finally, in the fourth quarter, Paolucci yanked his starters and inserted his bench, which played better.
“We buried ourselves such a deep hole we couldn’t get out of it,” Paolucci said. No way can we compete with a (first-half) score that low.”
Junior swingman Brandon Greene led the Acorns with 10 points off the bench, while the LO starters managed just 24 points.
LO (9-7 overall, 0-2 in TCAL) hosts a pair of games next week, including Tuesday’s game against Palma and Friday’s matchup against Gilroy. Both games are set for 7pm.
