Live Oak falls in semifinals to TCAL rival North Salinas Staff
report
Live Oak falls in semifinals to TCAL rival North Salinas
Staff report
Despite a loss to Tri-County Athletic League rival North Salinas in the Alisal Winter Jam semifinals on Saturday, the Live Oak High girls basketball team took fourth place in the tournament.
The Acorns (2-9 overall) beat Greenfield 47-43 in its tourney opener on Thursday, advancing in the winners’ bracket as a result.
Live Oak dropped its next two tourney games, losing to host Alisal 59-31 in the semifinals and falling to the Vikings 52-38 in the third-place contest.
Also Saturday, Madera, one of Northern California’s top-ranked teams, took the tourney title with a 62-55 victory over the host Trojans.
Alvarez edged San Lorenzo Valley 48-45 to claim the tourney’s consolation championship.
For Live Oak, senior center Melissa Llanes led the way, scoring a team-high 30 points in three tourney games.
Llanes scored 14 in the Acorns’ victory over Greenfield, while Amanda Lytle had 10 and Ruth Dominguez added eight.
Live Oak jumped out to an early 12-4 lead in the first quarter, and led 33-32 going into the fourth quarter.
On Friday, the Acorns fell behind Alisal 20-8 in the first quarter and trailed 34-11 at the half en route to losing its semifinal contest.
Llanes again was the team’s leading scorer with nine points, while Dominguez added six.
In Saturday’s game, Live Oak fell behind 32-16 at the half but outscored North Salinas 22-20 in the second half to avert a blowout loss.
Dana Cline led Live Oak with nine points, while Llanes added seven and Dominguez had six.
Live Oak is scheduled to play at Alisal on Tuesday at 4 p.m.
