Tiger girls pull away late to beat Vikings
HOLTVILLE — For the briefest of moments in Tuesday’s matchup between the Imperial girls’ basketball team and the Holtville Vikings, it seemed the home team might have it in them do the unthinkable and send the 12-time Desert League champs (including this year) to their first conference loss in a decade.
They ultimately didn’t — falling 4822 — but for three out of four quarters the Vikings played the Tigers extremely close.
Entering the final frame, the Tiger advantage was only six — far less cushion then they’re accustomed to.
The Holtville defense had been incredibly stout, frustrating Imperial into one of their worst shooting performances of the season, and floating the Vikings through their own offensive struggles.
But in the fourth quarter, the dam broke hard and the Tigers went on a 20-0 run to close out the game and put the bow on yet another undefeated Desert League season.
Senior Andrea Olguin had a big night for the winners — finishing with a game-high 16 points and 10 rebounds — she was the lone Tiger to crack 50 percent shooting from the field.
Monique Carrasco matched her point total, but had a harder time getting there, needing 15 shots and six trips to the charity stripe.
Sophomore center Carolina Valdes was key to Holtville’s early success. She scored a team-high nine points, grabbed seven boards and had five blocks before fouling out.
Both teams wrap up their regular seasons later tonight, with Holtville facing off against Calexico in Calexico and Imperial playing Southwest at home.
Calexico boys bounce Southwest
CALEXICO — Three early losses may have scuttled the Calexico boys’ basketball team’s IVL title dreams, but on Tuesday they demonstrated why they had them to begin with, upending recently anointed champion Southwest 56-47 to secure a second-place finish.
The Bulldogs found themselves in a bit of trouble early, as Southwest won the first quarter 15-11, and the Eagles have a tendency to make those small leads stick, but Calexico was able to get a bead on the game in the second and pushed ahead for a 27-25 halftime lead.
The second half was more of the same, with the Bulldogs playing their game and fending off Southwest’s comeback efforts for the win.
Leading the way for Calexico was guard Fabian Reyna, who had 17 points.
Joining him in the double-digit club were Julio Ramirez (12), Aaron Tabarez (11) and Julian Beltran (10).
The win gives the Bulldogs an overall record of 14-9, and pushes the Eagles below .500 for the year at 12-13.
The two teams wrap up their regular seasons tonight. Calexico is at Holtville. Southwest hosts Imperial.
Imperial boys win rematch with Holtville
IMPERIAL — Playing at home on Tuesday, the Imperial Tiger boys’ basketball team defeated Holtville 63-38, avenging an earlier Jan. 22 loss.
Imperial controlled the game from the jump, throttling the Viking offense in the first quarter — giving up a measly four points while scoring 16 on the other end.
Holtville never really got back into it after that, as the Tigers continued to push and expand their lead throughout the game.
As is typically the case, the egalitarian Tigers spread out their scoring.
Tony Moreno topped the leaderboard with 13 points and Julio Chavez had 12.
Jordan Reed, who scored eight, made a big impact on defense, collecting six steals and coming up with nine rebounds.
The win gives the Tigers an overall record of 17-8. They had already clinched the Desert League title with Friday’s win over Palo Verde. Other results
Feb. 5
Calipatria girls (14-10) def. Palo Verde (2-21), 54-44
Palo Verde boys (9-18) def. Calipatria (10-12), 71-63
Southwest girls (16-11) def. Calexico (14-11), 49-36
Vincent Memorial boys (12-10) def. Borrego Springs (4-18), 51-12
Vincent Memorial girls (9-12) def. Borrego Springs (7-9), 68-33
Soccer
Feb. 5
Brawley boys (6-7-4) tie Central (124-4), 2-2
Imperial boys (10-13-1) def. Palo Verde (4-14-4), 5-1
Imperial girls (8-11-4) def. Palo Verde (1-19), 10-0
Southwest girls (10-11-4) def. Calexico (7-7-3), 1-0 — Aaron Bodus, abodus@ivpressonline.com