Roseville outruns No. 12 Lodi
Lodi High’s successful season in girls basketball came to a halt on Tuesday when the Flames ran into a buzzsaw in the first round of the Sac-Joaquin Section Division II playoffs.
No. 5 Roseville took down No. 12 Lodi 74-34 to end the Flames’ season.
“They were very physical. They just hit their shots,” Lodi coach Brandon Shea said. “Their girls could catch and shoot, pull up the dribble and shoot it, they got to 50/50 balls, attacked the glass. We were here, but we didn’t show up, basically.
“We had a tough time scoring. We put too much pressure on ourselves, I think.”
Monica Valenzuela led the Flames (19-8) with seven points, followed by six from Aiyana Evans, five from Marissa Fabian, four each from Malina Nino and Ellia Van Tassel, three each from Zoe Faulkner and Alexis Acosta and one from Aubrey Andrews.
Lodi will graduate six seniors in Valenzuela, Alexa Brand, Alexis Acosta, Andrews, Alaina Gravenkamp and Abbey King, but have a strong group of juniors (Faulkner, Nino and Katelyn Eproson) and sophomores (Fabian, Van Tassel, Brooke Aberle and Veronica Alejandrez) coming back. Evans is a freshman.
“Now we take some time off and start working for next year,” Shea said. “We’re pretty young. We just have to spend time in the offseason getting better. We can’t afford to have girls come in with the same skills. The girls have to put the time in, just work on their weaknesses. That’s the only way we’ll be successful.”
Roseville advances to play No. 4 Elk Grove, a 62-27 winner over Will C. Wood, on Thursday.
“I feel bad for the seniors, especially Alexa, with her out with an injury all last year and coming back,” Shea said. “I wish we could have gotten a ‘W’ for them, but that’s not how it turns out sometimes.”
Boys soccer: Elk Grove beat Lodi in Penalty kicks
After tying in regulation, No. 3 Cosumnes Oaks defeated No. 14 Lodi 30 in penalty kicks to advance past the first round of the Division I playoffs.
Cesar Calderon and Tyler McBee scored for Lodi, with assists from
Andrew Clemons and Eddie Sandoval. Julian Lopez blocked eight shots in goal.
Playing well for Lodi (7-8-1) were Adrian Vargas, Sergio Gomez, Guillermo Baron and Logan Acosta.
Ben Holt to defend girls soccer title in Division VII
The Ben Holt girls soccer team begins its quest for a second straight Sac-Joaquin Section Division VII title tonight at the Grape Bowl.
The second-seeded Bobcats (15-3-1) open the playoffs against No. 7 Vacaville Christian (8-5), the third-place finisher in the Sierra Delta League.
Ben Holt, a charter school in Morada, won the Central California Athletic Alliance at 14-0-1, with the only blemish a 2-2 tie against Venture Academy. Venture is the sixth seed in Division V.
The first-round game is a rematch of last year’s D-VII championship game, which Ben Holt won 4-2 over Vacaville Christian.