LIBERTY RANCH UPSETS LODI
GALT — If Liberty Ranch was playing on the TV game show Jeopardy, the answer would be Olivia Nelson, Ashley Kirbyson and defense.
The question? What did Liberty Ranch use to knock off Lodi in an area nonleague high school girls basketball team at The Hawks Next on Monday? Liberty Ranch’s two guards plus defense led to posting a comefrom-behind 50-41 win over Lodi, which led for three quarters and the first 10 seconds of the fourth quarter before Liberty Ranch took over the game.
Liberty Ranch (1-0) took the lead for good halfway through the final quarter, taking over when Nelson hit a bank shot that gave the Hawks a 40-39 lead. That ignited Liberty Ranch to a 10-2 run in which Kirbyson scored five of her team-high 11 points during that stretch, and Nelson (10 points) hitting another basket.
“They really fought back,” said Liberty Ranch interim head coach Sean Duryee, coaching in place for ill head coach David Mullens. “Ashley came through for us. We did a couple of plays to set her up, and she capitalized on them.”
Earlier in the quarter, Liberty Ranch, playing its first game of the season, started its rally 10 seconds into the fourth quarter. Kirbyson, from top of the arc, calmly sank a 3-pointer at the 7:50 mark that trimmed the Flames’ lead to 36-35. After a Lodi (0-2) turnover, Liberty Ranch got its first lead at 3734 when Courtney Six nailed a shot near the baseline.
Lodi, which led 24-16 at halftime, maintained its lead throughout the third quarter. But the Hawks’ defense, led by Nelson and guard Jada Hightower, forced the Flames’ backcourt into turnovers. But Lodi relied on the shooting from its front court players in center Veronica Alejandrez and forwards Ellie Van Tassel (team-high 12 points), who had a combined eight points in this quarter, and Brooke Aberle (nine points).
“The fact is we turned the ball over too many times,” said Lodi head coach Brandon Shea. “Didn’t take care of the ball on offense.”
At halftime, Lodi held a comfortable 24-16 lead. At that point, the Flames looked like they would keep the Hawks in place from the offensive standpoint. But the Hawks’ backcourt defense started to pick up steam.
“We didn’t get the open shots,” Shea said. “We didn’t push on offense, tried to score. We weren’t attacking hard.”
Lodi clung onto an 11-9 advantage after the first quarter, but expanded it to 24-16 at halftime. That’s when Van Tassel’s hot shooting — she scored nine of her points in the quarter — became a factor.
Behind Kirbyson in scoring for the Hawks were Nelson with 10 points and guard Briley Jordet, coming off the bench, with eight points. Hightower finished with seven points, Anatasia Contreras five, Giovanna Parino three and Courtney Six, Olivia Klotz and Tori Azevedo two points each.
Scoring behind Van Tassel and Aberle were guard Ashley Vasquez five, Alejandrez and Ashley Toy four each and guards Marissa Fabian and Calista Morita three each.