IN SPORTS: LODI DEFEATS RIVAL TOKAY
After an 11-point Lodi lead nearly evaporated in the fourth quarter of Thursday’s game against Tokay, Lodi girls basketball coach Kelsi Meier took a timeout and challenged her players.
“The last timeout, I asked them if they wanted to win,” Meier said. “They said yes, and I said, ‘All right. Go out there and show me.’”
Her Flames responded, holding off rival Tokay for a 40-35 victory at The Jungle.
“Basically, you need to get stops on defense, and you need to take care of the ball. That’s it,” Meier elaborated. “We could not let them get ahead, because then we need to work that much harder. So every timeout, it was take care of the ball, and play defense.”
Lodi held a 31-20 lead after three quarters, but the Tigers fought back with a full-court press and a swell of momentum and crowd noise to cut the lead to 33-31.
“We had been pressing,” said Tokay coach Shanel Mischal, “but we tweaked it a little bit, and they took the adjustment well and did it where they were getting more steals off of it.”
Then the Flames rediscovered their footing, and shooting guard Annette Vasquez struck a dagger into Tokay’s heart with a corner 3-pointer with 2:05 remaining.
“They hit that 3 in the corner, so then you just kind of have the clock as an issue,” Mischal said. “Overall, I think the difference in the game is that they took advantage of their opportunities, and we didn’t. Their fastbreak layups, they made the majority of them. We made like one. We missed almost every single one of them.”
The victory leaves Lodi (6-13) with a 2-2 league record after the first half of Tri-City Athletic League play. The Flames start the second half against Tracy on Monday.
“Since we are going into the second half, it was important,” Meier said. “And it’s always important to us, because it’s the Lodi-Tokay rivalry.”
Tokay falls to 1-4 in the TCAL and 8-14 overall.
Tokay had the hot hand to start the game, and led 11-7 after the first quarter. Lodi scored twice to tie the game right away, with a Savannah Head bucket tying the game at 11, and a Reese Hohenthaner score giving the Flames the lead after a couple of back-and-forth scores.
When Lodi tied the game,
Tokay went to their full-court defense to try and stifle Lodi’s offense. But Lodi broke the press with their dribble, and at the same time Tokay went cold, and Lodi held a 19-16 lead at halftime.
“Our biggest thing is to not let a press intimidate us,” Meier said. “So if they’re not letting us pass it, then we attack with our dribble and open things up. It pulls another person, and opens things up all the way to the basket. We tried to not let that take us back.”
Hohenthaner led an allaround effort from the Flames with 10 points, along with 8 each from Head and Annette Vasquez, 5 from Ashlee Toy, 4 from Angelina Fugazi. 3 from Ashley Vasquez and 2 from Aiyana Evans, who spent some time in the third and fourth quarters on the sideline being evaluated by medical staff following a hit to her head. She did return late in the game.
For Tokay, Aniyah Dean carried the bulk of the offense with 17 points. Jackie Enciso and Fernanda Vazquez added 6 each, Michelle Vazquez had 4 and Simone Medeiros had 2.