The Pacheco Panther girls basketball team (3-0 WAC) opened their 2025 WAC conference season with victories over the Lathrop Spartans, the Ceres Bulldogs and the Johansen Vikings.
On Monday Jan. 6, the Lady Panthers hosted the Lathrop Spartans, and paced by Mary Tava (12 points), Sasha Siemiller (14 points), Nikki Nance (6 points) and Jeanette Ortiz (5 points) they controlled the first three periods of play en route to a 25-17 advantage.
However, in the fourth quarter, the Spartans outscored Pacheco 16 to 8 to tie the score at 33 to 33, forcing a four-minute overtime period.
Senior point guard Sasha Siemiller then put the team on her back, scoring eight points, stealing three Spartan passes and collecting five of her game high 12 rebounds to lead the Lady Panthers to a thrilling 45-40 overtime victory.
Siemiller told The Express after the game, “I felt like it was my responsibility to take charge of the game and give it my all, and I think I did.”
On Tuesday, Jan. 7, Pacheco traveled to Ceres to take on the Bulldogs and came home with their second CCC conference victory by the score of 45 to 28.
Tava (13 points), Nance (10 points), Elana Angle (7 points) and Bianca Trujillo (4 points) carried the Panthers to the victory in Ceres.
Finally on Thursday, Jan. 9, the Panthers returned to the Brett Lee Gym to host the Johansen Vikings, and Pacheco rolled to a 63 to 33 victory over Johansen, to complete the three-game conference sweep.
Tava led the Panther offense with 14 points, followed by Angle (12 points), Siemiller (8 points), Ashley Jimenez (7 points) with Nance, Ortiz and Trujillo each with six points.
Coach Trent Taylor praised the effort of his team saying, “The girls are really starting to come along nicely; now we have to continue to mesh as a unit.”
