On Jan. 3, the Los Banos Tigers girls basketball team traveled across town to the Brett Lee gym on the Pacheco High School campus to play the Pacheco Panthers for the final time as the schools are now in different leagues.
In the first half of the game it was a see-saw battle between the two Los Banos schools, with the Tigers taking a 7 to 4 first period lead, only to have Nikki Nance and Ellie Tapia (6 points each) lead the Panthers back to outscore the Tigers 13 to 7 to take a 17 to 14 advantage into halftime.
It was a completely different game in the second half as the Lady Tigers scored 17 points in the third period paced by Sienna Freitas (17 points), while the Panthers managed only 6 points, and Los Banos opened up a 31 to 23 advantage.
The Tigers scored another 17 points in the fourth quarter led by Kanin Welch (17 points) and Cassidy Barcellos (8 points) but Pacheco matched the Tigers 17 points with 17 points of their own paced by Mary Tava (game high 15 points) and Sasha Siemiller (6 points), but it was not enough to overcome the Tiger’s eight point advantage and Los Banos claimed the victory by the score of 48 to 40.
Tiger coach Lorenda Sanchez praised her girls saying,”We really stepped up our defense tonight, Brooke (Barton), Avery (Vierra) Sienna (Freitas) and Gabby (Romo) were all over the court, and Kanin (Welch) and Sienna shot the ball extremely well.”
In junior varsity action, Pacheco High JV girls defeated Los Banos 27 to 23.
