Central Valley High School's varsity girls basketball team has won back-to-back games since opening the Western Athletic Conference season with a blowout loss at Patterson.

The defending WAC-champion Hawks eked out a 41-39 victory over host Livingston on Jan. 8.

"It was ugly, but we won," Hawks head coach Jesse Padilla said.

Brittany Martinez scored 19 points and grabbed 18 rebounds for Central Valley, which improved to 2-1 in conference play.

Catrina Castillo and Bianca Zuniga tallied seven and six points, respectively.

Mia Lorenzo and Ali Martinez collected four points each.

Tamara Uti had one point.

Denise Reis scored a team-high eight points for the Wolves (1-3).

Central Valley beat Livingston despite committing 29 turnovers and being hurt by foul trouble.

Brittany picked up her third foul in the first half and was relegated to the bench in the third quarter with Mia and Tamara.

"They (Zuniga, Castillo and Ali Martinez) contributed off the bench," Padilla said.

The Hawks led 32-30 at the end of the third quarter.

Each team scored nine points in the final period.

"They played us tough from start to finish," Padilla said. "It was a grind."

Central Valley will travel to Modesto on Thursday to face second-place Central Catholic.

The WAC contest will get underway at 7:30 p.m.