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Girls struggle minus leader
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With star guard Julie Calderon on the bench in foul trouble, Central Valley High School's varsity girls basketball team never found a rhythm offensively in losing 59-14 to conference rival Sonora Thursday night at Bud Castle Gym.

"That hurt us a lot," Hawks coach Jesse Padilla said. "They all kind of panicked."

Calderon, who played sparingly in the opening half after picking up three fouls, was held scoreless.

Phylicia Martinez led Central Valley with five points. Crystal Gutierrez, Madalyn Khut and Miranda Espinoza added four, three and two points, respectively.

With the loss, the Hawks dropped to 4-11 overall, 0-3 in the Valley Oak League standings.

Adrianne LeBlanc led the Wildcats (12-5, 3-1) with 19 points, including three treys. Allison Drobish tallied 10 points. Freshman Kelli Keefe scored nine points on three 3s.

Sonora made nearly four times as many field goals than Central Valley (23-6).

The Wildcats overwhelmed the Hawks in the first half with aggressive play. Sonora scored the game's first 21 points on their way to building a 27-6 lead.

"They played physical basketball," Padilla said.

Central Valley was called for 13 to Sonora's three in the opening 16 minutes.

Padilla's frustration boiled over in the third quarter when Martinez drew what appeared to be a foul while executing an up-and-under move on the offensive end.

Jesse was assessed a technical foul after play continued on.

"I went ballistic," he said.

The Hawks were outscored 32-8 in the second half.