Ceres High's varsity girls basketball team competed on the road twice in a three-day span this past week.

The Bulldogs improved to 8-9 overall and 2-1 in the Western Athletic Conference standings with a 58-45 bounce-back victory against Livingston on Thursday.
The 2016 WAC co-champion Wolves dropped to 7-10 and 1-2.

"I'm very happy with where our team is at," Ceres High first-year head coach Chad Hammond said. "We have a winning record in league. We've made a lot of progress since the second tournament of the season. I got a lot of good players to work with."

The Bulldogs had three players score in double figures versus the Wolves, including Camryn Silva (17), Natalia Cortez (14) and Rayohna Sagapolu (10).

Kaylee Holloway (eight), Shelby Veuve (six) and Harmen Bahia (three) also contributed on offense.

Silva tallied eight points and Cortez and Holloway both had five points as Ceres High outscored Livingston 23-6 in the momentum-swaying third quarter.

The Bulldogs trailed 27-25 at halftime.

Ceres High limited Livingston to a combined 12 points in the first and third periods.

"The big thing is team work," Hammond said. "We really moved the ball well and found a rhythm. We didn't make a lot of mental errors. We kept our poise."
Ceres High lost by blowout to Patterson two days earlier.

"The girls responded well," Hammond said. "They showed some composure and didn't panic."

Ceres High lost 70-41 at Patterson on Jan. 10.

"Our defensive rotation wasn't there," Hammond said. "It was frustrating because we work on it every day at practice."

The Bulldogs had seven different players score against the Tigers, including Cortez (13), Silva (10), Sagapolu (five), Holloway (five), Veuve (four), Bahia (two) and Ayannah O'Neal (two).

Ceres High trailed 37-18 at intermission.
The Tigers outscored the Bulldogs 16-7 in the first quarter.

"I wasn't happy at halftime," Hammond said. "I wasn't concerned with the score. I just wanted them to play basketball well. It was frustrating to watch the same thing over and over and over again and see the girls not respond. Patterson executed its game plan. They played team basketball. They were relentless."

Ceres High will host crosstown-rival/2016 WAC co-champion Central Valley tomorrow at 7:30 p.m.

The Hawks edged the Bulldogs twice (45-43, 44-43) last season.

"I don't know much about Central Valley," Hammond said. "I'm at a disadvantage because this is my first year as head coach. We'll brainstorm. We'll develop a game plan. It will be a hard-fought game."