Central Valley High School's varsity boys basketball team built on its best start in program history this past week.
The Hawks capped off their non-league schedule with a 59-52 win over visiting Hilmar on Saturday and improved to 12-3 on the year.
"Overall, I'm satisfied," head coach Darryl Dickson said. "We've started out on the right path. But our preseason record means nothing relative to us making the playoffs. We have to finish in the top three in league. It would be sad if we didn't make it."
Ryan Donnelly had 12 points, Parker Griffin scored 11 and Jaron Dickson added 10 during Central Valley's victory against Hilmar.
The Hawks beat the Yellowjackets despite being limited to eight points in the final period.
Central Valley led 51-31 at the end of the third quarter.
Central Valley cruised past Franklin, 61-30, on Friday in Stockton.
Dickson tallied 11 points.
Donnelly added eight points.
Central Valley edged Escalon 72-67 on Dec. 30 in Ceres.
Dickson exploded for a game-high 30 points.
Donnelly, Johnson, Griffin and Nimrat Chahal collected 17, 10, nine and five points, respectively.
Central Valley will begin the Western Athletic Conference portion of its schedule this week.
The Hawks will play at Central Catholic today and at crosstown-rival Ceres High on Friday. Both games will get underway at 7:30 p.m.
"I really like our chances," coach Dickson said. "We'll be prepared. Obviously, we respect both programs."
Hawks 38, Bulldogs 32
Central Valley's varsity girls basketball team wrapped up its preseason schedule with a 38-32 victory over host Turlock on Thursday.
"We should have put that team away earlier," head coach Jesse Padilla said. "We missed a lot of shots in the first half. It was ugly."
Casey McCloskey tallied eight points, nine rebounds, two steals and one block for Central Valley.
Tamara Uti collected six points, 11 rebounds and two blocks.
Mia Lorenzo totaled four points, five assists, three rebounds and two steals.
Bianca Zuniga added four points and four rebounds.
"It wasn't just one person," Padilla said. "All the girls did their job."
Central Valley led 27-20 at the end of the third quarter.
The Hawks compiled an 8-4 record during the preseason.
"I didn't think we'd do this well," Padilla said. "We're ahead of schedule. If you work hard enough, you can get to where you want."
Central Valley will play at crosstown-rival Ceres High this Thursday at 7:30 p.m. The two teams split last season.
CV 34, Turlock 30
Central Valley's freshman girls basketball team routed Turlock 45-19 for third place at its home tournament on Dec. 14.
The Hawks and Bulldogs faced off again this past week.
Central Valley escaped with a 34-30 road victory on Thursday.
"I'm not pleased with their performance," head coach Julie Gant said. "We didn't play our best."
Blanca Espinoza scored a game-high 19 points against Turlock.
Annalicia Carbone, Delores Uti and Marissa Camarillo chipped in with six, five and three points, respectively.
Alexsandra Delgado had one point.
The Hawks won six of eight games during the preseason.
"We have a pretty solid team," Gant said. "We have all the components. We just got to keep working hard."
