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CV girls improve all-time basketball record versus CHS to 6-9
Mia, Bianca lead Hawks past Dawgs
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Central Valleys Heaven Simon pressures Ceres Highs Edith Peralta. The Hawks held on for a 42-34 road victory. - photo by DALE BUTLER/The Courier

Central Valley High School's varsity girls basketball team improved its all-time record versus Ceres High to 6-9 last week.

The Hawks won the Western Athletic Conference crosstown matchup, 42-34, Thursday night at Phil de la Porte Gymnasium.

"I don't get caught up in the crosstown thing," Central Valley head coach Jesse Padilla said. "I'm not a Ceres native. A win is a win. It was ugly. We'll take it."

The Hawks improved to 9-5 overall and 1-1 in the WAC standings.

The Bulldogs dropped to 1-9 and 0-3.

Central Valley has won six of the last seven meetings. The two teams split last year.

"It feels good," Hawks senior point guard Mia Lorenzo said. "But we shouldn't have won like that. We should have executed a lot better."

Lorenzo scored all 11 of her team-high points in the fourth quarter. She also tallied five steals, four rebounds and two assists.

Bianca Zuniga contributed 12 points, six rebounds and two blocks off the bench.

Casey McCloskey collected five points, six rebounds, two steals and one assist.

Ali Martinez had three points, three steals, one rebound and one assist.

Mireiyah Pelayo had three points and two steals.

Tamara Uti had two points, four rebounds, one block and one assist.

Jazareth Valencia had two points and three rebounds.

Lynaya Lerma had two points and one assist.

Mikayla Mabie had one point, four assists, three rebounds, two steals and one block.

Melissa Afortunado had one point.

Uti and Mabie both fouled out.

"Other players stepped up," Lorenzo said.

Sophomore Nicole Bates scored a game-high 15 points for Ceres High.

Perla Vargas, Adriana Haynes, Jessica Arreola and Triana Burgess totaled 10, seven, four and two points, respectively.

Central Valley trailed 26-23 at the end of the third quarter.

"I knew it wasn't going to be easy," Padilla said. "A better team would have blown us away."

The Hawks outscored the Bulldogs 19-8 the rest of the way. Central Valley made 13 of 18 free throws during the game, including 9 of 10 in the final period. Lorenzo converted seven of eight foul shots. Martinez made both of her freebies.

Ceres High struggled at the charity stripe, finishing 14 of 47 (30 percent).

"We've been working on them a lot at practice," Padilla said. "I run different drills."