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Dawgs, Hawks lose
Ceres High, Central Valley girls teams begin WAC play
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Angelina Ursua totaled 11 points, five rebounds and two steals during Ceres Highs 71-29 home loss to Patterson on Thursday. - photo by DALE BUTLER/The Courier

Ceres High's varsity girls basketball team dropped to 2-12 overall and 0-2 in the Western Athletic Conference standings following Thursday's 71-29 home loss to Patterson at Phil de la Porte Gymnasium.

The reigning WAC-champion Tigers improved to 12-6 and 2-0.

"Playing challenging teams is always a good thing," Ceres High head coach Aimee Gunzenhauser said. "It can only make us better."

Angelina Ursua led the Bulldogs with 11 points, five rebounds and two steals.

Camryn Silva added nine points, nine rebounds, one assist and one steal.

Harmen Bahia tallied four points and six rebounds.

Naciah Smith collected three points, two rebounds and one steal.

Mya Robinson had two points and one rebound.

"Patterson has a lot of talent," Silva said. "Hopefully, next time we play them, we'll do better. We just need to work together as a team."

The Tigers dealt the Bulldogs their sixth consecutive loss. "Patterson is a very good team," Gunzenhauser said. "But I expected us to play better against them. We had a lot of turnovers and little mistakes."

Ceres High opened WAC play with a 65-32 loss at Los Banos on Jan. 9.

"We've had a really rough season so far," Silva said. "I'm proud our team has stuck together. We need to continue to work hard, believe in ourselves and hope for the best."

Hawks fall twice
Central Valley's youth-laden varsity girls basketball team opened Western Athletic Conference play with back-to-back losses this past week.

The Hawks dropped to 1-12 on the year after losing 58-41 at Los Banos Thursday night.

"It's not really surprising," senior guard Rosie Duarte said. "I knew it was going to be a struggle this season. We lost a lot of good players to graduation. We have a young team. We'll get better."

Duarte buried four of six treys on her way to tallying a team-high 14 points.

She also had two rebounds, two steals and one assist.

Elizabeth Robinson added 10 points, three rebounds and three steals.

Robinson made six of 10 free throws.

Sunaina Dhillon had six points and four rebounds.

Angelina Knights had five points, one rebound and one assist.

Guadalupe Becerra had four points, eight assists, four rebounds and three steals.

The Hawks never recovered after falling behind 24-11 in the opening half.

Los Banos outscored Central Valley 24-10 in the third quarter.

"We need to communicate better and learn from our mistakes," Duarte said. "That's definitely important."

Central Valley lost 56-47 at Livingston on Jan. 9.

Robinson collected 12 points, nine rebounds, one assist and one steal.

Dhillon had 12 points, four rebounds and two assists.

Duarte had six points, three steals, one assist and one rebound.

Chetna Kumar had five points and four rebounds.

Becerra had three points, six rebounds, four assists and one steal.

The Wolves stormed to a 15-4 lead in the first quarter.

Central Valley outscored Livingston 34-24 in the middle periods.

Down 39-38, the Hawks mustered just nine points in the fourth quarter.

"The first quarter, we started off shaky," Duarte said. "Otherwise, I thought we did a pretty good job as a team. It was competitive."