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Ladies lose 51-43 to Turlock High
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The Ceres High girls basketball team wants to host a first-round playoff game. With the start of the Sac-Joaquin Section Division I playoffs less than a month away, the Bulldogs must win as many league games as possible.

On Thursday, Ceres had a chance to strengthen its bid for one of the top eight seeds in the playoffs.

Turlock kept that from happening as it defeated Ceres 51-43 at Turlock High School and improved to 3-4 in the Central California Conference standings, 9-13 overall. Ceres fell to 5-2 in the CCC, 15-7 overall. First-place Davis has a two-game lead over Ceres in the CCC standings.

"We didn't play well," said Ceres High assistant coach Phil de la Porte, whose team ranked eighth in the Division I basketball power ratings for games played through Jan. 24. The top 16 teams advance. The top eight teams host first-round games.

Ceres shot just 11 percent (1-for-9) from 3-point range, 39 percent from the field and 56 percent (10-for-18) from the free-throw line.

Six Ceres players scored, including two in double figures.

Quantelle Daniels had a game-high 14 points, including 12 in the second half, and five rebounds. Krystle Brown had 10 points, including just one in the second half.

Meghan Franksen had seven of her points in the first half. Heidi Eisenbeis, Heather Mazza and Jessica Mazza had four points.

Eight Turlock players scored.

Ramanjot Randhawa scored a team-high 13 points, including eight in the second quarter. She also made three 3-pointers. Jamie Solis had 11 points, including nine in the second half, eight rebounds and six steals. Julie Sichenider and Amanda Schoeneman had seven points.

Tanelle King and Amber Johnson added six and five points, respectively.

Each team scored 24 points in the first half. Ceres led 13-8 at the end of the first quarter but was outscored 16-11 in the second quarter.

Randhawa and King accounted for 14 of Turlock's 16 second-quarter points. Randhawa and King had eight and six points, respectively.

Turlock outscored Ceres 14-8 in the third quarter and led by six, 38-32, heading into the final quarter. Solis, Johnson and Schoeneman scored 13 of Turlock's 14 points. Solis had five, including one 3-pointer. Schoeneman had five points. Johnson made a 3-pointer.

Ceres' Brown and Franksen totaled just one point in the second half.

Turlock outscored Ceres 13-11 in the fourth quarter.

Turlock shot 57 percent (8-for-14) from the foul line. Turlock had just seven turnovers.

Dawgs top Cougars

Ceres High forced 26 turnovers, including 15 in the second half, during its 48-45 victory over Golden Valley at Cougar Arena on Tuesday, Jan. 28.

The Bulldogs' biggest defensive play was made in the final 15 seconds of the game. Ceres' Meghan Franksen didn't allow Golden Valley's Roberta Riley to shoot a 3-pointer. She knocked the ball away from Riley and into the hands of Quantelle Daniels, who avoided getting fouled in the final eight seconds.

Ceres improved to 15-5 overall, 5-1 in the CCC. Golden Valley fell to 12-10 overall, 3-3 in the CCC. The victory helped Ceres remain a game behind the Davis Spartans in the league standings.

The Bulldogs led 26-23 at intermission. Ceres outscored Golden Valley 13-11 in the first quarter, 13-12 in the second quarter.

Franksen and Brown accounted for 21 of Ceres' 26 first-half points. Franksen had 11 points on 5-for-6 shooting. Golden Valley's Christie Bryant had 10 points in the opening half.

Each team scored 22 points in the second half.

The score was tied at 34-all heading into the fourth quarter. GV outscored Ceres 11-8 in the third quarter. Bryant had five points.

Ceres outscored Golden Valley 14-11 in the final quarter. The Bulldogs went on an 11-5 run in the span of 4:24 and pushed their lead to six, 45-39.

The Bulldogs led 48-43 with less than a minute remaining. Sarai Cisneros made two free throws to cut Ceres' lead to three, 48-45, with 52 seconds left.

Eight Ceres players scored, including two in double figures.

Franksen had a team-high 16 points. Brown scored 14 points. Daniels, Heather Mazza and Jennifer Arnold added six, four and three points, respectively. Kelsey Sayad, Jessica Mazza and Heidi Eisenbeis had two points.

Seven Golden Valley players scored.

Bryant scored a game-high 17 points. Kim Spinardi, Nicole Sandino and Riley had nine, six and five points, respectively. Brittany Rouzan had four points. Cisneros and Fabi Sandoval had two points.

Ceres shot 53 percent (9-for-17) from the free-throw line.

Golden Valley shot 77 percent (10-for-13) from the foul line. - By DALE BUTLER / Staff Reporter of The Ceres (Calif.) Courier