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Varsity girls basketball team second at Brentwood tourney
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The Ceres High varsity girls basketball team suffered its first loss of the season on Saturday in Brentwood.

Hayward (4-2) defeated the Bulldogs 59-52 in overtime in the championship game of the Stonebarger Tournament at Liberty High School.

"We didn't play well," said Ceres coach Shawna Nunes. "We came out and let them get an 8-0 run on us."

Heather Mazza scored a team-high 16 points for Ceres, which fell to 6-1 overall. The senior point guard made 14 of 19 free throws.

Teammates Krystle Brown, Jennifer Arnold and Kelsey Sayad had 14, eight and seven points, respectively.

Arnold buried a 3-pointer at the buzzer to send the game into overtime. The Farmers outscored the Bulldogs 9-2.

The outcome might have been different if Brown and Mazza, Ceres' top two scorers, didn't get into foul trouble.

Brown fouled out with seven minutes remaining in the fourth quarter.

Mazza fouled out with 21/2 minutes left in overtime.

"We were left without our two strongest players," Nunes said.

Ceres scored just nine points in the first quarter and trailed 29-23 at the break.

The Bulldogs outscored the Farmers 27-21 after halftime, excluding overtime.

"We played better in the second half," Nunes said.

The Bulldogs shot 69 percent (20-for-29) from the free-throw line.

The Farmers shot 41 percent (13-for-32) from the foul line.

Two of Ceres' players made the all-tourney team, including Mazza and Meghan Franksen, a defensive standout. - By DALE BUTLER / Staff Reporter of The Ceres (Calif.) Courier