AAU Lady Badgers cagters begin a new winning tradition

Lady Badgers cagers continue to improve

By Mike Hackworth

(Updated: Friday, May 09, 2008, 5:53 PM)

The success of the Yosemite High School girls basketball team has hinged upon the success of the lower tier or feeder programs. The tradition continued Sunday when the Yosemite Youth Basketball's fifth- and sixth-grade teams finished third and first respectively at the seventh annual Top Gun Tournament in Hanford.

The sixth-grade team, coached by Erik Peterson, brought home its first first-place trophy after defeating the Ceres Shock 28-25 in overtime on Sunday.

The Lady Badgers were down by eight points at the intermission, but a second-half rally and a field goal by Rylie McConnell tied the game with 45 seconds remaining to send the game into overtime.

Yosemite's defense turned up the pressure in the second half with the rotation of McConnell (eight steals per game), Hannah McMechan, Page Peterson (five sp/g) and Jessica Rudd from the guard position; Sierra Dominici (10 pp/g and three sp/g), Hailey Greene (seven rp/g), Kaley Mumm, Julia Walsh (three rp/g), Stephanie Pardue and Jensen Eames (five rp/g) all played well in the post position.

In overtime, Rylie McConnell's trey with a minute to go iced the game.

The Badgers started the weekend with a 32-9 victory over the Clovis East Timberwolves. Dominici led all scorers with 13 points, while Eames led with seven rebounds. The Badgers won the second game of the day against the Caruthers Raiders 50-18, with McConnell leading the way with 16 points and 10 steals. Greene led the team with 12 boards.

McConnell was named Tournament Most Valuable Player, and Jensen Eames was named the most Inspirational Player.

"Kylie (McConnell), Sierra (Dominici) and Hailey (Greene) were great additions to our team this year," coach Peterson said. "They added to a good nucleus of third-year players.

The Badgers are 10-6 on the season with a first, second and a consolation championship.

"Our goal the first year was to score; last year was to win a game (we won four)," Peterson said. "This year our goal was to win a trophy. We have won three in four tourneys this year, and that is a great confidence boost for these girls."

The team travels to Auberry on Saturday for pool play with games at 10:15 and 5:45 at Sierra High School and the single elimination play is on Sunday.

On May 17 the team will play in the Running Panther Tournament at San Joaquin Memorial.

Badgers beat two Clovis teams for third place

The Yosemite Lady Badgers fifth-grade (AAU) basketball team traveled to Hanford Saturday to play in the Top Gun tournament and met with success as well.

Yosemite won its first game against the Clovis East Timberwolves, with the Badgers coming out on top 30-13. After losing to the Bakersfield Heat 45-9, Yosemite rebounded defeating the Clovis North Broncos 34-27 to earn its third-place trophy.

Veronica Miller, the Lady Badgers high scorer in each game, was awarded the Most Inspirational Award selected by the tournament committee, while Allie Stearns was voted by her teammates as the Most Improved Player.