Yosemite's girls basketball team stopped Hanford's Taylor Spikes after she scored the game's first six points, but the Lady Badgers couldn't come up with an answer to stop her sister, Madison, last Friday night.

Madison Spikes scored 10 points, including a 3-point buzzer-beater during the decisive first-quarter run, to lead the top-ranked Bullpups to a 69-48 Division II Central Section championship game victory over No. 3 Yosemite last Friday night in Selland Arena.

Yoder surprises everyone, returns to baseball

Football season was over and almost forgotten and basketball was a week away, so Yosemite High School senior Garrett Yoder and his friends headed off to Sierra Summit for a little snowboarding and some fun. It was December 13.

Foul weather delays start of season

After the rain forced rescheduling of several games, the Yosemite Badgers boys baseball team finally got a game in on Thursday with McLane at Central High School's field.

The Yosemite Lady Badgers basketball team is once again in the thick of the Central Section playoffs.

Last night's semi-final round of the CIF Central Section Division II girls basketball playoffs between the Yosemite Lady Badgers and the No. 6 seed Redwood Rangers decided who would play at Selland Arena tomorrow night at 6 p.m. for the championship.

Two Yosemite High School wrestlers, heavyweight senior Dakota Smith in the 276-pound weight class, and sophomore Kyle Lincoln in the 171-pound weight class, have qualified for the California State Wrestling Championships.

The state wrestling championships will be held tomorrow and Saturday at Rabobank Arena in Bakersfield.

Averaging a little more than 12 minutes playing time per game, Yosemite's Sydnee Fipps has been making the most of it.

Fipps scored 20 of her 29 points before halftime and knocked down six 3-pointers.

The Sierra Historic Sites Association held its monthly board meeting last Thursday under a cloud of concern by board members regarding the future of the Fresno Flats Historic Park.

"There is a real sense of concern that we will not have the funds available to remain open," said SHSA treasurer Barbara Skowronski. "Like everything else nowadays, economic troubles are affecting the park."

In its first playoff appearance in more than five years, the Yosemite High School boys soccer team ran afoul with injuries and illness losing a tight first-round playoff match to the Clovis North Broncos last Tuesday in Clovis. Playing without team co-captain Roman Morales, co-captain Matt Ruddock suffering an injured knee and goalkeeper and co-captain Justin Webb fighting the flu, the Badgers (6-5-2, 6-1-2 NSL) still fought until the final whistle.

"After a game is over, you sit down and figure out what happened," said Head Badger coach Ron Cox. "It was just several little things, like the weekly routine (practice schedule) with no school and then when we got down there, the warm weather also took a toll."

Smith, Lincoln give Badgers one-two punch at Valley Championships

The Yosemite High School wrestling team, continuing its quest to rank among the Central Section's top wrestlers, finished in 10th place in the Sierra-Sequoia Valley championship tournament at Shafter High School last Friday and Saturday.

The No. 6 seeded Yosemite High School Lady Badgers girls soccer team rolled past its first obstacle in the Central Section Division III playoffs defeating the No. 11 seeded Dinuba Emperors 5-1 in first round last Wednesday in Badger Stadium.

Yosemite (16-6-2, 7-3-0 NSL) sent its offense, with sophomore Riley Cooks leading the way, on the attack with the opening kick and overwhelmed the Dinuba (1-11-2, 1-4-1 CSL) defense.

In a contest that was not easy to watch, a combination of turnovers and poor shooting sealed the season for the Badgers. Playing in Kerman on Senior Night last Friday, the Yosemite High School boys basketball team (7-17, 2-8 NSL) played tough and aggressive defense and stayed in the game for 26 minutes before falling 42-26.

The Badgers allowed Kerman (11-7, 6-4 NSL) to build a 12-point lead in the first quarter and over the course of the game could not make up the deficit. As usual, the first half was an offensive struggle for the Badgers with Yosemite trailing 28-18 at the break. The teams combined for 34 turnovers, but the tempo of the game was in Kerman's favor.

The Yosemite High School girls basketball team's regular season finale at Kerman was anticlimactic with the Lady Badgers rolling 74-30. The win was its 68th consecutive league victory and eighth consecutive league title.

Yosemite jumped out to a 30-8 first-quarter lead and, for the most part, said good evening to its starters. The Badgers bench accounted for 23 of the team's total points. Yosemite controlled the tempo from start to finish, playing ball control, driving the lanes and shooting from the paint -- taking 39 shots from the perimeter connecting on a dozen 3-pointers.

The Yosemite Badgers boys soccer team has turned its fortunes around. Coming off of a dismal 1-8-2 league season in 2009, the Badgers, under coach Ron Cox, have returned to the playoffs.

After losing to 1-0 to Chowchilla in the North Sequoia League season opener, the Badgers did not look back rolling to a second place finish in the league with a record of 6-1-2 (10-6-2 overall).

Sydnee Fipps chases school records, may become highest scorer in school history

With the Central Section Girls Basketball playoffs opening Feb. 24, Yosemite High School's hopes of wrestling the Division II title away from the Hanford High School rely on the team's ability to score and score often. The Bullpups currently lead the Central Section in scoring with 2,146 points for a 79.5 points per game average.

As the 2009-2010 girls basketball season winds down, the Yosemite Lady Badgers are just getting started. Playing three games in one week due to rescheduling, the team collected three victories, averaging 95 points a game.

On Tuesday, the team traveled to Madera Ranchos to play the Liberty Hawks (4-15, 0-7 NSL) and returned home with a 90-48 victory.

Six months after Yosemite High School began a drug-testing program for students participating in interscholastic activities, the results are in.

To date there have been 116 students tested with only one positive result, which was attributed to prescribed medication. The program tests for amphetamines, methamphetamines, cocaine, marijuana, opiates, phencyclidine, and with a separate test, alcohol.

The problem with playing three games in a week is that there is little time to regroup after each game and no time to practice.

The Yosemite Badgers (7-15, 2-6 NSL) boys basketball team learned that lesson playing the Liberty Hawks (5-17, 1-5 NSL) in Madera on Tuesday, and then hosting the Hawks on Wednesday and the Washinton Union Panthers (18-10, 8-0 NSL) on Friday of last week.

On Jan. 12, playing under less than ideal conditions, Angela Peters, playing in the River Creek Ladies Golf Club's weekly tournament, scored her first hole-in-one on the 146-yard hole No. 3 at the River Creek Golf Course.

Peters, using a nine wood, teed of from the gold tee to sink a shot that most golfers usually just dream about.

It was an exciting week of basketball for the Yosemite High School girls team as they extended the team's consecutive league victories record to 63 games with wins over Kerman (2-17, 1-6 NSL) and Sierra (15-6, 4-1 NSL). Along the way, the Lady Badgers broke their own 3-point state scoring record.

Yosemite 90, Kerman 41

The Yosemite boys basketball team is still mired in a scoring drought. Last week the Badgers defense held the Kerman Lions to 47 points, usually good enough to win, but, at 32 points, could not muster up enough offense to pull out a victory.

On Friday, Yosemite traveled to Sierra High School to take on the Mountain Area rival Chieftains and were defeated 51-37.

Class of 2010 produces a pair of stunning student athletes

As has become the custom at this time of the new year, the Sierra Star has selected a pair of student athletes who stood above their varsity peers as the Student Athletes of the Year for 2009.

The Yosemite High School boys soccer team earned some respect in the North Sequoia League last week after going 3-0-0, including a two-game sweep of Mountain Area rival Sierra High School last Thursday and Saturday at Sierra.

The Badgers, who have not lost in 2010, started the week by hosting Kerman on Wednesday. The Lions and Badgers fought to a scoreless first half with neither neither team gaining the advantage. Midway in the second half, the Badgers lost their leading scorer, Roman Morales, to an injury in a diving attempt to head a ball into the goal.

Yosemite High School girls basketball coach Gary Blate could not complain about his team's play after Friday's 87-31 victory over Chowchilla, registering consecutive league victory 61.

The third-ranked Badgers (20-2, 3-0 NSL) had reason to be happy after their most lopsided victory since a 79-37 win against Lemoore at the Hoover Holiday Classic in December. It was their fewest points allowed since a 64-30 win over Cimarron-Memorial of Las Vegas, also in December.

The Yosemite Badgers boys basketball team hasn't solved its problem of starting slow, and that didn't change last Friday night, needing a 19-2 run in the third quarter to catch and overtake the Chowchilla Redskins in a 54-48 North Sequoia League thriller.

The Badgers (6-10, 1-2 NSL) trailed by seven with 25-18 at the intermission, scoring just six points in the second quarter. Yosemite's defense, led by junior post Caleb Cederblom who had 11 rebounds and a blocked shot, held the Redskins (5-10, 1-3 NSL) to a field goal in the third quarter.