The Valley Chronicle - Lady Tigers leave Mustangs in the dustng

SJHS Girls basketball crushed West Valley last Tuesday, 77-17

[caption id="attachment_8572" align="alignright" width="300"] Photo by Corey Evan / The Valley Chronicle
The Lady Tigers meet with coach Larry Lacy during timeout.[/caption] ■ Corey Evan / Reporter “Ladies first” isn’t just for dating; it’s also a good rule of thumb in school sports too! Tuesday Jan. 9 saw a basketball double-header when San Jacinto High School hosted the West Valley Mustangs Tuesday, Jan. 16. While the boys warmed up their game, the girls warmed up the crowd. Their game drew a large crowd with the SJHS cheerleaders and Marching Band for this match, to boot! The Lady Mustangs had the longer roster with 12 healthy players for the match, compared to San Jacinto’s eight. But how did that influence the game? Though West Valley took the tip-off, San Jacinto took the first three points of the game. From there, the Lady Tigers took off running; after one period, the score was San Jacinto 22, West Valley 5. In the second period, West Valley became heated -- on several occasions they got grabby with the ball, which didn’t make a dent in their deficit. The Tigers then picked up 17 points, whereas the Mustangs dropped in a mighty 2. The Tigers started the second half with a 3-pointer, and from there, continued their winning ways while the Mustangs struggled to find their footing. The Tigers took advantage of several Mustang turnovers and a shot clock violation to add 20 points to their count, versus the Mustangs’ 10. By the time the final period came around, the cats had the Mustangs’ tongues. To cut a long story short, the Tigers topped off their game with 18 points before the final buzzer, and the Mustangs didn’t score in the final period, giving San Jacinto the win 77-17. Sydney Woodley led the Tigers score-wise, dropping in an astounding 38 points, followed by Anaya Crouch with 10 and Align Mejia with 9. Coach Larry Lacy was definitely over the moon about the win. “It was a good game, a tune-up game,” said Lacy. “First league game, we started off on a good foot. We’ve got a lot of work to do to take down the Hemets, the Beaumonts and the Citrus Hills of the league.” With this win, the Lady Tigers have a season record of 12-6 and 1-1 in Mountain Pass League, whereas the Mustangs are now 0-13. The Tigers lost to the Hemet Bulldogs 56-51 last Thursday, and will be hosting the Tahquitz Titans this evening at 6:00 p.m., so show these teams some love!