South Fork Girls Get Win in Point Arena

South Fork High’s varsity girls’ basketball team beat Point Arena 35-21 on Saturday. After losing a key player to injury, the Lady Cubs dug deep and several players stepped up to fill the vacancy.

“Regina Salomon had a great night,” said head coach Shylo Wantt. The sophomore led all scorers with 11. “Noelia Alatorre played hard, driving to the hoop to get to the line,” she added. The senior had 6 points. Freshman Jenny Martinez was brought up from the JVs to join the team and played well in her debut appearance for varsity. “Jenny gets rebounds, drives to the hoop well and had 5 points, including 3 for 4 from the line,” said Wantt.

Also scoring for the Cubs were sophomore Kylie Messenger with  7 points, senior Sabrina Miclette with 5, and sophomore Kylee Savio with a free throw.

The night before, the Lady Cubs lost to Humboldt Del Norte Little Four leaders St. Bernard’s 60-12. Noting the team started out slow in the contest, Wantt continues to be impressed with her team’s resilience. “We finished strong and we never gave up.”

Salomon had 8 points, Alatorre and Savio each had a bucket.

On Wednesday the Lady Cubs lost to Fortuna 61-11. Salomon had 5 points and Alatorre and Miclette each had three.

This week the Lady Cubs will host Laytonville on Wednesday night with a 6 pm tip-off and then will travel to Ferndale on Friday, also for a top-off time of 6 p.m.

On Saturday the Lady Cubs JVs  got their second win of the season, beating Point Arena 28-19. “It was a battle of a game,” said head coach Thomas Mulder, “and the girls never broke down on defense and ran our offense well.”

With the Lady Cubs leading the game comfortably throughout the first half, Point Arena began to climb back into the game in the 3rd quarter “so we went to a full court press and deflated their momentum.”

Freshman Jenny Martinez led all scorers with 12 points. Freshmen Hailie Haslip, Miranda Femenella and Mirna Navarrete each had four points, and freshmen Rachel Bautista and Shaylaray Bilandzija each had 2 points.

“I’m very proud of the way our team has been playing coming down the stretch of the season, ” said Mulder.

The night before, the Lady Cub JVs fell to St. Bernard’s at home 49-19. “We fought hard on defense, but couldn’t make our free throws to keep the game closer, ” said Mulder, adding the team will be working on improving scoring from the charity stripe.

“Mirna (Navarrete) had the confidence to drive up the middle and either soot or kick it out to another player,” said Mulder, please with his point guard’s progress.

Outmatched in height, the JVs tried a strategy of getting St. B’s bigger players in foul trouble. “It didn’t work out exactly as planned but we played well,” said Mulder.

Martinez had 8 points, Navarrete had 6, Femenella and freshman Carolina Pineda each had 2 and Haslip made a free throw.

On Wednesday the JVs traveled to Fortuna and lost 51-18. With a height disadvantage that “made it almost impossible for us to get rebounds,” Mulder was impressed with Fortuna’s sportsmanship in not piling on the points in this contest. “We got to try a zone defense to deal with the height disadvantage and we were able to run our offense a few times in this game,” he added, stressing the positive in the game against the much larger school.

Martinez had 11 points, Femenella had 3, and Haslip and Navarrete each made a bucket.

This week the JVs will host Laytonville on Wednesday with a 3:00 pm tip-off and then will travel to Ferndale for a 3 pm start on Friday.