'We own this city': East Union girls basketball thrash crosstown rival Manteca
Before Valley Oak League play started for high school girls' basketball, East Union had its game against crosstown rival Manteca circled on its calendar.
Both teams entered Thursday's matchup 2-0 in league play and ranked top 20 in the Sac-Joaquin Section prepping the stage for a Manteca dogfight.
The Lancers delivered blow after blow until they took the rivalry matchup in a dominating fashion winning 55-44.
“We own this city,” said Nylah Dyson, East Union’s sophomore guard. “There’s three schools in Manteca and we played the other one the other night and beat them. So we had to come and handle business tonight.”
Here are the key takeaways from the Lancers win over Manteca to mark their territory as the top team in the city.
Blow the whistle
Every free throw that Dyson drained thrashed Manteca’s plan of limiting the guard offensively. Coming into the matchup the Buffaloes knew they would need to stop her to keep the game close as she is averaging around 20 points per game.
“We have to force her to her left on our weak side and not allow her to get the calls that she wants,” said Oscar Calix, Manteca’s girls’ basketball head coach. “She tried to get the refs on her side but if we just play good defense, stay low and force the ball out of her hand, we’ll be alright.”
In the first quarter, Manteca managed to keep Dyson off the foul line but that was short-lived.
She ended the night taking a game-high 16 free-throw attempts and knocked down 14 of them. Dyson wasn’t the only Lancer who knew how to draw contact. Junior Alessandra Montes finished the game going six out of nine from the free throw line.
“I’m feeling confident in myself because my free throws have been off the past few games,” Dyson said. “So I've been outside shooting 100 free throws every day just figuring out my form and my technique. I'm glad that it finally came out tonight when we really needed it.”
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The nail in the coffin
Despite falling behind early on in the game, Manteca never gave up. The Buffaloes managed to take their first lead of the game in the second quarter thanks to senior duo Jada Ikharo and Izabella Sanchez. They combined for 21 points and 16 rebounds leading their team in both stats.
Holding a 25-21 lead after halftime, the Buffaloes lost that same fight they had in the first half and foul trouble took over. East Union took advantage outscoring Manteca 25-7 in the third quarter retaking the lead and then some. Once Ikharo fouled out towards the beginning of the fourth quarter all hopes for a comeback were lost.
“We got guards who can attack the rim and create problems for our opponents,” said Jim Agostini, East Union girls’ basketball head coach. “Those rim attacks can create some situations we hope that work in our favor and that’s what happened tonight.”
The Lancers advance to 18-3 overall and sit tied 3-0 in VOL play with Kimball. They will host the Jaguars on Jan. 16 while Manteca is back in action against Sierra on the same day.
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Record reporter Shannon Belt covers sports. She can be reached at sbelt@recordnet.com or on Twitter @ShannonBelt3. Support local news, subscribe to The Stockton Record at https://www.recordnet.com/subscribenow.
This article originally appeared on The Record: 'We own this city': East Union girls basketball beat rival Manteca
