Girls basketball crushes Canyon Crest 61-23 after loss to Monte Vista
By Bill Tamburrino
The Ramona High girls basketball team played two non-league games in a tune-up for the Kiwanis Tournament with one loss and one win to improve their record to 8-4.
Despite the loss, coach Dan Marshall praised the team’s play against Monte Vista High School. The Lady Bulldogs bounced back from their defeat to beat Canyon Crest Academy 61-23.
“The loss to Vista was a wake-up call. We realized that we needed to work on our fundamentals. Our team responded by having a good practice and playing the kind of basketball that we are capable of against Canyon Crest,” said Marshall.
The Lady Dawgs returned to playing their trademark defense. Coach Ken Scheib directs the defense and his players limited Canyon Crest to single digit scoring in all four quarters. The Lady Dawgs had 29 steals against the Ravens. Christina Barrameda and Julie Ward both had five steals in the game. Barrameda also led the team in scoring with 18 points.
Kailey Hill scored 14 points and grabbed eight rebounds, four at each end of the court. Katherine Mauldin led all rebounders with 13 boards and five points. Niki Spring (3), Mackenzie Griffin (2), Ward (6), Micaela Fields (9), and Kylee Scheib (4) also scored in the game.
The Bulldog girls showed a large home crowd what they are all about in the 70-65 loss to Monte Vista.
They got off to a bad start and then things became worse. Ramona trailed 13-8 going into the second quarter and was behind 42-24 at intermission. Just when it seemed that things couldn’t get worse they did. Midway through the third period Ramona hit the bottom and trailed the Monarchs by 29.
Marshall’s team refused to quit. Trailing 63-39 with eight minutes to go in the game, Ramona mounted a comeback. The Lady Dawgs used a weapon from years past: the 3 point goal. Spring hit three bombs and Barrameda drilled two from beyond the arch. Couple that shooting with fierce defense led by Scheib and Hannah Farhat and the Lady Dawgs made a run.
The Ramona girls outscored Monte Vista 26-7 in the final period and came up short on the scoreboard but earned the respect of their opponents and fans.
“We could have just gone through the motions. Monte Vista (5-1) is a very good team and we could have just said that they are better than us but the girls refused to quit. Instead of quitting we played pressure defense, hit some three pointers and ran our offense and rebounded. We learned from that game. We learned a lot about ourselves. Niki (Spring) sparked that improbable comeback with her 3 point shots and her aggressive rebounding,” said Marshall.
Spring came off the bench to score 14 points, grab five rebounds, one steal, and dish off two assists. Hill scored 16 points, all in the paint. Barrameda led the team with eight boards and added 13 points to the book. Mauldin scored 10 and grabbed seven rebounds. Scheib played her best defense of the season and the frosh forward scored five points, grabbed seven boards and had two steals. Ward (3) and Farhat (4) also scored in the game. Every Lady Bulldog that played in the game grabbed at least one rebound.
The Bulldog girls are scheduled to open the Kiwanis Tournament against Carlsbad High School at Serra on Dec. 19 at 3 p.m. The Kiwanis Tournament is one of the few real tournaments left. It has brackets and is a double elimination tournament. So the times and places of the games depend on the outcome of the games.