Pats beat RB, face El Cap for tourney title

By Ramon Scott
Updated: January 4, 2020

2019 EAST COUNTY PREP GIRLS BASKETBALL

EastCountySports.com staff report

NATIONAL CITY – The Christian High Patriots defeated the Rancho Bernardo Broncos, 65-54, in a matchup of county top ten teams on Friday night.

The second-ranked Patriots stormed out of the gate in the second half, outscoring the ninth-ranked Broncos, 18-5, in the third quarter, to win at the Sweetwater New Year’s Classic.

The win was the 295th career coaching victory for veteran coach Vickie Carrington.

Kristin Williams buried a three-pointer around the five-minute mark to give the Patriots a 44-33 lead.

Williams had 11 points in the second half.

UC Davis-bound senior Allie Carreon had six points in the second half for Christian.

Christian led 19-14 after one period and 36-33 at halftime.

“We ended up winning but didn’t finish strong,” Carrington said. “We played okay in spurts, nothing to brag about. RB is a very good fundamentally sound team. They go hard the whole game and they competed. Hats off to them.”

Christian will play El Capitan at Sweetwater High at 7 p.m. on Saturday in a tournament contest featuring two of the East County’s top teams.

The Vaqueros were scheduled to face host Sweetwater on Friday but no result was reported.

SCRIPPS RANCH 65, FOOTHILLS CHRISTIAN 59 – The Falcons knocked off 20th-ranked Knights despite 34 points from Foothills Christian senior Ellie Turk.

The Falcons doomed the Knights early with a 22-8 edge in the first quarter. Scripps Ranch missed only one field goal attempt in the first quarter.

Scripps Ranch led 37-30 at halftime as Turk scored 13 points in the final two minutes of the first half.

Arantxa Fonseca had seven points, 16 rebounds, six blocks, and three assists for the Knights.

“We all played really hard and we work together well,” Fonseca said. “I was guarding their best post and did it as best as I could and it worked out really well.”

Turk added six rebounds and five assists

“I know we are fighters and are always able to stay in the game,” Turk said. “We were able to come back by not losing confidence in ourselves. Our defense stepped up and played hard the whole game.

“(Scripps Ranch) made a lot of shots which made it difficult. Defensively, Arantxa stood out because she had to guard a really strong girl the whole game and she held her own.”

Foothills Christian sophomore Nataly Bravo had 15 points, four rebounds, and three blocks.

Faith Wilson had five rebounds, four steals, a pair of blocks.

We had a slow start to the game,” Foothills Christian head coach Joey Turk said “We battled back in the second quarter. It was a good challenge for us and we will be better because of this game.

FCHS (12-3) will play on Saturday at 4 p.m. against Eastlake.

The Titans handed the Knights a 62-44 defeat back on Dec. 13 at the Crawford Tournament.

GROSSMONT 45, EASTLAKE 37 – Grossmont improved to 9-5 with an upset of the 17th-ranked Titans at the Hillers New Year’s Tip-Off.

It was the third consecutive win for Grossmont

SAN PASQUAL 67, MONTE VISTA 26 – Sami Gonzalez got the Monarchs off to a decent start with a pair of three-pointers in the first quarter but San Pasqual (4-11) eventually led 34-16 at halftime.

Gonzalez had 13 points for Monte Vista, which fell to 6-9. She also had a three-pointer in the third quarter.

Sophomore Sanaya Raley had a three-pointer for the Monarchs.

“My girls played hard but at the end of the day, you have to put the ball in the basket,” Sabrina Jimenez said. “We couldn’t handle their half-court defense. The result gave my bench another chance to play.”

HOOVER 54, EL CAJON VALLEY 44 – The Braves fell to 10-5 as they dropped a home game to a good Hoover team, which improved to 12-2 overall.

FRANCIS PARKER 62, STEELE CANYON 34 – Francis Parker improved to 7-5 on the season.

The Cougars are still looking for their first win. Steele Canyon fell to 0-13.

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