Off to a flying start

Holding visiting Pioneer to just one point in the third quarter Wednesday, the Yuba City High girls basketball team broke open a close game to turn back the Patriots, 48-30, in the Tri-County Conference opener for both squads.

"We wanted to put pressure on their guards," Honkers coach John Cassidy said, noting the pressure forced Pioneer to put up a lot of bad shots.

The Patriots missed all 13 of their shots in the third quarter and finished the second half making just 5-of-28 shots.

Pioneer wasn't that much better in the first half, as the Patriots hit just 5-of-28 shots.

As poorly as Pioneer shot the ball, the Patriots (7-5, 0-1) still managed to stay in the game when the Honkers went cold for a spell.

After the Honkers (5-8, 0-1) opened a 13-2 lead in the first 5:30 of the game, Pioneer rallied with nine unanswered points to pull to within two, 13-11, at the end of the first quarter.

Yuba City continued its dry spell in the second period, allowing Pioneer to take the lead, 17-16, with 1:58 left in the half. All three of the Honkers' points came off free throws.

Finally, with 1:19 left before intermission, Yuba City connected on its first shot from the field in the second period when Ashley Richins hit a 14-foot jumper, and the Honkers held on for a 22-18 lead at halftime.

Pioneer scored the first point of the second half off a free throw before the Honkers went on a 13-0 run to open a 35-19 lead heading into the fourth quarter. Shannon Cassidy, who finished with 10 points, started the run by hitting a 3-pointer and Amarpreet Everest capped the rally with a pair of buckets down low.

"After we got that early lead (in the first quarter) I began using different lineups to see how the girls worked with one another," coach Cassidy said. "When I put our starters back in the lineup in the third quarter, everything came together." Yuba City maintained the big lead down the stretch, never allowing the Patriots to get closer than 13.

Everything seemed to click for Yuba City in the second half. Not only did the Honkers step it up defensively, but they also rebounded better and shot the ball better.

After being out-rebounded in the first half, 19-15, the Honkers came back in the second half to grab 23 boards to the Patriots' 16.

Offensively, Yuba City hit 10-of-31 shots from the field in the second half after going just 7-of-29 in the first half.

"That was our second-highest scoring game of the season," Cassidy said. "Our offense is finally starting to come around."

Cassidy added the Honkers lost their highest-scoring game to Skyline of Oakland at the Folsom Tournament, 54-53.

"We didn't have Cayla (Mladenik) in that game," Cassidy said. "Tonight you can see what we can do with her in the lineup."

Mladenik finished with five points and grabbed eight rebounds.

Brie Richins and Symren Takher each scored 11 points to lead all scorers. Richins also grabbed 10 rebounds.

"We've been practicing hard every day," said Richins, adding the Honkers even practiced on Christmas Eve.

Besides her double-double, Richins also had three assists and one steal. Everest had five steals and three assists.

"That was Amarpreet Everest's best game," Cassidy said. "She's always been a very good defensive player, and tonight she created offense off the dribble. She created open shots for Brie and she created wide open shots for Shannon."