For the Riverbank varsity girls basketball team, it was a pretty intense week. All the other winter sports at the high school had finished their seasons, and spring sport practices had begun.
For the Lady Bruins, the semifinal and championship rounds of the Sac-Joaquin Section Division 4 tournament lay ahead.
SJS Semifinal Game
Riverbank got to host the semifinal game, on Tuesday, Feb. 21. Neighboring rival Escalon came to play, but fell behind the home team early in the first quarter and never caught up.
At the end of that first frame, the Lady Bruins led, 17-7, and were ahead, 34-20 at the half. By the third quarter, it was 47-35, and they won 58-41, at the end, in front of a packed house.
Scoring for the RHS girls saw Taylor Macias and Rayne Tago leading the team, with 16 points each. Next was Livi Fernandez, with 13 points.
Winning the semifinal sent the Lady Bruins off to the SJS D4 Championship Game at the Golden 1 Center in Sacramento, on Friday, Feb. 24.
Championship Game
The girls next met the top seed Lady Falcons of Colfax in that last tier of the SJS playoffs, the contest hosted on the home court of the Sacramento Kings of the NBA.
There, it was a tough go, with Riverbank falling behind, 14-6, in the first quarter. Also troubling in the first quarter, both Macias and Tago got tagged for two fouls each, and had to miss a good portion of the first half, in danger of fouling out so early.
By halftime, they were behind 23-14, down 40-27 after the third period, ending up behind 56-38, when all was said and done. As it turned out, it was the 12th Section title for Colfax.
Coach Janelle Luu noted that getting to the title game was “huge” for the team, since it had been nearly 40 years since their last appearance, the last one in 1985.
She added that her Lady Bruins played hard, but couldn’t match the experience that Colfax brought in to the Golden 1 Center.
Coach Luu is an alumna of Riverbank High and also teaches English there. She played basketball here, then played her college ball at William Jessup University, in Rocklin.
Luu added, “Riverbank, we’re sorry we couldn’t get it done for you. But we felt your love and support throughout this entire journey. Thank you for riding with us … We’ll be back!”
The high school held a minimum day schedule on Friday, letting class out just after noon. In addition, the school sent a bus with about 51 students to the game, according to Athletic Director Juan Harvey. Also, the RHS Cheer Squad was able to attend, and performed for the crowd during halftime.
For those who were unable to travel to Sacramento, the tournament games were live-streamed on the internet on the National Federation of High Schools (NFHS) network.
NorCal Contest
On Sunday afternoon, AD Harvey reported, “Our girls basketball team has earned a spot in the Division 4 NorCal playoff bracket” – the Lady Bruins got the number 12 seed and were slated to travel for the game on Tuesday, Feb. 28. They were to take on the number five seed Valley Christian High School of San Jose with a 7 p.m. tip off time; the girls lost that contest to bow out of the NorCal competition.
