Rocklin sweeps Granite Bay in doubleheader

Rocklin played host to Granite Bay in a Sierra Foothill League doubleheader on Jan. 17, and it was the Thunder coming away with two wins, as the varsity girls basketball team defeated Granite Bay 45-40 while the Thunder boys won 49-40. The Rocklin girls improved to 1-4 in league and 9-9 overall, while the Grizzlies fell to 0-5 in league and 6-11 overall. With the first bucket of the second quarter, a three-point play by Kameryn King, Rocklin took the lead 12-11 and led the rest of the game. In fact, the Thunder began the quarter by scoring 10 straight points to take a 19-11 lead. After King's three-point play, Bianca Slone scored the next seven points. "Bianca's been really good for us," Rocklin coach Jenna Villalba said. "She's really stepped up for us the last four games. She's been sick this week so we weren't sure what we'd get out of her tonight energy wise, but she stepped up for us and really pushed us along in the second quarter." The Grizzlies cut the lead to five by opening the third quarter with a free throw from Hallie Tapuosi but fell behind 31-18 before scoring the last five points of the quarter on baskets by Reese Walker and a three-pointer by Sadie Berg to cut the deficit to 31-23. Rocklin opened up a 38-26 lead early in the fourth quarter, before Granite Bay closed the game on a 14-7 run. Berg led the Grizzlies with 12 points on four three-pointers, all in the second half and three in the fourth quarter. Sarah Radler scored eight points and Madeline Benedyuk seven. "Sadie was a spark plug for us when we couldn't seem to find a way to score," Granite Bay coach Bryan Powell said. "This was Reese's first game on the court for us and I was really happy with what she brought to the team. We needed to be physical and rebound against very tough Rocklin posts and she did just that." It was a big win for Rocklin, its first in the SFL. "It was a long time coming; we needed this one," coach Jenna Villalba said. "Our defense came up pretty good. We've been working on our man quite a bit and it's still a work in progress, but overall I felt we stepped up on defense tonight and I think that's was really got us the win." Gisele Negueloua scored nine of her 11 points in the fourth quarter, as she and Slone led the Thunder with 11 points apiece. Angelina Abdelmessih scored eight and Cara Murphy seven. "We have played very competitive games against the best teams in the area," Powell said, "but we haven't put four quarters together yet. We are a young team that is still learning what it takes to win. It will happen." In the boys game, Rocklin's 6-foot-8 senior center Mark Lavrenov was the difference, scoring 22 points. Granite Bay had no answer for the big man inside. Another key factor was rebounding, which was an area that the Thunder dominated throughout the game. "I'm really proud how our kids played defensively," Rocklin coach Steve Taylor said. "We felt if we could get out and defend them on the perimeter we would have a chance to win. They're such a good shooting team and they play fast. Our transition defense and getting out on their shooters was the key and the third piece of that was getting after it on the boards. I felt we dominated the glass. We usually try to play fast, but Granite Bay's faster than us, so we tried to play more of a half-court game and that worked to our advantage." Rocklin used an 11-4 scoring advantage in the third quarter to take a 33-26 lead. Lavrenov began to take over the game in the third quarter with six points and continued his strong play in the fourth quarter with seven points. "Mark is a special player," Taylor said. "He's hard to guard because he can shoot it, and he's so relentless on the glass. He's got an old-school approach to physicality and playing hard. He's a really fun young man to be around. He really makes us look good as coaches and he helps our team a ton." With a three-pointer by Keegan Ladines followed by a basket by Adam Arshakian, Granite Bay cut Rocklin's lead to 42-36, with 2:36 to play but couldn't get closer. Ladines and Darnell Turner Jr. led the Grizzlies with 12 points. Rocklin's Ely Willis scored 10. "I'm really proud of our guys tonight," Granite Bay coach Jason Sitterud said. "They were tremendous on the defensive end and made Rocklin work for everything. I thought Wyatt Headley and CJ Ledell did a great job playing big even though they were undersized. Offensively, we just couldn't buy a bucket. We had so many good looks and unfortunately, we just couldn't get them to drop. Darnell was relentless on that end and we just felt if we could knock one down the floodgates would open." The win improved Rocklin to 3-2 in league and 11-8 overall, while Granite Bay fell to 2-3 in the SFL and 5-14 overall.