Lady Blue Devils trump Pacers to hold undefeated record

By Cliff Djajapranata,
Bluedevilhub.com Staff–

The Davis High women’s varsity basketball team defeated the Grant High School Pacers 72-59 on Friday, Feb. 13 on Senior Night. The Devils still remain undefeated in their league.

The game tipped to Davis’ favor quickly, with senior Emma Stenz scoring soon after tipoff. Within a minute of the first quarter, the Devils were up 6-0.

Davis expanded its lead, ending the first quarter 21-9 in large part due to strong performances by Stenz and senior Caitlin Mazzoleni.

The Pacers tried to close the gap in the second quarter; however, Mazzoleni dashed past Grant defenders in a layup to put the Devils 28-16. By halftime, Davis remained on top 43-25.

The gap continued to widen in the third quarter as Grant tried to push back against an aggressive Devil offense. The Pacers, however, were no match for the undefeated Blue Devils when a Pacer lost control of the ball only to have been swooped by Stenz to increase the lead for Davis with an easy layup. Senior Katie Grahn’s three-pointer helped put Davis 56-36 by the end of the third quarter.

Davis seemed all but sure of victory, but the Pacers were able to close the gap in the last quarter. Halfway through the fourth quarter, a stronger Pacer offense was able to push the score to 60-50. Within two minutes to the end of the game, the Pacers got close to surpassing the Devils who were only up 61-55.

However, a series of fouls by Grant allowed the Blue Devils to widen their lead, ending the game 72-59.

This win allowed the Blue Devils to remain undefeated 13-0 in the Delta Sac-Joaquin Section.

However, the near close call at the end of the game revealed some areas the Lady Blue Devils need to work on if they want to keep their winning streak.

“Every game, I talk about just not giving them any more than one possession, so we need to make sure we take care of the boards and just be more composed on offense,” Blue Devil coach Heather Highshoe said. “If we do everything we need to do, then we’ll come out on the side that we want.”

Highshoe was still impressed with how her team performed, saying that the team was able to push all the way to the end.

“I thought we came out very strong. We had some rough patches in there, but the girls pulled it together when we needed it the most,” Highshoe said.