Monday, December 3, 2007

Carmona, Francis Named; Girls Hoops; Geoff West

JANI CARMONA and coach ADDIE FRANCIS





have been nominated for Lompoc Locker Room End of the Year recognition
Carmona, pictured left in action at LHS and right in a mug shot at Hawaii-Hilo, was the emotional leader and premier scorer for last winter’s Lompoc High girls soccer team, the first soccer team of either gender to ever win a league championship for LHS.


She won a scholarship to Hawaii-Hilo which had had a rocky introduction to women’s soccer the year before. Carmona teamed with Cabrillo grad KARISSA ROBERTSON to improve the Vulcans enough to reach second place and nearly qualify for an NCAA Div. II playoff berth.


Francis was the third year coach of the Braves.




Carmona joins Chico State soccer’s Katie McIntosh, Cal Poly golfer Julia Heath, Cabrillo water polo’s Sarah Ur and Kathryn Nelson, and Hancock College’s Elysha McLain, in tennis, and Ariana Fabing, in cross country, on the Lompoc Locker Room Female Athlete of the Year ballot. The entire list can be seen in the right-hand column below our sponsors.



YOU can nominate right now! Just e-mail your nominee to pressboxprod@verizon.net in any of four categories: Male Athlete of 2007, Female Athlete of 2007, Coach of the Year and Team of the Year. Take a look at the nominations list to date in the right-hand column below our sponsors.


-0-


GIRLS BASKETBALL UPDATE
By Mike (Statmeister) Loney


Varsity--- The 2nd Annual Bryan Ayer Classic was held at Lompoc High 29 Nov-1 Dec 2007 to commemorate the late LHS AD & coach. Three games were contested each day, and Dos Pueblos won the tourney with wins over Pinole Valley (55-52), Pioneer Valley (40-23), and Nipomo (42-36). Lompoc, Pinole Valley, & Santa Barbara all finished 2-1. In their first game Lompoc raced out to an early 17-4 lead late in the 1st quarter, but needed some clutch FT's late to ice it 57-51. Game two was a reversal of that pattern, as Lompoc fell behind Pinole Valley, rallied several times, got close late, but came up short 51-44. Game 3 repeated game one's pattern, as the Braves took a 6 pt. lead after the initial stanza and held off late charging Nipomo 53-44. The other games were: SB 51-47 over Pioneer Valley, SB 54-44 over Nipomo and losing to Pinole Valley 64-49. Lompoc was led by Jozza Ray & Denee Lane outside and Chelsea Casullo & Courtney Stumpo on the interior. Tournament MVP was Denesha Stallworth (Pinole) for her domination of the paint. The other team members are: Lauren Newsom (Pinole), Michelle Del Mese (DP), Brianna Williford (DP), Jozza Ray (Lompoc), Ashley Sandoval (Pioneer), and Jeanette DeWitt (Nipomo).




The Cabrillo Girls were at the VCA Tournament in Santa Maria, where they finished second, with a 3-1 record, to a tough Huntington Beach Oceanview team. The Conqs blew out Paso Robles 42-28, lost a heartbreaker to Oceanview 52-50, then defeated VCA (78-51) and Coast Union (44-41). Cabrillo used a 33-0 run to blow open a tied game with host VCA, with Roxanne Rentschler (26 pts), Megan Fierro (10), & Ashley Bonenfant (10) all playing well. The Conqs looked to do the same to Coast Union, but the Broncos cut a 36-23 3Q deficit to a single point with a minute to play before Cabrillo pulled away. Roxanne Rentschler was named to the all-tournament team.




Freshmen---Both local frosh squads participated in the Cabrillo Tournament, along with Righetti, St. Joseph, Atascadero, & Paso Robles. Cabrillo went 3-0 defeating Ats 26-16, PR 26-19, & Righetti 45-37. The Conqs used big third period runs the first two matches, outscoring Atascadero 11-2 after a 6-6 halftime tie, and outscoring Paso 10-4 to wipe out a 5-7 halftime deficit. Against Righetti they watched a 1Q lead dwindle to one point (27-26) after three quarters, before taking off. Lompoc went 2-1 with wins over Righetti (39-34) and PR (33-28) [this one is pictured here] sandwiched around a 40-25 loss to Atascadero. Against the Warriors the Braves were down five at the end of 1Q, then allowed only 7 total in the next two periods to put the game away. According to coach Nic Jansen, the ensuing loss to Atascadero had an easy explanation - 'we just didn't play very well'. They did however, he went on to say, learn how to play inside against taller players - a skill they used to good effect versus Paso Robles. In that game Lompoc saw a 9-point halftime lead wilt to only one with 1:40 to play. The Bearcats missed opportunities to take the lead, missing several shot from the field and two free throws before the Braves were able to finish them off.


-0-


GEOFF


Here’s the way the Bismarck Tribune saw GEOFF WEST’s first conference victory Saturday night:


By CINDY PETERSON/Bismarck Tribune
The University of Mary men’s basketball team quickly licked its wounds after getting pummeled by Winona State on Friday night.The Marauders rebounded with a 92-82 victory over the Upper Iowa Peacocks Saturday evening at the McDowell Activity Center. It was the Marauders’ first Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference victory of the season.“We always talk about defending our home court,” U-Mary point guard Geoff West said. “After a big loss we knew we would have to come back with more intensity.”West provided the Marauders with the big play. U-Mary led by as many as 17 points in the second half. But the Peacocks fired off a 14-2 run to shave the lead to 81-76 with 3:14 remaining.West caught the ball wide open on the top side of the left wing and swished a 3-pointer to stop Upper Iowa’s charge. The junior’s bucket put the Marauders up 84-76 at 2:55.“You can never second- guess yourself shooting,” West said. “It came to me, I was open, and I pulled the trigger.”It was a play U-Mary coach Juno Pintar expects from his veteran.“Those are the kind of shots Geoff West lives for,” Pintar said. “We weren’t getting anything going. That’s par for the course for Geoff. The shot clock was winding down and he caught it in rhythm.”Following an Upper Iowa turnover, U-Mary forward Eric Erdmann completed a conventional three-point play at 2:34 to put the Marauders up by double figures at 2:34.The Peacocks changed things up defensively to give the Marauders a scare before West and Erdmann’s big buckets.“They played a mix of zone and man-to-man,” Pintar said. “We haven’t gone against too many switching defenses this season. Each win in this conference is a quality win. It was good for our young guys to get a taste of success.”The Marauders closed out the contest by making 5 of 8 free throws in the final 1:14. Jordan Engelhardt went a perfect 4-for-4 during the stretch.Five U-Mary players scored in double digits. Erdmann led with 18. Jordan Wilhelm added 14 and West and Engelhardt chipped in with 12 apiece. Center Zach Dosch came off the bench and contributed with 14.

No comments: