THE OFFICIAL SITE OF
Whitney High School Athletics

The Whitney High girls basketball team turned a potentially easy game into a close one against No. 7 seed Del Oro, but managed to move on in Round One of the CIF Sac-Joaquin Section Division II Playoffs Tuesday night. The No. 10 Wildcats made good on seven free throws, unfortunately they let 23 get away shooting 23 percent from the line. Four of those misses came in the final three minutes while trying to hold on to a five-point lead. “We could just not hit free throws. I mean this would have been a completely different game if we could have,” said Whitney head coach Sydney Gatson. “We had some really bad offensive possessions, but what actually saved us … was our defense and our rebounding.” Del Oro shot only a dozen free throws, but made 10. Gatson gave praise to the defensive play of Amaya Gregory, who held the Golden Eagles’ senior point guard Tyler Maranan in check. Gatson also singled out the board work of Mazie Macfarlane and the hustle of Alyssa Baker. Baker also happened to hit the winning shot and scored nine points for the ‘Cats. Gatson said she was amazed at how calm her players were in practice and before the game. The coach said she discussed with her team how Del Oro had eliminated Whitney from the playoffs two years ago by a score of 53-29, and that Wildcats’ club set a record of 24 wins in 2014-15. “We went in loose; we went in with a lot of grit. We knew it was going to be a battle no matter what,” Gatson said. “We never expected to blow them out. We knew it was going to be a close game.” Jada Lewis tied the Eagles’ Madison Parry for high-point with 12 and Kailee McCarrick added 10. Baker rose up to pull down 10 rebounds, a game high. Now Whitney packs up and heads for Modesto Christian. The Crusaders have an excellent program, in spite of being a Division V school. Modesto Christian played in Division I last season, after winning the Division II section championship the year before and the Division III title in 2013-14. Gatson said her team knows of Modesto Christian’s reputation, but said Whitney had that same hill to climb against Del Oro. She said the Wildcats are healthy and she is hoping her players will keep the same attitude they had against the Eagles. “Hopefully the girls will at least go in just as loose and ready to battle as they did (against Del Oro), but hopefully with a little more execution this time around,” Gatson said, with a laugh. “That’s why I have so much faith in this team because we know that on any given night anybody is going to step up. We’re just going to give it the best shot we can.”

THE OFFICIAL SITE OF
Whitney High School Athletics

WHITNEY OVERCOMES ERRORS TO BEAT DEL ORO

JIM LINSDAU

Placer Herald | 2/23/2017

PHOTO CREDIT: Whitney High School Athletics