Lady Jags overcome slow start to win one of two in basketball

Valley Center’s varsity girls basketball team had a pair of slow starts in two games this week, but the Lady Jaguars managed to overcome one deficit to pull out a victory heading into the season’s final game.
The Lady Jags could only muster seven points in the first quarter of their game against Del Norte at home last Tuesday, and couldn’t find their stride on offense down the stretch in a 37–33 loss.
Despite the low-scoring opening period, the Lady Jaguars played solid defense and trailed by only three after the first quarter. They closed the gap to one point with a good second quarter, scoring ten points to trail 18–17 at halftime.
Sidney Reilly came through with seven points in the third quarter to lead Valley Center back out in front, 28–22, heading into the fourth.
But Del Norte clamped down on defense, holding the Lady Jags to just five points, while racking up 15 points of their own, to take away the win.
Reilly played an outstanding game to lead all scorers with 19 points, while Miriam Zabinsky added eight, Andie Wagner had four and both Vinessa Perryman and Lauren Gilster had one.
But the Lady Jaguars recovered for Friday’s game at San Dieguito, and a great defensive effort led to a 42–33 win.
Once again, the Lady Jags scored only seven in the opening period, but this time the defense held the Lady Mustangs to just four points in the first quarter. San Dieguito pulled back within two points at halftime, but Valley Center dominated the second half with 17 points in the third quarter and 12 more in the fourth to seal the win.
Zabinsky led the way with 14 points, while Wagner had ten, Gilster had seven, Reilly had five, and Victoria Navarro, Darin Gilmore and Perryman each had two.
The Lady Jaguars are now 14–12 overall and 5–2 in league play, with the final game of the regular season coming up on Friday at Orange Glen at 7 p.m.
And as a correction to our girls basketball article from last week, the Lady Jaguars honored four seniors before the game against Canyon Crest Academy: Navarro, Kelli Imgrund, Sophie Hernandez and Amy-Jo Lange. We apologize for the error.

(photos by Ray Flores)