The Merced High girls basketball team avenged an early season loss to Golden Valley with a 46-27 victory over the Cougars on Tuesday night at Clemons Court to close out the first half of the Central California Conference schedule. The Bears improved to 16-6 overall and 3-2 in the CCC and remain on track for a third consecutive playoff appearance.

 

The Cougars defeated Merced 39-37 during the Lady Cougar Classic on December 6th. The Bears left no doubt in the rematch as Merced opened with a 21-2 run that stretched midway into the second quarter. Bears star Averie Steverson scored eight of her 12 points to lead the charge and senior Amiya Brown added five points during the run.

 

“I think we played pretty well,” said Merced coach Willie Steverson. “We stuck together and we executed like we’ve asked them to do. Golden Valley got us at the beginning of the season and my message to the girls today was to play at the top level that they can play and execute throughout the whole game and that’s exactly what they did.”

 

Steverson added nine rebounds and two blocks. A’Machi Turner chipped in with six points and eight rebounds. Freshman Aleena Trevino scored all nine of her points in the second half for Merced. Senior Zoe Gonzales led Golden Valley (9-14, 1-4 CCC) with seven points.

 

The Bears trail El Capitan (5-0 CCC) and Atwater (4-1) in the conference standings at the halfway point. Merced is just one win shy of tying last season’s 17-game win total. A strong second half would give the Bears the most wins in a season since Merced made a run to the section title game and finished with 27 wins in 2020.

 

“In the first half of the league we got some wins and we took some losses,” Willie Steverson said, “I think our girls feel they’ve earned some respect and they know they can compete. That’s just what we’re here to do, compete, and play four quarters, and try to pull the game out.”

 

Merced is back in action on Thursday when they travel to El Capitan. Golden Valley will start its second half of CCC at Buhach Colony.

El Capitan 61, Los Banos 54 – Alexis Valenzuela scored 20 points and recorded three steals as the Gauchons won their 11th consecutive game to improve to 20-2 overall and 5-0 in the CCC. El Capitan also received 14 points from Mady Dietz and 12 points from Avnoor Bains. Senior Jordynn Middleton pulled down 12 rebounds in the victory for the Gauchos.

 

Atwater 74, Buhach Colony 12 – The Falcons outscored the Thunder 42 to 4 in the first half as they cruised to a victory to improve to 13-9 overall and 4-1 in the CCC. Bella Villa paced Atwater with 16 points. Vanessa Chavez added 15 points and Caylor Gibson scored 14. 

 

Ceres 43, Livingston 20 – Sovannary Carter led the Bulldogs with 12 points as the Wolves dropped to 4-15 overall and 1-7 in the Western Athletic Conference.

Shawn Jansen is the MUHSD Program Manager Digital Media. He can be reached at Sjansen@muhsd.org.