This article appeared exclusively in The Sentinel’s new Sports-Only e-Edition: Sign up here.
By Marcus D. Smith–
Mesa Verde boys and girls varsity basketball teams headed to Casa Roble High School on Jan. 24 and each came home with a win. The girls defeated Casa Roble, 29-27, while the boys won, 63-59 in overtime.
In short Q&A interviews over the phone with girls Varsity Head Coach Mark Toscano and boys Varsity Assistant Head Coach Anthony Hodge, the two shared their thoughts on the recent games and where they rate themselves at the halfway point in league.
MDS: What are your thoughts after a close win as such?
MT: It was a battle. The game was too close. Casa put up a great fight I’ll give them that. However, we had one of our poorest nights shooting the ball, which really hurt us. Maleena [Ridore] got into foul trouble early, and having her out due to that hurt us some. Vanessa [Flores] led the way with 12 points and 10 rebounds, which gives her back to back double doubles.
We lost the lead going into the 4th quarter. We made an adjustment and starting running lots of back door cuts and exposed Casa’s overplaying on the defensive end, which brought us back into the game. Sophomore, Traci Mitchell gave us the go-ahead bucket late in the fourth, and Vanessa sealed the game with a free throw with less than a minute left to give us the two point lead and end it. Overall a solid defensive performance and I’ll take the win.
MDS: How do you assess the team at the halfway point of league?
MT: Right now, I like where we are at. We have a few things that need adjustments, but overall we are in a good spot in league and just need to prepare for our next game.
MDS: Will the girls be sustainable with the back to backs coming up, including seeing Pioneer again?
MT: Yes they will be fine. We have a non-league game coming up against Western Sierra which will be good for us to work on a brand new press break we put in. Pioneer I’m not worried about. They have a good program, but so do we. I have a great relationship with their head coach; he’s a good guy. We have a new press break and offense we put in and the girls love it, so we look to battle them.
MDS. Main focus going into the second half of league?
MT: Honestly, beating Woodland is our focus. Where we stand at the moment we need to beat Woodland at the place, and if things play out they way it looks, then we would tie them for third place and have a chance to get a play-in game to go to playoffs. That’s our focus.
Like I said, we have a new press break that Woodland has never seen, so playing Pioneer and Dixon will be chances for us to work and perfect it so we will be ready for Woodland. My girls are hungry for them. They know that we are good enough to beat them and Woodland just caught us on a bad night. We got this!
Interview with Anthony Hodge:
MDS: What are your thoughts after a close win, especially in OT?
AH: We showed a lot of grit in the game and [fought] out a tough win. We missed a lot of free throws and lay-ups . Also with Anthony [Arguelles] scoring 14 points in the fourth [quarter] to keep us in the game and big plays down the stretch from our two senior captains, Alex Bufkin and Angel Rubio, it was an all around team effort.
MDS: How do you assess the team now that you’re at the halfway point of league?
AH: We control our own destiny and if we win out would be co-league champs at minimum. This would be an amazing accomplishment after an 0-13 start to the season. We are on a five-game winning streak including seven of our last 10. It’s not going to be easy, but if we execute and work hard this is an achievable goal.
MDS: Lastly, what’s the message to the team going into the second half of league?
AH: Message to the team is: we only have five games left. We have to take care of our business one quarter and game at a time. It’s up to us to take it to another level if we want to win the Golden Empire League.
This article appeared exclusively in The Sentinel’s new Sports-Only e-Edition: Sign up here.
Sports Reporter Marcus D. Smith covers high school sports in Citrus Heights. Smith is a Sacramento-area native and earned his bachelor’s degree in journalism in 2017.
