DENAIR — The distance between Denair and Turlock Christian high schools is only a couple of miles.
But when it comes to the schools’ girls basketball teams, that’s a different story.
“We competed a little bit better tonight,” Denair coach R.J. Henderson said, “but there’s still a large difference between TC and Denair.”
He gave that statement after his Coyotes were nailed a 67-29 loss on Thursday night at the Coyotes Den in front of dozens of fans.
The teams are moving at a different pace.
Turlock Christian (18-3, 9-0 Southern League) has now won nine straight games, thanks to the inside duo of Molly Farrar and Amy Wright, who combined for 31 points. Guard Natalie Snyder chipped in 13.
Farrar (17 points, 13 rebounds) did her damage on her 17th birthday.
The Eagles did not supply a fullcourt pressure and instead focused on their halfcourt set. It was quite effective early on, holding Denair to just two points in the first quarter. Turlock Christian jumped out to a 20-2 lead, more than enough to give the opponent a 9-14 overall record, and 4-6 in the league.
“We just wanted to come out and play hard and execute our plays and just play our best pretty much,” Farrar said.
Eagles coach Edwin Santiago added: “We tried to work on certain things at our level and try to maintain our tempo of the game.”
Early on, Turlock Christian focused on getting points inside the paint before taking more frequent jump shots. The game helped the Eagles work in a new offense, which is important considering that they play at Le Grand High on Thursday, as the Bulldogs only lost in the previous league game by 13 points — a number rather small for a Turlock Christian team that is accustomed to handing out 30-point blowouts.
And the Eagles are doing it without one of the Sac-Joaquin Section’s top scorers in Halie Bergman, who had knee surgery earlier this week and will not return until next season. But they still have hopes of capturing a Section title by season’s end.
Denair, on the other hand, is under a first-year coach. He said it’s been an up-and-down season, and it didn’t help that the Coyotes were without point guard Chelsea Wooten — due to an illness — on Thursday night.
But Henderson said his team is still competitive. Laneea Werner led the Coyotes with 11 points, and Madison Norquist put in eight.
“We played a little better than the last time,” Henderson said.
To contact Chhun Sun, e-mail csun@turlockjournal.com or call 634-9141 ext. 2041.