Check out this stat line.

63 points - 24 rebounds - 9 blocks.

That's two nights, two games in the life of LSU center Sylvia Fowles.

She made 17 of 31 shots against Florida State and Connecticut as her team breezed through the Women's NCAA Fresno Regional, played at Save Mart Center on Saturday and Monday night.

Next stop Cleveland and the Women's Final Four.

The top two-ranked high school softball teams kick off Tri-River Athletic Conference play at 3:45 p.m. Wednesday at Central High.

Top-ranked Clovis West (13-3), which has not lost to a Central Section team, battles No. 2 Central (6-2). The pitching duel is projected to be Fresno State-bound Ashley Cox going up against Central's ace Amanda Garcia, who led the Grizzlies to the Buchanan Preseason tournament title.

The Golden Eagles are coming off three straight losses to Archbisop Mitty-San Jose, Foothill-Pleasanton and Freedom-Oakley. Foothill is ranked fifth in the state, Archbishop Mitty is No. 7 and Freedom is No. 17 in the top-20 preseason poll.

Center Sylvia Fowles and guard Quianna Chaney combined for an explosive inside-outside attack to power No. 3 Louisiana State to a 55-43 victory over No. 10 Florida State in the semifinals fo the NCAA Fresno Regional Saturday at the Save Mart Center.
LSU moves on to face No. 1 Connecticut at 6 p.m. Monday for the right to advance to the Final Four in Cleveland, Ohio, next week.
Fowles made 7 of 13 shots, scored 20 points and grabbed nine rebounds. Chaney scored 22 points on 9-of-16 shooting, including making 4 of 6 3-pointers.
The Tigers (29-7) led 27-18 at the half and never trailed.
Florida State (24-10) was led by Jacinta Moore's 15 points. Alicia Gladden added 12 points and seven rebounds.

Charde Houston scored 18 points and No. 1 seed Connecticut eliminated No. 4 North Carolina State from the NCAA Tournament 78-71 Saturday at the Fresno Regional.
The Huskies (32-3) wait for the winner of the No. 3 Louisiana-No. 10 Florida State game. The regional championship is 6 p.m. on Monday.
Maquetta Dickens had 14 points for North Carolina State (25-10), which played an inspired first half and led by one point. The second half of the season has been all about winning for coach Kay Yow, who missed 16 games taking treatment for breast cancer.
Connecticut led by as much as 11 points, at 59-48, by shutting down North Carolina State's 6-7 center Gillian Goring. Goring had all 10 of her points in the first half and had ony one rebound after intermission.

North Carolina State took a 37-36 lead at halftime in the first semifinal of the NCAA women's Fresno Regional Saturday at the Save Mart Center.
Khadijah Whittington and 6-7 center Gillian Goring both had 10 points for the Wolfpack, the No. 4 seed.
No. 1 seed Connecticut, led by Kalana Green's nine points, only led once, when Ketia Swanier got a steal and converted a 3-pointer for a 36-34 Huskies advantage.
In the closing seconds, Shayla Fielders made one of two free throws. Whittingtonn grabbed the rebound on the miss of the second shot and layed it in to give the Wolfpack the lead back.
No. 3 Louisiana State and No. 10 Florida State are next up in the other semifinal.

If you're looking for a reason to attend Saturday's NCAA Fresno Regional women's basketball tournament at the Save Mart Center, Sylvia Fowles is it.

Louisiana State's 6-foot-6 (that's not a typo) junior center looks like the future of women's basketball. Usually, watching a 6-6 women's basketball player can be painful; they're normally awkward, gangly and uncomfortable on the court.

Not Fowles. She's as smooth as anyone you watched on the Save Mart Center floor this season, including the Fresno State men. She has the stride and touch of a much smaller player. It's no surprise she averaged 17 points and 12.7 rebounds this season.

And she has something to prove, if only to her teammate Erica White. During Friday's news conference, a reporter asked White what it was like to play with such a talent as Fowles. The 5-3 White talked herself into a corner and ended up saying Fowles wasn't focused and basically didn't show up during the first half of Monday's tournament victory over West Virginia.

Fowles called the rare news conference timeout and took some good-natured offense to White's comments. We'll see Saturday whether it turns out to be intra-locker room bulletin board material.

Kansas is losing to Southern Illinois as I type, and that's not good for my bracket. Perhaps your bracket could use an upset of the No. 1 seed Jayhawks, but it would officially render mine a coaster.

A quick update: I still have 12 of 16 Sweet Sixteen teams. I know that doesn't sound bad, but considering I've already lost two Final Four teams, it is. The right side of my bracket has more red ink than one of my high school book reports. This Kansas situation is only making things worse, but my friend Betsy just emailed to say, "Remember, other team has girly dog mascot, the shame and embarrassment eventually will take its toll." This is somehow reassuring.

This is Fresno's chance to step up and prove it isn't a hick town.
The women's basketball regional is a big-time college event -- the winner moving on to the Final Four.
Two years ago, an NCAA sub-regional drew about 7,000 fans for the eight teams playing. That was the worst of the eight sub-regionals. Still, the NCAA came back, gave Fresno a second chance.
As of today, only 1,500 tickets have been sold. The NCAA said it wants to see 8,000 to 10,000 for the two days. That won't happen unless people get off their duffs and turn out to the Save Mart Center.
Women's basketball, it's fair to say, isn't a huge draw on the West Coast, except Stanford. But if Fresno wants to join the party, show it belongs and cares about top-notch sports entertainment, and more importantly get this kind of event back again, then it's time to step up to the plate.

I'm announcing on this blog my intentions to enter the 2007 NBA sportswriters draft.

Here are a few of the faces from around the WAC Tournament in Las Cruces, N.M. Yes, that was many days ago, but the blog had some issues with the camera, so they were a little tough to get posted. But better late than ... really, really late.

To keep your attention, we should probably start with a cheerleader, so this is Boise State's Chrissy Popadics, who would not be especially notable any other year, except for this one. She is, of course, the captain of the squad and the young woman Ian Johnson proposed to on national television after the Fiesta Bowl.

I can assure you, she is just as engaged in person.

I realize I probably should have saved Chrissy for the end, but you would have never gotten there if I'd have led with a picture of trombone players from Hawaii. How about this? Make it to the end, and I promise a fuzzy picture of George Karl. Yes, that George Karl.

The Sweet Sixteen is one day away and some of the matchups Thursday and Friday look intriguing:

On Thursday in San Jose, you have the classic mentor/student battle between UCLA coach Ben Howland and Pitt coach Jamie Dixon and the closest thing to a Cinderella story in the men's tournament, Southern Illinois, which faces
traditional powerhouse Kansas.

In San Antonio on Thursday, there's freshman Tre'Von Willis (Washington High) and the Memphis Tigers taking on Texas A&M as well as freshman sensation Greg Oden and Ohio State going up against Tennessee, one of the tournament's surprises so far.

On Friday in East Rutherford, N.J., USC faces powerhouse North Carolina and Georgetown, many peoples' pick to go all the way, takes on Vanderbilt, another tournament surprise.

In St. Louis on Friday, defending national champion Florida continues its run toward a title by going against sentimental favorite Butler, while Oregon has to go against a resurgent UNLV program.

Men's tournament coverage
Interactive NCAA Brackets

Oh, what a week it has been for the Bulldogs.

Robin Mackin, Fresno State's softball ace, is making a lot of noise again this year. That's the sound of her fastball smacking into the catcher's mitt for strikes.

Mackin is 14-6 heading into this week's Judi Garman Classic in Fullerton. Last year at this time she was 13-6. Though her strikeouts per seven innings is down (10.3 to 8.5), she has developed a nice change-up to go with the fastball, rise ball and slider, making her a more complete pitcher like All-Americans Jaime Southern and Amanda Scott.

Mackin has a 1.21 ERA, has won her last seven starts and saved two games for Merryann Barr last week. She has 169 Ks in 139 innings, a pace that is behind last year's school record 402 Ks in 273 1/3 innings.

During the Bulldog Classic, when Mackin won four times, I usually sit high above in the press box. I wanted a closer look at Mackin, so I went down by the screen near home plate. Mackin looks twice as fast at the close distance. And the sound of the ball hitting catcher Nichole Willis' mitt? it's scary. It comes in with such force that the contact -- TWACK! -- sounds like someone hitting a mattress as hard as they can with a bat. In games against overmatched Connecticut and Toledo, their batters were lucky to hit foul balls. The majority of swings were late, and when contact was made, nobody hit to the strong side, always to the opposite field.

Mackin hasn't been timed on the gun yet, but it's my observation that she throws comparable to a baseball pitcher winging it up there close to 90 mph.

What's even scarier is that Mackin tends to lose control now and then. She's hit seven batters. Not only do they have to deal with the fastball, but they know it might be in their ear any second.

This week will tell a lot about Mackin's maturity. The Bulldogs, at the Judi Garman Classic, face two ranked teams in Louisiana-Lafayette and Arizona State right off the bat. They could be facing six other teams ranked in the Top 25.

If Mackin continues her streak, Fresno State is destined to climb from No. 27 back into the Top 25.

The Fresno State men's basketball team will see postseason action this week for the first time since the 2001-2002 season.
The Bulldogs received a No. 5 seed and will play at No. 4 seed Georgia in the West Bracket on Wednesday at 4 p.m.
The game will air on ESPN 2.

Boise State's Jessica Thompson scored 22 of her game-high 24 points during the second half of Friday afternoon's Western Athletic Conference tournament semifinals, and the Broncos advanced past Fresno State 68-59 at the Pan American Center.

Of the 12 area high school basketball teams that competed in CIF Southern California Regional playoff games Thursday night, only the Yosemite girls won to advance to play Saturday.

The Badgers, playing at home, got 26 points and 13 rebounds from senior Katie Menton to defeat Cosa Mesa 72-41 and advance to Saturday's Division III regional semifinal against host Bishop Amat-La Puente.

Yosemite, now 23-7, is the third seed in the regional and Bishop Amat, 25-5 out of the Southern Section, is the second seed.

LAS CRUCES, N.M. -- It's taken me awhile to get the blog going. Been busy here in New Mexico, writing about the men and women's Fresno State basketball teams. I will tell you all about the pagentry and of Las Cruces in future blogs, but for now, we're sitting courtside at the Pan American Center here at the WAC tournament.

As of now, Fresno State leads Boise state in the semifinals, 21-19. Bad little run of momentum going for the Bulldogs. Started strong, but the Broncos are pounding the ball inside on them now. And, as usual, Fresno State is making some dumb turnovers. More news at 7. Now, a word from our sponsors.

It's never a good idea to write about referees. There is just no unbiased opinion. Fans always feel like referees ripped off their team. Pro-official people -- oh yes, they're out there -- always defend the men and women in stripes, no matter what.

So you can imagine the feedback when I devoted an entire column to technical foul calls at the Central Section Championships at Selland Arena last weekend. Here are a few letters ...

A lot of free agents have made recent deals signing with new NFL teams this offseason. Which free agent acquisitions surprise you most and which teams have done the best so far?

LAS CRUCES, N.M. -- Chantella Perera scored a game-high 16 points, part of fourth-seeded Fresno State's dominating first half Wednesday afternoon as the Bulldogs defeated fifth-seeded Hawaii 72-47 in the Western Athletic Conference Tournament quarterfinals at the Pan American Center.

The Bulldogs improved to 18-12 overall and 10-7 in the WAC, and will play the winner of top-seeded Boise State and eighth-seeded San Jose State on Friday.

Sophomore Robin Mackin threw a three-hitter and junior Michelle Palazuelos hit a two-run homer to lift Fresno State to a 3-1 victory over Connecticut on Tuesday in the first game of a doubleheader at Bulldog Diamond.

Mackin (9-6) tied a season-high with 14 strikeouts and walked two in a complete game.

Freshman Lisamarie Coronado had two of Fresno State's nine hits. Both hits were doubles, the first driving in pinch-runner Kori Sherman with the first run in the fourth inning.

The Bulldogs took a 3-0 lead in the sixth with one out. Coronado doubled to the right-field gap and Palazuelos followed with a rising line drive to right. Outfielder Sarah Neuschwander misjudged the flight, ran in and the ball sailed over her head to the fence. Palazuelos, the team's fastest runner, came all the way around, beating the throw home by a couple steps.

Mackin had a shutout bid ruined in the seventh. Connecticut put together a walk and two hits. Jess Quan singled in the run. With runners on second and third, Mackin struck out Erin Burtner for the final out.

Wow.

Despite everything that's gone on this season for the Bulldogs -- the deficiencies, the injuries, the rough road struggles, the humbling home losses and, yes, Ja'Vance -- Fresno State is right in position to make a move.

Good grief who would have thought?

BAKERSFIELD - Two years ago, Gilberto Camacho was kicking soccer balls around and Ryan Flores was only scratching the surface of his immense talent.

Today, both are state wrestling champions.

Washington High's Camacho put the finishing touches on his sports conversion with a victory in the 103-pound final, and Buchanan's Flores capped a stellar career with a second straight 215-pound crown to become the Central Section's only titlests Saturday during the CIF State Wrestling Championships at Rabobank Arena.

Camacho became Washington's first state champion with an 8-0 victory over Selma's A.J. Valles. Flores won the fifth state title in Buchanan history with a pin in 3:02 over Bo Lukehart of Vacaville, which overtook first-day leaders Buchanan and Poway to win the team title.

The Clovis East boys basketball team and the Clovis West girls won Central Section Division I basketball championships Saturday night at Selland Arena.

Clovis East rallied past Clovis West for the boys title, while Clovis West's girls defeated Stockdale.

By Andy Boogaard

Out-of-the gate tightness on the biggest stage of the year?

Nope.

Clovis West, making 7 of 8 shots (87.5%), took a 20-17 first-quarter lead. And discounted -- questionably -- was Brandon Johnson's 3 at the buzzer.

Ethan Larson, the Golden Eagles' junior guard who generally takes an occasional 3 to keep defenses honest, made all three of his attempts behind the arc, and they came from different angles -- right base, top of the key and left base.

Clovis East, meanwhile, was merely warm, making 6 of 12 attempts.

The temperature dial remained on high for Larson, his teammates -- basically, everybody -- in the second quarter.

Larson, again, made all three of his attempts in the quarter, increasing his point total to 16, as the Eagles extended their lead to 46-34.

Clovis West shot 80% (16 of 20) for the half. Johnson couldn't quite keep pace with his teammate, making 6 of 7 attempts.

The Timberwolves shot 50% (11 of 22) behind John Hedrington. The sophomore was 3 of 4 from the field and 6 of 7 from the free throw line for 13 points.

Clovis East did commit 15 turnovers, however, as the Eagles stepped up even further a trapping defense vital to their success in the absence of injured stars Tim Shelton and LaBrent Chappell

LOGAN, Utah -- The Bulldogs trail Utah State 34-32 at halftime Saturday night. The two teams, playing their final game of the regular season, are competing for the third seed at next week's Western Athletic Conference Tournament.

They waited and waited, surviving two postponements and shovels full of snow in the Tehachapi Mountain Range.

And then, finally, by the time they made it to Selland Arena on Saturday for the Central Section Division III boys basketball championships -- that 2.5-hour bus ride behind them -- the Tehachapi Warriors arrived a bit ornery.

"We came with a chip on our shoulders," coach Chris Olofson said. "We haven't had a lot of respect the last two years. But that's OK, you've got to win it to earn it."

Oh, they won it all right, releasing all that frustration exploding in the last 2 minutes of a 66-54 win over Hanford West.

Sixth-seeded Tehachapi (22-4) led 54-52 over the third-seeded Huskies (18-12) before forging a 10-0 run behind Vincent Saavedra, a three-year starting guard, who scored four of his 21 points in that span.

Guard Paul Walker scored 20 points and Jacob Rombouts delivered 17 points and 18 rebounds as the Warriors -- who placed second in the deep South Sequoia League -- pounded Hanford West 66-54 on the boards.

Tehachapi advanced to the finals after routing No. 3 Washington 73-42 on the road and No. 7 Yosemite 65-46 at home in games delayed by a day because of snowy conditions at home (4,100-foot elevation) that prohibited the Warriors from departing the first time and hosting the second.

The Huskies, who tied for second in the West Yosemite League, received 22 and 17 points from guards Jeff Martin and Mohamed Fara, respectively. They've lost four straight to Tehachapi -- section quarterfinal decisions in 2004 and '05, and a non-league contest last year.

After trailing 32-20 at the half, Katie Menton and the Yosemite girls basketball team put together a big second half to earn a 62-50 win over top-seeded Hanford in the Central Section Division III title game Saturday at Selland Arena.

Menton, who played just 10 minutes in the first half after picking up three fouls, took charge and hit a big 3-pointer from the right corner to give the Badgers a 41-40 lead with 1:22 left in the third quarter.

Freshman guard Jenay Herring (11 points) fed the ball to Menton on a fastbreak basket, and Patricia O'Neill scored inside to put Yosemite up 55-48 with 2:40 left to play. The Badgers went on a 13-0 run in the fourth to clinch their fourth straight Central Section title.

Menton finished with 22 points and eight rebounds, and O'Neill had 14 points and six rebounds. Emily Richie grabbed 13 rebounds for Yosemite.

Senior Chanel Cleaves led the Bullpups with 17 points and seven boards.

By Delton Lowery

The Buchanan High wrestling team has slipped to third place at the CIF state wrestling championships at Rabobank Arena in Bakersfield. But the Bears still have a slim shot at defending their state championship.

Ten-time Sac-Joaquin Section champion Vacaville has taken the lead - through the third- through seventh-place matches - with 118 points thanks to three wrestlers making it to the championship finals (the three championship semifinal victories earned Vacaville an additional 27 advancement points).

San Diego Section powerhouse Poway, the favorite entering the tourney, is second with 112 points and Buchanan third with 107.

If Vacaville or Poway win one of their matches in the finals, Buchanan can not catch up. But, the Bears can take the top spot if four things - one of which they control - happens in the finals, which earn an additional 13 advancement points per victory for the team.

First: State No. 6 Sean Roman-Marin of Lemoore must defeat No. 2 Joe Boone of Poway in the 130-pound championship.

Second: No. 1 Jason Welch of Las Lomas, undefeated this season, must beat No. 4 Zach Sesar of Vacaville at 160.

Third: In a 1 vs. 2 matchup, defending state champion Ryan Flores of Buchanan must beat Bo Lukehart of Vacaville at 215.

Fourth: Unranked Jonathen Zamora of Clovis must beat No. 3 Jack Clayton of Vacaville at 285, the event's final match.

Individually, six Central Section wrestlers advanced to the finals. In addition to Roman-Marin, Flores and Zamora, section wrestlers in the finals include: the 103-pound final pits No. 2 Gilberto Camacho of Washington vs. No. 3 A.J. Valles of Selma; and No. 1 Joe Cisneros of Selma vs. No. 5 Anthony Meza of Vista.

The championship matches are slated to begin at 7:30 p.m.

Fresno State junior guard Tierre Wilson stole the show on Senior Day.

Wilson scored 17 points and grabbed 12 rebounds, as the Bulldogs beat Utah State 71-60 Saturday at the Save Mart Center in a women's basketball game.

Chantella Perera had 15 points and seven rebounds, and Erica Henry added 13 points and eight rebounds.

Fresno State (17-12) finished 9-7 in the Western Athletic Conference as it moves on to the conference tournament in Las Cruces, N.M., next week.

The Bulldogs will play New Mexico State at noon Wednesday in the first round. The teams split their series this season, both winning at home.

By Andy Boogaard

San Joaquin Memorial, with that passel of young and mighty midgets, could very well return to Selland Arena next year for the Central Section Division IV boys basketball championship.

But there's a caveat.

Let's be specific: His name is Stephon Carter. He plays for Garces. He's 6-feet-2, lean and mean, a great rebounder, ball-handler and shooter. He has vision, court savvy and confidence.

And he's a sophomore.

He's the reason the top-seeded Rams trailed No. 2 Memorial 25-21 at halftime in Saturday's noon matinee because he picked up two early fouls and played only five of the 16 minutes.

And he's the reason they won 71-50 because he had a hand in virtually every one of his team's points in the second half, when he made 6 of 7 shots.

Carter's final line reads: 21 points, 10 rebounds, three assists and 1 block in 17 minutes.

Only it seemed like so much more.

Top-seeded Garces (23-7), the Southeast Yosemite League runner-up, will host a Southern California Regional game Tuesday against an opponent to be determined Sunday. The section title was the Rams' eighth in 14 years under coach Gino Lacava.

Memorial (15-16) -- a suspect No. 2 seed that entered the playoffs with a 12-15 record -- will play a SoCal Regional road game Tuesday. Anthony Soto, a junior guard on a team that didn't start a senior, scored 19 points for the Panthers, who won last year's D-IV crown

By Andy Boogaard

San Joaquin Memorial, the team with the suspect No. 2 seed - having entered the playoffs with a 12-15 record - was pulling a shocker, leading top-seeded Garces 25-21 at halftime of the Central Section boys basketball Division IV championship game.

Tiny and young - starting four juniors and a sophomore, with a freshman first off the bench - the Panthers received a big assist, however, when Rams sophomore star Stephon Carter went to the bench early with two fouls. Averaging 22.7 points and 8.6 rebounds for the 22-7 team coming in, he played only 5 minutes and scored two points.

Anthony Soto, one of Memorial's many mighty midgets at 5-8, had scored 10 points, including a twisting jumper at the halftime buzzer.

The Kingsburg girls basketball team defeated Exeter 58-45 Saturday for the Central Section Division IV championship at Selland Arena.

Shaylee Yano (19) and Faith Salazar (14) combined for 33 points to lead the fifth-seeded Vikings over the third-seeded Monarchs.

Abby Bloetscher led Exeter (18-13) with 15 points.

The Vikings (21-11) were the wildcard team, winning four straight playoff games on the road. Kingsburg is riding a 10-game win streak and earned its second straight win over the Monarchs in their fourth meeting.

The Vikings shut down Exeter with a trapping full-court press to take a 16-2 lead in the first quarter. The Monarchs were held scoreless until the 1:52 mark of the first quarter, and leading scorer Bloetscher had no points in the first.

The Edison boys basketball team defeated Tulare Western 67-55 to win the Central Section Division II championship game Friday night at Selland Arena.

Edison improved to 25-5 with the victory and Tulare Western fell to 25-5.

Charuun Jones hit a key 3-pointer from deep with just over a minute left in the game to give Edison a 63-55 lead. Jones then hit two free throws with 34.8 seconds left for a 65-55 lead and essentially put the game away.

Darshawn McClellen led Edison with 27 points and 12 rebounds, while Jones added 14 points and Kellan Carter had 11 points, 10 rebounds and seven assists. Drew Hoffman led Tulare Western with 17 points and six assists, while Jeremy Chandler added 13 points..

The Tigers took a 29-22 halftime lead behind 14 first-half points from McClellan and six from Carter, who hit an 8-foot jumper in the lane as time expired in the first half.

The Edison boys basketball team took a 46-38 lead over Tulare Western into the fourth quarter of the Central Section Division II championship game Friday night at Selland Arena.

Darshawn McClellan led the Tigers with 22 points and 10 rebounds, while Drew Hoffman paced Tulare Western with 11 points.

The Edison High boys basketball team increased its two-point first-quarter lead over Tulare Western to 29-22 at halftime in the Central Section Division II championship game Friday night at Selland Arena.

Darshawn McClellan led the Tigers with 14 first-half points, while Kellen Carter hit for six, including an 8-foot jumper in the lane as time expired in the half.

The Mustangs were led by six points apiece from Drew Hoffman and Cottrell Freeman.

The Edison boys basketball team took a 12-10 first-quarter lead over Tulare Western in the Central Section Division II championship game Friday night at Selland Arena.

Darshawn McClellan led the Tigers with eight first-quarter points and four rebounds. The Mustangs were led by Cottrell Freeman's six points.

The Edison High girls basketball team used an 18-4 third-quarter run to pull away from Sanger and win 50-40 Friday in the Central Section Division II championship game at Selland Arena.

Amber Ricks led a balanced Edison offense with 15 points and 14 rebounds. Alyssa Morris added 14 points and Brionna Warren nine points for the Tigers, who finish the season with a 23-7 record.

Sanger, which finished 25-7, was led by Katelyn Gilliam with 10 points. Both Bailey Balbach and Claire Tirapelle added eight points and eight rebounds.

Edison led 10-4 after the first quarter and 24-20 at halftime, but pulled away in the third quarter behind seven points from Warren, six from Ricks and five from Morris.

Sanger tried to rally in the fourth quarter, outscoring Edison 16-8, but came up short.

The Edison High girls basketball team took a 42-24 lead over Sanger after three quarters behind an 18-4 run in the Central Section Division II championship game.

The Tigers were led in the third quarter by Brionna Warren's seven points, six from Amber Ricks and five from Alyssa Morris.

Rechelle Holly hit a putback as the halftime buzzer sounded to give the Edison girls basketball team a 24-20 halftime lead over Sanger in the Central Section Division II championship game at Selland Arena.

Edison led 10-4 after the first quarter, but Sanger rallied in the second quarter to tie the score at 20-20 before Amber Ricks hit a pair of free throws and Holly hit her shot.

Ricks led Edison with eight points and nine rebounds, while Katelyn Gilliam paced Sanger with eight points.

The Edison girls basketball team led Sanger 10-4 after the first quarter Friday at Selland Arena in the Central Section Division II championship game.

Linda Murray and Amber Ricks led Edison with four points apiece. Claire Tirapelle led Sanger with two.

The Immanuel boys basketball team won the Central Section Division V championship 73-63 Friday night over Bakersfield Christian at Selland Arena.

Immanuel, the division's second seed, improved to 25-8 after an undefeated Central Sequoia League season. Bakerfield Christian, which didn't have a senior on the team, fell to 13-15 after entering the playoffs as the fourth seed.

Immanuel, which won the DV title last season after Mission Prep was forced to forfeit the championship, was led by a balanced offense: Tim Cowdrey scored 21 points with nine rebounds and five assists; Micah Hiett had 17 points and 13 rebounds; Cody Medeiros had 17 points and 10 rebounds; and Stephen Rotella added 11 points and six rebounds.

Cowdrey, who entered the game averaging a team-leading 15.8 points per game, was plagued by foul trouble after picking up two in the first quarter. He played only 8 minutes in the first half, scoring five points.

Immanuel led 53-32 after three quarters, then held off a furious Bakersfield Christian comeback attempt fueled by a smothering pressure defense.

Bakersfield Christian was led by Marcus Hall's 31 points. Its second-leading scorer entering the game, Colby Herron (11.3), had a rough night from the field, missing 22 of 25 shots, but he finished with 12 points.

Forget St. Louis,
Fresno has the best fans.
You can get anywhere in Fresno in about 15 minutes, yet the crowd is ALWAYS late to games, if they show at all.
But whatever, it's not work they're late to, it's a recreational activity.
I'll let that slide.

The Immanuel boys basketball team took a 53-32 lead after three quarters over Bakersfield Christian in the Central Section Division V championship game.

Cody Medeiros led Immanuel with 17 points and nine rebounds, while Micah Hiett added 14 points and 12 rebounds. Immanuel, the division's second seed, outscored Bakersfield Christian 41-16 in the second and third quarters.

Boise State forward Reggie Larry (who I found myself calling Ashy Larry all night in reference to Dave Chappelle's character) was 7 of 20 from the floor for 19 points and post teammate Matt Nelson was 9 of 16 for 21 points against Fresno State Thursday night, showing again that the Bulldogs are most vulnerable in the post.

The Bulldogs post defense has improved, but it still needs help. The final score would have been much differnt had the Broncos missed shots they could have made in the paint. Larry was 1 of 4 on lay-ups in the second half. Nelson was 2 of 4. ...

The Bakersfield Christian boys basketball team led Immanuel 16-12 after the first quarter of the Central Section Division V championship game.

Marcus Hall paced Bakersfield Christian with six points, while Cody Medeiros led Immanuel with seven.

Mission Prep defeated Fresno Christian 55-45 to win the Central Section Division V girls basketball championship at Selland Arena.

Leigh Yetter led the top-seeded Royals with 21 points, while Jenna Caruso scored 19 points, including 16 in the second half when Mission Prep rallied from a 24-19 halftime deficit. Fresno Christian, the sixth seed, was led by Larissa Hensley's 23 points and Bonnie Hansen with 14 rebounds.

A 10-point, 3-steal third-quarter effort from Mission Prep's sophomore guard Jenna Caruso helped the Royals cut their deficit entering the fourth quarter to 34-33 in the Central Section Division V girls basketball final against Fresno Christian at Selland Arena.

The sixth-seeded Fresno Christian Eagles lead the top-seeded Mission Prep Royals 24-19 at halftime of their Central Section Division V girls basketball final at Selland Arena.

Sophomore point guard Larissa Hensley leads Fresno Christian with 15 points, while junior Leigh Yetter leads Mission Prep with 11 points.