California girls dominate Fulton

Lady Pintos players warm up in California's gym for their basketball contest against Fulton Tuesday Jan. 9, 2018.
Lady Pintos players warm up in California's gym for their basketball contest against Fulton Tuesday Jan. 9, 2018.

CALIFORNIA, Mo. - The California Lady Pintos put on a clinic on both ends of the floor in the first quarter Tuesday.

Offensively, California tossed in 28 points. Defensively, the Lady Pintos got the Fulton Lady Hornets to commit 21 turnovers. Those numbers added up to an easy win as the Lady Pintos opened play in the 24th Annual California Tournament with a 79-29 victory against the Lady Hornets.

The Lady Pintos had an energy in the first eight minutes that overwhelmed the Lady Hornets.

"We want everybody to give us energy on the floor, whether they are a starter or not," California coach Bobby Sangster said. "We want all 11 girls engaged in the ballgame as much as possible.

"Even if you're on the bench, we want the girls to be mentally in the game, learn what's going on out on the floor and when they get the opportunity to play, take what they've learned and put it to good use."

The game was tied at 2 before the Lady Pintos went on a 19-1 run in a three-plus minute span. Tristan Porter capped the spurt with three straight 3-pointers.

"She's been cold a little bit recently, but she got her shot back tonight," Sangster said.

With the big lead, California dialed it back a little bit the rest of the way. The Lady Pintos led 42-10 at the half and 67-24 after three quarters.

"When anybody's number was called, they were ready to play," Sangster said.

After a halftime chat, the Lady Pintos got some work in during the final two quarters on their inside game on the offensive end.

"We don't care how it gets there, but we had to do a better job of taking it inside," Sangster said. "It's hard to do that and when you get it there, you have to give it an effort to get it to the rim."

Sangster said the Lady Pintos were passing up good shots inside to get an open 3-pointer.

"It can be selfish not to shoot sometimes and we're working on embracing that concept," he said.

California was 12-of-24 on 3-pointers Tuesday, with Porter leading the way by going 4-for-4.

"3-pointers are a lot about what we do, we've worked hard on them to have a lot of threats," Sangster said.

Elizabeth Lutz paced the Lady Pintos with 18 points, including nine in the third quarter. Sangster was more impressed with other parts of Lutz's game Tuesday.

"She did a great job of distributing the basketball, making good decisions throughout the game," he said. "She found shots for other people and that can get overlooked."

Porter added 15 points, while Paige Lamm tossed in 10 as nine Lady Pintos had at least four points in the game.

California (11-2) will take on Helias in the semifinals at 6 p.m. Thursday.

Shawnie Hempfield led Fulton (2-9) with 11 points.

III

Last week, Sangster picked up his 200th career win as head coach of the Lady Pintos.

"I've been blessed to coach a lot of talented basketball players in my time here," Sangster said. "There's a lot of people in this community who have put in a lot of time and energy so that when players get to this level, they have the opportunity to be successful."

Sangster is in his 11th season as head coach of the Lady Pintos.

"To get to No. 200 in one spot is special," Sangster said. "It's been a very rewarding experience."