Yosemite has early lead but falls in Division II girls basketball title game
A sixth Central Section girls basketball championship will have to wait for Yosemite High.
Top-seeded Bakersfield beat the No. 2 Badgers 47-42 for the Drillers’ second straight Central Section Division II championship at Selland Arena on Friday.
Still, it was a solid step up for Yosemite, which clearly played the David to Bakersfield’s Goliath in terms of enrollment (about 650 to about 2,850).
Too, the Badgers had been stuck at the section semifinal round five straight years before advancing to Selland this year.
They looked good under longtime coach Gary Blate early Friday, taking a seven-point lead in the first quarter before the Drillers rallied to take the lead for good at 21-18 on McKenna Hsiung’s 3-pointer.
Yosemite’s Grace Fries, who finished with a game-high 20 points, connected on a 3-pointer with 27.8 seconds remaining to cut the deficit to 46-42 but Bakersfield hung on.
Kiara Frink finished with 19 points to lead the Drillers.
Anthony Galaviz: 559-441-6042, agalaviz_TheBee
This story was originally published February 22, 2019 at 7:53 PM with the headline "Yosemite has early lead but falls in Division II girls basketball title game."
