Kaitlyn Reina scored 14 points, Teryn Rath added 10 and the Bear River High girls basketball team improved to 9-0 with a 52-42 victory over Rocklin Thursday night in the first round of the Coach “G” Memorial Tournament at Placer High School. 

Savannah Welz, who left the game with a wrist injury, Cindy Solomon and Sarah Hagar each chipped in with seven points apiece for the Bruins, who jumped out to an 18-6 lead after eight minutes. 

Rocklin, however, responded by outscoring Bear River 20-11 in the second half to make it a tight ballgame before the Bruins pulled away in the fourth quarter. 

“Second quarter we kind of lost a little bit of our edge defensively and picked up a lot of fouls,” Bruins coach Jeff Bickmore said. “I thought our defense kind of let us down in the second quarter and we let them back in the game.”

Rocklin was limited to just three-fourth quarter points. 

Bear River will take on Del Campo at 6:30 p.m. Friday in a winner’s bracket game. Welz is questionable for the contest, said Bickmore, whose team beat Del Campo 59-33 on Dec. 5 in Fair Oaks.

Rocklin faces Foothill at 3:30 p.m. Friday in the loser’s bracket of the tournament. 

 

Rio Americano 65, Foresthill 33 — The Wildfires’ Sadie Stroup had 16 points and Mikaela Kramer added nine, but Foresthill (3-4) was heavily outrebounded and fell behind 60-27 by the end of the third quarter. “They’re a very good team,” Wildfires coach Sean Namanny said of Rio Americano. “… Just about every possession they had an offensive rebound or two or three or four.” Elizabeth Moulton scored 12 points and Sierra Martinez 11 for Rio Americano (7-2). Foresthill plays Folsom Friday at 5 p.m. in the second round of the tournament in hopes of reaching the consolation bracket championship. Namanny believes his team can be more competitive than it was Thursday. “Our girls can compete if we do the things they work on,” he said. “We can compete with any team we play.” 

 

Del Campo 54, Foothill 49 — Megan Roberson, a 6-foot-4 senior center, had a game-high 20 points and Ash Monk added 17 for Del Campo, which led 50-49 with 15.8 seconds remaining in a battle of Cougars. Foothill of Palo Cedro (3-4), which trailed 25-18 at halftime, was led by Ashley Rothmann (13 points), Aubrie Wall (11) and Danielle Nichols (9). 

For updates on the Coach “G” Memorial Tournament throughout the weekend, follow Sports Editor Matthew Kimel at twitter.com/matthewkimel or search for #coachgtournament on Twitter.