Hosting Hughson on Tuesday, Jan. 14, the game went into the win column for Escalon’s varsity girls basketball team.

However, it didn’t start out well, with the visiting Lady Huskies ready to go from the tip off.

“They came into the game 1-13 overall and winless in the TVL,” noted varsity head coach Joseph Dalpogetti of the visitors. “They jumped on us 7-2 and I thought, ‘here we go again’, going to be a repeat of Sonora where we couldn’t make a shot and they could do no wrong.”

But Escalon battled back to knot the game at 7-7 and then outscored Hughson 8-2 to take a 15-9 lead at the end of the first quarter.

“We outscored them 19-7 in the second to lead 34-16 at the half,” Dalpogetti said. “And added 21 more in the third to lead 55-21 heading into the fourth.”

The coach said the final score was 58-22, so there wasn’t much action in that final frame, Escalon scoring just three points and Hughson netting only one.

“In the middle two quarters we forced some turnovers that let us get out in transition a little more and we were a little more patient against the zone to get some higher quality looks,” Dalpogetti said of his squad.

Leading the way were Madi Babasa with 23 points and seven rebounds, Ari Velasco with 19 points, five rebounds, 13 steals and four assists, and Aiden Hohenwarter with 11 points, putting three Lady Cougars into double figures on the night.

“We were supposed to play Venture Academy on Thursday (non-league) but they canceled the game due to a lack of players available. We were unable to pick up another game,” Dalpogetti said of his team having a bye on Jan. 16.

They were scheduled to resume play at Ripon Christian on Tuesday, Jan. 21 and will host Ripon on Thursday, Jan. 23. Then they close out the first half of league play at Orestimba on Friday, Jan. 24.

The varsity girls are 2-1 in league play and 9-9 overall heading into this week.