The 10th annual Pitman Holiday Classic concluded Friday evening a bit earlier than expected, as the Turlock Bulldogs forfeited the final game of the night to the Hughson Huskies to direct their focus to beloved coach John Williams, who was involved in a three-car accident on his way to the game.
The collision, which happened at the corner of W. Christoffersen Parkway and N. Kilroy Road directly in front of Pitman High School, injured seven people, with Williams needing immediate medical attention after being found unresponsive. The Turlock Police Department were still investigating the scene hours later.
“He was rushed to the hospital, so he can use the prayers,” said Turlock head coach Erica Hernandez.
Through the first two days of the tournament, the Bulldogs were winless after falling to Lodi 32-22 on Wednesday and 62-24 to Argonaut (Jackson) on Thursday. But wins and losses were clearly and the last thing on anyone’s mind on Friday evening.
The crash occurred at approximately 4 p.m. during the fourth quarter of Pitman’s 45-23 loss to Lodi. In the contest, the Pride were held scoreless for the entire second quarter as the Flames increased their 14-10 first quarter lead to 26-10 at halftime. Pitman shooters missed all 12 shots they took in the quarter. The third quarter was almost as uneventful as they were only able to muster four points by way of a Greener three-pointer and a made free-throw.
Second-year head coach Parmine Randhawa attributed the loss to low energy and perhaps tired legs.
“The energy was pretty low. At one point, you could’ve heard a pin drop in here,” Randhawa said. “We got stagnant offensively where we weren’t getting any touches in the paint and shots weren’t falling from the outside. And if your shots are not going to fall from outside, it can go bad pretty fast. Defensively, we were super slow on rotations and we were giving them easy buckets over the top. We need to get to work because we're capable of being a good team.”
It was a stark contrast to the performance the Pride displayed in their first two games of the week, where Randhawa believes her team showed their potential.
On Wednesday, the Pride rode a trio of double-digit scoring performances to a 58-52 win over Argonaut. Senior Liz Webb led all scorers with 20, followed by junior Lexi Pulido who had 16. Sophomore Dailynn Greener posted a double-double with 15 points and 13 rebounds. Against Hughson on Thursday, Greener had another double-double with 16 points and 11 rebounds, but it wasn’t enough to contain seniors Yuliana Rocha and Kareena Kang. Rocha contributed with 16 points on the night while Kang finished with 20. Nine of Kang’s points came from beyond the arc while another 10 came at the free-throw line. Her efforts earned her All-Tournament honors.
Kang beat out fellow captain, senior Madi Duron, who had an explosive performance of her own Wednesday in a 51-41 loss to Patterson, the eventual tournament champions. She scored 21 against the Tigers and helped force their smallest margin of victory. Prior to the tournament, the Tigers had beaten all 14 of their opponents by at least 15 points.
Hughson head coach Tim May explained that they learned a lot about Patterson when they lost to them 52-33 at their season-opening game on Nov. 18.
“Patterson is a good basketball team, but to be honest, I felt like we didn’t play to our ability last time,” May said. “We knew we were going to play them tougher, and they came in prepared… They still played tough. But we’re working hard for it. I just hope that we make that daily improvement. But this is the tournament where we need to start to gel because league starts next week.”
The Huskies are now 8-6 on the season while the Pride fell to 6-8 and Bulldogs dropped to 3-13.
