Nov. 26—The Lodi High girls basketball team easily dispatched crosstown rival Tokay on Tuesday, using an intense full-court defense to cruise to a 58-17 victory at Tokay's gym.
The Flames set up a full-court trapping defense and aggressive cutting of passing lanes to disrup Tokay's offense, leaving the Tigers scoreless until a few minutes into the second quarter.
AdvertisementAdvertisementAdvertisement"That's gonna be our identity," said first-year Lodi coach Jessica De La Cruz. "We want to be known for that team that puts on the pressure."
On the other end, Lodi pushed the tempo, leaving a Tokay team with a short bench running out of gas.
Lodi had three players in double-digit scoring, led by Gianni Bertolozzi's 13 points. Charlee LaCroix scored 11, Emiko Tanaka and Lillie Bayless scored 10 each, Marielle Calyua scored eight, Emme Bernal scored four and Paige Buckley scored two.
Lodi's deep bench helped drive the pace, with the Flames substituting four of the five players on the floor more than once.
AdvertisementAdvertisementAdvertisement"It's helpful. We're pretty young this year, actually," De La Cruz said. "We have one senior, one returning junior, the other two just came in as transfers, and the rest are freshmen and sophomores. We're deep and we're young, so it's exciting."
Most of Tokay's offense ran through senior Kaiyanna Landry, who led the Tigers with 12 points. Alyssa Galletti added a 3-pointer, and Chloe Randi scored two points.
Many of the players on the floor either played together or against each other a few months prior in flag football, something De La Cruz said has helped her team gel early in the season.
"At this point, having them for about a week of practice, a week and a half, I'm excited for this team," De La Cruz said. "They get along on and off the court, they mostly played flag (football) together too, so the friendship and the things that are important off the floor, those things are there."
Tokay (0-2) will play next in the Galt Tournament, which starts Dec. 4. Lodi (1-1) will play at Manteca on Saturday.
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