WARRIOR HOOPS UP & RUNNING  Basketball for the Men's and Women's Teams are off to a good start with strong wins in pre-league and tourney play

Posted 12-22-04

BRINGIN' IT IN: 1st Year Head Coach Chris Olofson goes over assignments during a timeout in an away contest against Foothill.  The Warriors would go on to post their fifth win of the year in a 48-37 win.

   Cleats have officially been traded in for some Air Jordans.

Both the Warriors and the Lady Warriors have proved to be two of the valley's top Division III teams in early action, with both squads posting 8-2 and 10-4 records through the December break and the start of the January league schedule.

Ironically for both teams, a pair of sophomores have proven to be the biggest threats offensively, with the Warriors led by Vincent Saavedra (#20) and the Ladies led by Katie Avila (#23). 

Saavedra led the team through December in points scored with 125, including a team-leading 24 three-pointers. 

Avila is one of the top scorers in the central section with 213 points, while also leading the Lady Warriors in blocks (10), steals (18), and assists (38).

Helping out the sophomore sensations is a strong senior class on both teams, with Nick Gaeta and Ryan Darling poised for a strong final prep-season while returning center Megan Terle has already amassed 124 points and a team-leading 103 boards halfway through the year.

Having size in numbers, both coaches still don't want to take their league schedules lightly.

"We think that Wasco will be tough for us," said Warrior Head Coach Chris Olofson.  "They have a few returners from last year that can present some problems and they are the defending champions."

Wasco has already posted an impressive win over Sierra-League power Bakersfield-Christian, but curiously forfeited their match-up with Tehachapi at the the Shafter Tournament in a semi-final contest in mid-december.  The Warriors went on to use the break to their advantage to post a solid 63-50 win over Golden Valley in the championship game.

For the Ladies, expectations are high after posting a 2003 23-5 record and perfect 10-0 South Sequoia League season.

POST DELIVERY: Katie Avila (#23) sends a shot up in first-half action against Arvin in the December Foothill Tournament.  The Ladies would go on to defeat the Bears, 45-28.

Competition promises to be tough for the ladies this time around, with defending Division III champion Yosemite resting behind the laurels of Karras Blate, who was third in the valley in 2003 with 59 three-pointers while Center Katie Minton and Guard Alyssa Syre hope to continue where they left off from a season ago with strong numbers posted in the scoring and rebounding category.

Caesar Chavez, who boasts no seniors, also promises to be a Division III title contender with an 8-1 record and strong wins over top large-school competition such as Liberty-Bakersfield, the Titans opening round victim in the Redwood Tournament (83-59).  Also look for Porterville to make a strong run, with arguably the best player in the valley back for a senior season in Summer Mathews (23.8 ppg).

For the guys, Washington-Union is the strong favorite to raise the plaque at the end of the Division III Section season.  There might be some hope for the competition though when word hit that San Joaquin Memorial defeated the Panthers 77-74 in the Clovis West Invitational in early December.

WUHS might be human after all...but Junior blue-chipper Tre'Von Willis and co. will be tough to overcome.

RUNNING THE O: Vincent Saavedra (#20) looks for a break in the zone defense while Justin Dock (#35) and Bennie Dunn (#25) get into position.

If you get a chance, come out to Tehachapi High School to see one or both Warrior squads in action!

	If you have statistics or any other pertinent info on Warrior wrestling or soccer, send it my way and I'll talk about it in the weekly warrior!  Pictures get extra brownie points as well...let's get our Warriors (of all sports) on the web!!
	Comprehinsive statistical re-cap of each of the Warriors and Lady Warriors games can be found by going to Maxpreps.  Click on the link to see the stats on all the Tehachapi sports for 2004-2005!