Matt Thissen's goal for his Golden Valley girls basketball team this week is to stay healthy.
"We've got 10 players on the team," Thissen said. "We already lost one to a knee injury and we're just getting her back. We can't afford any injuries."
The Cougars will host the 18th annual Lady Cougars Classic Tournament this week.
The six-team tournament will begin Thursday at Cougar Arena.
Defending Central California Conference champions Buhach Colony will open the tournament against Enochs at 4 p.m.
Livingston will face Dublin at 5:30 p.m.
Golden Valley will host Hoover of Fresno in the final first-round game at 7 p.m.
The Thunder are one of the favorites to win the tournament. They return four starters in Jessica Silva, Allison Wisdom, Brandy Coward and Barbara Coward.
Golden Valley returns three seniors in point guard Cristina Quizon, forward Beatriz Munoz and forward Kaitlin Molaison.
"I hoping to see a lot of heart and a lot of determination from my team," Thissen said.
Locals hooping it up
Many area boys teams will be spending the bulk of this week at the Modesto City Classic.
Golden Valley, Los Banos, Atwater and Merced will take part in the 16-team tournament.
Golden Valley will open today against Los Banos at Downey High at 3:30 p.m. Atwater will play Modesto at Downey at 8 p.m.
On the other side of the bracket, Merced plays Beyer at 5 p.m. at Gregori High.
The tournament runs through Saturday with the championship game scheduled for 7:30 p.m. at Downey.
Pitman volleyball honored
After a perfect 15-0 run through the CCC volleyball season, Pitman dominated the major conference awards handed out by the coaches.
Sierrah Miller was named the MVP. Teammate Maddy Halteman was picked as the Outstanding Setter and Lindsey Vander Weide was selected as the Outstanding Defensive Player.
The Pride's Kristen Pontes was named the CCC Coach of the Year as well.
Atwater landed three players on the all-CCC first team in Brigette Berlier, Hannah Van Warmerdam and Carolyn Schiber.
They were joined on the team by Golden Valley's Belen Castillo and Kourtney Davidson and Merced's Summer Sanchez.
The second team was comprised of Jalynn Harrison (Atwater), Lori Boesch (Atwater), Rachel Andrews (Buhach Colony), Ky Moore (Golden Valley), Camille Flores (Golden Valley), Vanesa Serna (Merced), Kelsee Derr (Pitman), Melinda Gonzalez (Pitman) and Sarah Day (Turlock).
© Copyright The Sacramento Bee. All rights reserved.
• Read more articles by SHAWN JANSEN
Order Reprint
About Comments
Reader comments on Sacbee.com are the opinions of the writer, not The Sacramento Bee. If you see an objectionable comment, click the "Report Abuse" link below it. We will delete comments containing inappropriate links, obscenities, hate speech, and personal attacks. Flagrant or repeat violators will be banned. See more about comments here.