Tigers Fall To Grant On The Road

INDERKUM & GRANT DURING 4TH QUARTER TIMEOUT.

BY TREVOR HORN
THE NATOMAS BUZZ | @natomasbuzz

It was the type of performance coach Rodney Haymer wanted out of his team – in spite of the loss.

The Inderkum High School boys varsity basketball team fell 74-70 to No. 8 ranked Grant High School in Del Paso Heights Friday night.

Terrence White led the Tigers (9-6) with 26 points, but it was his teammates who gave Haymer reason to believe the team has turned a corner after a three-game losing streak.

“Grant is always a tough team and it was a neighborhood battle,” Haymer said. “They have a (Division-I) recruit on their team in De’Sean (Parsons). He basically beat us.”

Parsons led Grant (11-5) with 24 points.

Quentin Davis scored a career-high 23 points for Inderkum.

“He responded and played a lot better this week,” Haymer said. “That’s the Q that we want. He played his butt off.”

Inderkum will back at it at home Saturday, Jan. 5 night against Bear River. At 12-3 this season, the Bruins are the No. 3 ranked D-IV team in the Sac Joaquin Section.

“Bear River is not going to be a cupcake game,” Haymer said “I scheduled our season tough in non-league so we could get our power ranking up and get battle tested. Our main goal is to make the playoffs, and if we play soft teams and cupcakes in the preseason, we aren’t ready for the playoffs. And games like this get us ready for playoff basketball.”

Inderkum Girls Lose To Oak Ridge

The lady Tigers lost to No. 2 ranked Oak Ridge 52-40 in the home opener Friday. It was the first home game loss for Inderkum since Jan. 20, 2010.

Down 33-15 at halftime, Inderkum started the third quarter on a 13-2 to and cut Oak Ridge’s lead down to 35-28 on a three-pointer by Bailee Bernard with five minutes to play in the third. But that was as close as the Tigers would get to Oak Ridge (11-2) led by 19-point performance by Haley Anderson. Nine Trojans scored.

Sakara Brewwer, Inderkum leading scorer this season, was held to just four points due mainly to being double-teamed most of the night.

“Oak Ridge did a good job staying on Sakara,” Inderkum head coach Phillip Hampton said.

Sophomore forward Kyliyah Daniel led Inderkum with 12 points and freshman Shymir Mitschan-Baldwin scored 11 points and had four assists.

“It was obvious (Mitschan-Baldwin) started to put the team in her back,” Hampton said.

The Tigers finished a grueling non-league schedule with a 9-8 record and open Tri-County Conference play on Jan. 11 at home against Yuba City.

Hampton hopes that the Tigers are ready to win the programs third consecutive TCC title and increase the teams’s 20-0 league record over the last two seasons.

“I think with the competition we have faced, I believe the girls have an idea of what to expect,” Hampton said.

Natomas High boys basketball: Despite a tie game at 19-19 at halftime, the Nighthawks lost to West Campus on the road 42-28 on Friday. Natomas will play at home against Brookside Christian on Tuesday night.

LADY TIGERS WARM UP ON HOME COURT.