Falcons, Honkers clash

Like in years past, there were tears shed by the River Valley High girls basketball team.

But this time they were of happiness.

Hayley Thompson scored a game high 21-points with eight rebounds, Alexandria Rainey added 10 points in her last home game as a Falcon and River Valley defeated Yuba City 43-34 at home on Thursday.

The victory ended a regular season which showed vast improvement over the past two seasons for River Valley (8-15, 4-6), which is in its third year of fielding a varsity team. In the first two seasons, the Falcons won just three games, none of which were against Tri County Conference opponents.

So after ending league play with a second straight win over its biggest rival and quintupling the total of TCC wins in school history, the Falcons left the court elated.

"There were some dark times where it wasn't the tears of joy that you see here," said River Valley coach Michelle Quist. "There were a lot of tears over those (last two) seasons."

As for the winless Honkers (0-21), the happiness of their crosstown rival is something coach Lauren Perez hopes to use as inspiration for how to rebound next season.

"If you can get through a season like this as a coach and a player, and you can look for the positives, you will be better off," Perez said. "I think you can learn a lot by looking at this River Valley team."

The Falcons would control the majority of the game, although the Honkers did give River Valley a challenge in the third quarter after they cut the lead to four points off a jumper from Chaylene Hurst. But the Falcons responded with a deadly combination of Jasmine Pedraza's defense and points in the paint by Thompson.

Pedraza, coupled with the skills of Yesenia Medina, helped force five steals in the last five minutes of the quarter and finished with six swipes in the game. The strong defense was backed up by Thompson, who scored 14 of her points in the second half.

"She's incredible," Quist said of Thompson. "Half of it is that she is starting to realize how good she is. She can dominate."

Alexandra Peiffer led the Honkers with 14 points. Mariah Curry was the next highest scoring Yuba City player with six points.

The Honkers would mount a 10-2 run in the fourth, but it was quickly squashed by Rainey and Thompson, who each sank a pair of free throws in response.

For Rainey, who has been with the team all three years, it was a fitting ending to her first regular season that had ups to go with the downs.

"That was the cherry on top. It was phenomenal," she said. "(This season) has gone nowhere but up. It's been amazing."

The Yuba City High junior varsity team won 40-32. Kiran Samra led the Honkers with 11 points and Chloe Periero added 10.