Late rally lifts Weston Ranch over El Dorado

The El Dorado girls basketball team's season is over.

The Sierra Valley Conference co-champion Cougars lost just one game during the league season but run and gun Weston Ranch did what few teams were able to do this year — take the Cougars from Placerville out of their game with a physical, fast-paced style that eliminated El Dorado, 58-51, from the Sac-Joaquin Section Division III playoffs.

The Cougars from Stockton trailed for much of the game but took control on the strength of a 26-point fourth quarter and held on for the victory.

El Dorado got off to a rough 1-of-10 start and turned the ball over four times in the opening minutes. Courtney Macklin, who led all scorers with 20 points, got the home team on the board at the 5:16 mark and Sam Reeder made a free throw midway through.

The sloppy play hurt both teams. Weston Ranch struggled on the other end as Macklin and Reeder both had steals and Emily Boyd blocked a shot. Macklin's second basket with 2:13 left on Reeder's assist, and Jessica Heinrichs' wing three gave El Dorado a 8-5 lead but Weston Ranch answered with seconds left in the period to get within one.

After Grace Abela forced two Weston Ranch turnovers and Maddie Zuber intercepted a pass at the start of the second, El Dorado's offense got on track. Macklin hit a pair of layups and Abela took a feed from Reeder on the run and converted a 3-point play.

Macklin was mugged and left the court briefly as Weston's Leticia Infante buried a three to cut into El Dorado's 15-9 lead.

Weston tied it at 19, Heinrichs answered with a layup and two from the line, Weston scored another three and Zuber bucketed a two-pointer just before the half. Heinrichs extended El Dorado's lead to four on an outlet pass from Macklin, sending the teams into the break with El Dorado up 26-22.

Despite a series of turnovers that kept El Dorado scoreless for nearly two minutes late in the third, the home team maintained the lead, outscoring the visitors 12-10. Sabrina Tate's tip of a Weston pass to Reeder and her subsequent pass to Macklin led to two El Dorado points and on the ensuing inbound pass, Weston nocthalantly rolled the ball inbound.

Reeder alertly ran back, picked up the loose ball and went in for a layup. She was fouled and made both free throws to extend El Dorado's lead to six.

But the good times ended in the fourth. Weston tied the game at 40 on its second three in the first two minutes. Falling back, Heinrichs threw up a prayer that found the net and converted the 3-point play but Weston retied it at 45 with a trey and took the lead for good on another.

After Boyd's cross-court inbound pass to Macklin, who was camped all alone underneath the basket, pulled El Dorado within three, Weston put the game away with 8-of-10 from the charity stripe in an 8-4 run.

"We should have won that game," Macklin said. "At the end of the third it got more intense. We were tired and so were they and that's when they took the physicality to another level. The only way we lose is if a team is stronger than us — and they were stronger."

Along with her 20 points, Macklin had 11 rebounds. Boyd pulled down eight boards and Zuber and Abela both had four.

Heinrichs joined Macklin in double figures with 13 points; Reeder scored five; Boyd bucketed four; Abela had three; and Zuber, Tate and Justine Pereira each had two. Weston was led by AJ Brown with 16 points, Emoni Wilson with 11 and Anna Haley with eight.

"It was just one of those nights when shots didn't fall and we weren't able to get it done," El Dorado coach Pat Winter said.