Oak Ridge girls, Folsom boys wrap up perfect SFL seasons

Two of the better basketball teams in the Sacramento area wrapped up perfect league seasons on Friday night, as the Oak Ridge girls defeated Folsom, 47-43, and the Folsom boys beat Oak Ridge, 82-67; as both teams finished the regular season with 14-0 records in the Sierra Foothill League. Oak Ridge 47, Folsom 43 Folsom led the entire game, including by eight points at the start of the fourth quarter, 38-30, after coming out of the third quarter with a 13-8 advantage. The Bulldogs had all the momentum, and then they fell apart in the fourth quarter, scoring only five points, and making only one shot from the floor along with three free throws. Oak Ridge scored its most points in any quarter of the game, finishing with 17, as the team rallied to come back and win by four points. Coming into the game, Oak Ridge coach Briana Dulgar was not feeling good with her team because the previous two practices were not good. Meanwhile, Folsom High coach Lynn Wolking was confident, as was his team, that they could win the game. The game went about how both coaches felt it would for the first three quarters, but Oak Ridge played best when the game mattered most and pulled out the win. Laurel Smart gave Oak Ridge its first lead with a free throw well past the midpoint of the fourth quarter, 43-42. Sophia Ross then scored on a transition layup before Siena Maher scored on a drive to the basket to put Oak Ridge in front 47-42 with 1:16 to play. Folsom's only points over the last 3 ½ minutes of the game was a free throw from Jayden Hill. "The game was too close for my liking," Dulgar said. "We wanted to make sure that we were mentally prepared for the game and it was apparent by the way we came out that we weren't. By sheer will, we figured out a way to get it clicking and to climb back into the game. It's always a close game against Folsom so credit to them. They bring out the best in us." Ross scored 14 points to lead the Trojans, while Leah Harris scored 13, 11 coming in the second half. Lily Reed was Folsom's only player to reach double digits, as she finished with 12 points. "There have been several quarters in a lot of games this year that we haven't scored a lot of points," Folsom coach Lynn Wolking said. "Credit to Oak Ridge, they played good defense in the fourth quarter. They hit a three right off the bat that got them back in it." Despite the disappointing loss, Wolking feels good about his team. "We're looking at the game like it's going to be the number 2 seed (Oak Ridge) against the number 3 seed (us) and I thought the game reflected that," Wolking said. "We've been getting better. We're very connected as a team. I know we can play with just about anybody, we've just got to avoid those low-scoring quarters." Folsom 82, Oak Ridge 67 Oak Ridge came out and played a strong first quarter, scoring 21 points, 12 by Gavyn Hoenig, to trail Folsom only by one, 22-21, at the end of the quarter. Folsom, however, took off from there, out-scoring the Trojans 18-9 in the second quarter and 23-13 in the third to open up a comfortable 63-47 lead after three quarters. Folsom coasted from there. "We shot the ball pretty well," Folsom High coach Mike Wall said. "They played a lot out in the passing lanes so our driving to the basket was good tonight. We got to the rim a lot and that's why the score was so high. Unfortunately, we were porous too, especially in the first quarter, and they were getting to the basket. "Number 11 (Hoenig) must like playing against us. He's only averaging 11 points a game and yet he scored 30 against us twice." Hoenig, for the second game against the Bulldogs, was sensational for the Trojans, as he scored 30 points. Hudson Schroeder and Lucas Cutler both finished with 12 points. Folsom led by 10 points at halftime, 40-30, but scored the first eight points of the third quarter to open up an 18-point lead and Oak Ridge never got closer than 14 the rest of the way. Folsom's top four scorers all did their thing, as Jovan Dulay scored 20 points, and Parks Weaver and Jack Shull both scored 18 points. Alec Day finished with 10. The Bulldogs won the Sierra Foothill League with a 14-0 record and are 27-1 over the last two years. In fact, the Bulldogs have won the league nine of the last 10 seasons. "It really is a nice accomplishment," Wall said. "The body of work; it really feels like you're doing something right. "It's a really great environment up here and the crowd always gets into it, but we shot the ball well. What's the saying, tradition never graduates? That pretty much holds true."