If it seems like the Madera Coyotes boys and girls basketball schedule came upon as a surprise, it’s probably because it did.
The teams didn’t get the go-ahead that they were having a season until about a month ago. With other athletes playing other sports, coachers were working on getting their teams together. And, without a freshman or junior varsity team, both Madera coaches are working with inexperienced players to help fill their teams.
Both the boys and girls team succumbed to a better Lemoore Tigers team Wednesday night in Joe Flores Gym.
The Madera Coyote boys team had just one player reach double figures, Kevin Bedejo’s 10 points, and one more score more than six points — Fawzat Saed’s nine points.
Meanwhile, Lemoore had two players score double figures, led by Lemoore’s Beunju Moon’s 24 points to invoke the 40-point running clock for a 73-33 win.
The Coyotes committed 26 turnovers in the loss and scored just three points in the fourth quarter.
Lemoore jumped out to a 42-15 halftime lead with a 25-7 second quarter.
The Coyotes only pulled down 20 rebounds as a team. Saed led the team with nine and the rest of the team combined for 11.
The Lemoore girls team used a suffocating press to jump out to a 44-18 halftime lead and cruise to a 68-35 victory.
Madera’s top defender Aasyria Goins was limited by a possible concussion. Starting point guard Rhynne Mitchell was also limited due to an injury.
Madera didn’t have a player score in double-figures. Stephenie Jordan led the team with nine points. However, 10 players scored for the Coyotes, but Jordan was the only one to score more than four points.
Lemoore got 25 points from Amaya Sanchez and 12 from Alexa Silva. The margin of victory could have been bigger, but the Tigers were just 8-of-22 from the free throw line.