Earlier in the week, the Madera Coyotes girls basketball team lost forward/center Aaliyah String to a concussion. Then, in its first game of the Cen-Cal Holiday Invitational girls basketball at Torres, they lost forward Brooke Houghton in the first half.
Those two big injuries for the Coyotes, and the inexperience of their backcourt led to a 42-20 loss Friday to the Golden Valley-Merced Cougars in the first round of the Cen-Cal tournament.
Madera plays Fresno Christian at 10 a.m. on Friday morning.