Marysville senior forward Krystal Briggs (25) puts a ball up towards the basket in the Lady Indians 40-36 win over Lathrop on December 22, 2022 in Sacramento.

Marysville

MARYSVILLE, CA (MPG) - The Marysville Lady Indians basketball program is looking to get one game further than they did in the 22-23 season and should start to ban the word “semi” as a collective unit in the program.

Marysville lost in the California Interscholastic Federation Sac-Joaquin Section Division IV semifinals to Colfax and the CIF State NorCal semifinals to San Domenico last year.

Lady Indians head coach Ike Prince told Dispatch that each year since he had taken over the program, they have improved the next year. Prince’s statement held true for every year except his first to second year in 2017-18.

Prince lost a couple key starters from last year that included Pioneer Valley League Co-Most Valuable Player Karisma Briggs and Millikin University signee Sophia Rogers due to graduation.

Prince told the Dispatch that he is filling in those slots between two to four players that include junior wing Yolanda Gonzales and senior forward Maya Mcneal for Briggs and junior guard Sophie Valencia and sophomore guard Abigail Pietz with bigger roles.

Marysville’s starting lineup returns senior forward Krystal Briggs, senior guard Kaliyah Henry and junior guard Demi Boykin, who all three were on the All-PVL team selections last season with Krystal and Boykin named to first team and Henry to the second team.

Marysville junior guard Demi Boykin (3) goes after a loose ball in the Lady Indians 40-36 victory over Lathrop on December 22, 2022 in Sacramento.

Everyone knows the girls program is a defensive force that gives opposing teams fits, but don’t forget they can score too and will put points up on the board in a hurry.

They’ll be competing for the Pioneer Valley League crown as they will battle it out with Colfax at the top of the league and every other team improved with more experience.

Marysville will be competing in a competitive Lincoln tournament in the middle of December and the key games against Colfax are on January 10th and 31st.

The Lady Indians traveled to Chico on Monday night and Prince told the Dispatch that his schedule of tougher teams like Chico, Edison of Stockton on November 27, and that Lincoln tournament will host a SJS team power in Whitney of Rocklin.

Sutter

SUTTER, CA (MPG) - The Sutter Union girls’ basketball team made the playoffs last season with a roster that was mostly new to basketball in the 2022-23 season.

Sutter head coach Brandee Harter told the Dispatch they have a lot of talent on the roster and it is basketball savvy.

“They are a team that goes after everything, they work hard and show a lot of spirit,” Harter said.

She added that within the group, she has a few returning girls from last year’s roster which includes junior forward Torrence Harter, junior guard Sydney Meagher, senior guard Megan O’Neal, junior combo guard/forward Grace Kettering and transfer 2024 guard Reet Bains.

Sutter junior forward Torrence Harter (4) puts a ball up as she drove in the lane against Colusa in the Huskies 46-36 loss on December 13, 2022.

Brandee told the Dispatch she saw Torrence’s game expanded over the summer with her Ametuer Athletic Union (AAU) team and her confidence is higher than ever.

Some of the new faces that Brandee expressed to the Dispatch were freshman forward Sissy Luttrell, who got a good amount of time in the Huskies foundation game on Wednesday, November 15 at Woodland Christian and Brandee told the Dispatch she is a “go-getter”.

Brandee told the Dispatch she believes her team has more basketball knowledge than they did last season and thinks with the tougher preseason schedule that they will fare better in PVL play.

The Huskies finished 7-7 in league play and finished in fifth place last season. Sutter will play in three preseason tournaments that include appearances in the Colusa, Woodland Christian and the El Dorado tournament prior to PVL play as open up at Marysville on January 3, 2024.

The Huskies will host their own tournament from Thursday, December 14 through Saturday, December 16.

River Valley

YUBA CITY, CA (MPG) - The River Valley Lady Falcons basketball program has a familiar face as head coach Thomas Zaragoza returns at the top spot at the varsity level since the 2018-19 season.

Zaragoza was the head coach at River Valley for 10 seasons spanning 2009 through early 2019. He expressed that senior forward/guard Tanvi Joshi asked initially once the spot opened up after the conclusion of last season.

“After parents were asking and my AD (River Valley athletic director Phil McCaulley) asked, I said yes,” Zaragoza said. He added that he still had the itch to coach so he began the process of taking the program back over.

Zaragoza told the Dispatch that Joshi being one of his returning players is big because she is one of the hardest working kids that he has ever seen.

“She (Joshi) just wants to work all of the time,” Zaragoza said.

He added that junior guard Gurleen Nijjar and junior forward Claudia Dudek are going to have certain roles on the team.

River Valley will play in four tournaments this preseason that includes the Live Oak, Woodland Christian, Sutter and Lincoln tournaments against great competition that includes Marysville, Winters, Oakmont and Lincoln.

Zaragoza expressed to the Dispatch that he plans to use much of the shot on the offensive side for his team this season as he said he used to be an up-tempo kind of coach.

“Our best shot at success will be to utilize the 30 second-shot clock as much as we can, we need to work on a slower pace to slow teams down,” Zaragoza said.