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LosMolinos'Heather Rodriquez puts up a shot Friday against Redding Christian. ByChipThompson editor@redbluffdailynews.com @editorchip on Twitter REDDING TheLosMolinosBull- dogs and Mercy Warriors basket- ball teams, boys and girls alike, took losses on the road Friday night. The Bulldogs boys team fell behind in the second quarter against the Redding Christian Lions and then couldn't get more than single digits in either the third or fourth to take a 66-43 loss. Alex Russell had a good night shooting, leading the team with 15, Aaron Hardy had 10, Ty Isak- sen had 9, Kyle Wood had 5, in- cluding a three-pointer, and Devin Henderson put up 4. The Bulldogs (16-6 overall, 4-3 league) were scheduled to take on the Chester Volcanoes Mon- day night in Chester and host the Burney Raiders (2-18 overall, 2-6 league) at 7:30 p.m. Wednesday. LadyBulldogs29, Redding Christian 52 The Lady Bulldogs struggled to score Friday night against the Lions, only hitting double digits with 11 points in the second pe- riod, falling 52-29 to the league leaders. Rachel Rogers put up 20 points, including a three, Henna Acevedo had 4, Heather Rodri- guez had 3 and Alondra Rosas had 2. The Lady Bulldogs (14-6 over- all, 4-2 league) were scheduled to travel to Chester Monday night to take on the Volcanoes and host the Burney Raiders (6-2 overall, 2-4 league) to finish the regular season at 6 p.m. Wednes- day. Warriors 35, Chester 71 CHESTER The Mercy Warriors boys couldn't keep the league- leading Chester Volcanoes in check Friday night, falling 71-35. Marcus Kuechle led the War- riors with 23 points, 22 rebounds and a pair of blocks. Dartagnan Kingwell had 5 points and 4 re- bounds, Alavaro Delafuente had 4 points and 2 rebounds and Jar- rett Stickney had 3 points and 2 assists. BASKETBALL Bulldogs,Warriorsdroproadgames By Tim Reynolds The Associated Press Stephen Curry had no pre- conceived notion on how being Kevin Durant's teammate was supposed to work. He just knew it would. It was a fair question when the season began: How were su- perstars like Curry and Durant going to mesh with the Golden State Warriors? No one need ask anymore, not with the War- riors holding the best record in the NBA and the team about to send four players — Curry and Durant included, of course — to New Orleans for next Sunday's All-Star Game. "I kind of went into it with a fresh perspective, just under- standing what KD's game is like and what he's like as a person," Curry said. "I knew some things from playing with him, on Team USA and stuff. From there, we had a certain identity to how we play. I knew that he would blend right in and bring his skill set to the table. "Didn't want to put too much pressure on the transition," Curry added. "We just let it hap- pen." He makes it sound so simple. Those who have been there before know it's not. Paul Pierce went through it in Boston when the Celtics added Kevin Gar- nett and Ray Allen, and Dwy- ane Wade did in Miami when the Heat landed LeBron James and Chris Bosh. "It's very challenging. It's like beingabachelorandthenyouget married," Wade said. "You aren't going to have as much bathroom time, you aren't going to have as much of the bed. You have to fig- ure out how to get comfortable." Curry apparently has. His scoring is down from a league- best 30.1 per game last season to 25.2 this season. He's shooting less and doesn't have the ball in his hands as often. There's other parts to the for- mula. Harrison Barnes took 10 shots per game last season for Golden State; he's now in Dal- las. Draymond Green has given up some of his shots, and Du- rant himself is shooting a tad less often than he did in Okla- homa City. But when Durant signed with the Warriors last summer Curry immediately knew his role would change, even coming off consec- utive MVP seasons. He hasn't complained. "When you have an opportu- nity to get a piece who isn't just a good piece but a great piece, a future Hall of Fame piece, it's easier to take a little bit of a side step," former NBA star Jerry Stackhouse said. "It's not a back- step at all. You still need Steph Curry to be Steph Curry for them to have a chance to win a cham- pionship." A play in Saturday's game that had Durant back in Oklahoma City might illustrate how well he and Curry are clicking. WARRIORS Curry, Durant meshing well, sharing stardom By Chip Thompson editor@redbluffdailynews.com @editorchip on Twitter RED BLUFF It couldn't have been any closer Friday night when the RedBluffSpartansboyshostedthe Foothill Cougars for Senior Night and came up on the short end of a 60-58 overtime game. In a game that threatened to get way from the Spartans three times, they were able to claw their way back each time all the way to the end. Even with standout guard Brayden Hutchins going out with a knee injury near the end of the first half, the Spartans managed to hang with the Cougars until the fi- nal seconds. Foothill got on the board first with a pair of foul shots before Hutchins got a steal and took it the length of the court to score. Foot- hill answered before Payton Ed- wards hit a three to give the Spar- tans their first lead of the night at 5-4. That would be the story of the game as the lead changed hands five times in the first period alone and 16 times in regulation. The Spartans would lead by as much as 4 in the first before end- ing the period tied at 13. In the second, the Cougars ran out to a 7-point lead early before the Spar- tans clawed back to tie it at 31 go- ing into the half. By the end of the third, thanks to a pair of threes from Derek Gor- don, another from Evan Tanner and some solid play in the lane by Tye Clement, the Spartans led 44- 41. Gordon opened the fourth with a three and it looked like the Spar- tans would pull away, but that's when the Cougars stepped it up and madea comeback of their own to go up 52-52 inside of 4 minutes to play. In the final 30 seconds Clement hit a foul shot to tie it at 56 and the Spartans held until the buzzer to force overtime. BASKETBALL SPARTANS EDGED OUT BY FOOTHILL ON SENIOR NIGHT CHIP THOMPSON — DAILY NEWS Red Bluff's Eric Spencer drives to the rim Friday night against Foothill. By Doug Ferguson The Associated Press PEBBLE BEACH Jordan Spieth can't seem to win a tournament without hearing six words that only raise expectations, if not hy- perbole. "The youngest player since Ti- ger Woods." Comparisons require context, though it's still good company to keep. The latest example was Sunday at the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am, which Spieth happily turned into a most boring finish. He led by six shots going into the final round, made 14 straight pars at one point, closed with a 70 and won by four. Spieth jokingly apologized for not producing any highlights, except for a 30-foot birdie putt that didn't matter. All he really cared about was winning. It was the ninth PGA Tour vic- tory for the 23-year-old Texan. That made him — wait for it — the youngest player since Woods to win nine times on tour. Woods was 23 years, 5 months when he won his ninth PGA Tour event at the1999Memorial.Spiethisalittle more than a month behind. Even if Spieth were to win this week at Riviera, he still would be a few weeks older than when Woods captured his 10th tour vic- tory, and catching up to Woods af- ter that would be unlikely. Woods woneightPGAToureventsin1999, including four straight to close out the year. Numbers alone don't paint the full picture. Pebble Beach was Spieth's 100 start on the PGA Tour as a pro, so he is winning at a 9 percent clip. In Woods' 100th start on the PGA Tour, he won for the 28th time. "I don't think anyone's going to win at the same percentage that Tiger won," Spieth said. "So that's a bit different." Even so, he said he is more com- fortablehearing comparisonswith Woodsthanhewasafewyearsago. Coming off a 2015 season in which he won the Masters and the U.S. Open and came as close as anyone to the Grand Slam, Spi- eth began 2016 with an eight-shot victoryatKapalua.Hesaidthenhe was able to keep grounded by look- ing at the careers of Woods (79 vic- tories, 14 majors) and Phil Mickel- son (42 victories, five majors). Are the comparisons fair? Not necessarily. "But at the same time, I'm not here to tell you guys how to do your job," he said. "You don't tell me how to do mine — you just ask me about mine. So you guys can do whatever you want. I think less of thatthanIhaveinthepast,andit's an honor. It really is an honor. Get- ting to where you're the first guy, even including Tiger, to do some- thing is maybe the next goal. "But that," he added with a smile, "might be pretty hard." Spieth has been hearing com- parisons with Woods since he was chosen for the Presidents Cup team in 2013, at age 20 the young- est American on a team. Two years GOLF Spieth keeps pace with Tiger BASKETBALL PAGE 4 Cardinalsremain perfect with win over Las Plumas SPARTANS PAGE 4 WARRIORS PAGE 4 COURTESY OF LARRY LONG SPIETH PAGE 4 SPORTS » redbluffdailynews.com Tuesday, February 14, 2017 MORE AT FACEBOOK.COM/RBDAILYNEWS AND TWITTER.COM/REDBLUFFNEWS B1