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ANDRE BYIK — DAILY NEWS Mercy High's Jessica Curl, le, drives to the basket against Westwood during the Northern Section CIF Division VI girls basketball title game Saturday at Acker Gym in Chico. By Andre Byik sports@redbluffdailynews.com @TehamaSports on Twitter CHICO » The Lady Warriors were on the right side of close games throughout the Northern Section CIF Division VI basketball playoffs — until Saturday. The No. 3 Mercy High girls bas - ketball team fell to the top-seeded Westwood Lumberjacks, 56-50, in a D-VI title game at Acker Gym. Mercy won its previous two playoff games by a combined total of four points. The Warriors (23-6) downed Redding Christian, 66-65, and then edged Paradise Adventist Academy, 34-31, to reach the sec - tion final. Mercy coach Steve Shellabarger said reaching the section title game was a goal for the Warriors. "A good season, you know. You go 23-6, that's a good season," he said. The Warriors received another strong performance from senior Jessica Curl, who scored 15 points and grabbed 17 rebounds on the day, and got an offensive boost from Marissa Starman, who fin - ished with 14 points. Mercy's ability to hang around a game led it to a 23-20 lead at half- time, but a second half in which Westwood outscored the Warriors 22-11 in the third quarter, and 36- 27 for the half, proved too much to overcome. "They came out and shot the ball real well in the second half," Shel - labarger said. "We didn't shoot the ball really well at all." Mercy, with about two minutes PREP GIRLS BASKETBALL Lady Lumberjacks edge Warriors Curl paces Mercy with 15 points, 17 rebounds in D-VI section final loss "You go 23-6, that's a good season." – Steve Shellabarger, Mercy coach The Red Bluff Spartans baseball team opened their season with a win and a loss at the NC Window and Door Tournament in Chico. Baseball REd BLuff 4, PARAdISE 3 (fRIdAY) » The Spartans won their opener with a 4-run sixth inning. Sam Hendricks knocked in two RBIs, going 2-for-4 with a double. Chase Root was 2-for-2 from the plate. Will Macdonald got the win on the mound for Red Bluff. Eric Schreter pitched four in - nings, striking out six batters and giving up one earned run. PLEASAnT vALLEY 4, REd BLuff 3 (SATuRdAY) » The Vikings scored the winning run in the top of the seventh inning to squeeze out a 4-3 win over Red Bluff Saturday. Kyle Martin doubled and drove in two runs for Red Bluff. Schreter had an RBI and double. Jared Poore went 2-for-4 and stole a base. Soball CHESTER 17, LOS MOLInOS 3 » Visit- ing Chester beat Los Molinos 17-3 Friday at the Los Molinos softball tournament. Chester struck five time sin the first inning, three more in the sec - ond and then put up nine runs in the fourth inning in a 5-inning Mercy-rule shortened game. PREP ROunduP Spartans 1-1 at season's opening tournament By don Ketchum The Associated Press SCOTTSdALE, ARIz. » Barry Bonds certainly thinks he's worthy of election to the Hall of Fame. "Without a doubt," baseball's home run king said Monday at the San Francisco Giants' spring training camp, where he will serve as a hitting instructor for a week. The 49-year-old Bonds spent his last 15 big league seasons with San Francisco, finishing in 2007 with 762 homers. But his final years were clouded by suspicions of performance-en - hancing drug use, and the seven- time NL MVP was convicted of one obstruction count in April 2011 by a jury that found an answer he gave was criminally evasive during 2003 testimony before a grand jury SAn fRAnCISCO GIAnTS Bonds back for week as hitting coach Pablo Sandoval hit a two-run single in the fourth to give the Giants an early lead, but the Cubs scored a run in the sixth and two in the seventh. Two infield errors led to the loss. SPRInG TRAInInG Matt Cain pitches 5 perfect innings in loss FULL STORY ON PAGE B2 By Joseph Shufelberger Chico Enterprise-Record @JShufelberger on Twitter CHICO » In a game where points were at a premium, the West Val- ley High girls basketball team had just enough to outlast Corn- ing. The fifth-seeded Eagles edged Corning 38-34 in overtime for the Northern Section Division IV championship on Saturday at Chico State's Acker Gym. Second-seeded Corning trailed for most of the game, but Baylie Fryer's 3-pointer gave the Cardi - nals a 30-28 lead with 3:03 left in the fourth quarter, capping a sec- ond-half rally. West Valley, already with a win over the division's No. 1 team in Anderson, forced overtime as Au - brey Mendonca made both ends of a 1-and-1 with 2:08 left in reg- ulation. Mendonca, who had back-to- back career games with 31 points in the quarterfinals against Wheatland and then 35 to topple the top-seeded Cubs, wasn't that productive against the Cardinals (21-8) and their defense, but her 14 points still led all players and she had points in every quarter and overtime, a rare consistent source of offense in a game oth - erwise dominated by everything else. Fryer's eight points paced Corning. Gates Fears had six, as did Whitney Armstrong. West Valley (17-13) received eight points from Hailey Mc - Daniel, including two 3s in the second quarter when the Eagles produced 18 after trailing 5-4 at the first period's conclusion. The second-quarter outburst left West Valley up 22-13, a lead that seemed insurmountable, consid - ering the game's output. "Being down in the first half as many as we were, we just needed a shot at the end," Corning coach Curt Eller said. Corning rallied, holding West Valley to four points in each of the third and fourth periods. After Mendonca's free throws tied it at 30 in the fourth, plenty of time remained for both teams. But pressure defense, missed shots and turnovers kept each from finishing things in regula - tion. "I think nerves got to both teams right there," Bailey Jen- nings said. "It just happens." In overtime, West Valley found Kennidy Bailey open down low for her only basket of the game. Then Dreux Bertolucci made two free throws for a 34-30 advan - tage with 2:29 left in overtime. A Mendonca free throw had Corn- ing needing quick scores. The Cardinals got two free throws from Rachel Silva and a basket from Fears. Emerie Eller had a steal, giv - ing Corning a chance to take the lead with 23.3 seconds left, but the Cardinals couldn't get a cap- italize. "We definitely had the hus- tle and heart," Silva said. "They did, too. They just knocked down their shots." West Valley's Emily Sperou made a free throw with 14 sec - onds left, and she made two more with 4.5 seconds remain- ing to seal it. "As a senior, it's really tough. But the good thing is that we have another game," Jennings said. Corning earned the 13th and fi - nal seed in the state playoffs and will travel to Sacramento's West Campus 7 p.m. Friday for a Divi- sion-IV CIF opening round game. West Campus is the No. 4 seed and is 20-7 on the season. PREP GIRLS BASKETBALL LADY CARDS LOSE IN OT OF D-IV FINAL Second-seeded Cardinals fall to Eagles ANDRE BYIK — DAILY NEWS Corning High's Whitney Armstrong passes the ball during the Northern Section CIF Division IV girls basketball title game in Chico. EAGLES 38, CARDINALS 34 Up next: Corning is seeded 13th in the state playoffs. The Cardinals travel to Sacramento's West Campus for the Division-IV CIF opening round game at 7 p.m. Friday THE SCORE "Being down in the first half as many as we were, we just needed a shot at the end," – Curt Eller, Corning coach Bags strongly discouraged, anyone who does bring a bulky bag will be subject to search, officials said. 118TH BOSTOn MARATHOn Enhanced Police presence for race FULL STORY ON PAGE B4 Corning teams travel to Gridley at 3:30 p.m. At 4, Los Molinos host Williams in baseball and Mercy soball hosts U-Prep. BASEBALL/SOfTBALL Prep teams get into full swing Las Plumas travels to Corning at 3 p.m. and Red Bluff hosts Paradise at 4:15 p.m. Annual Tehama County track scrim- mage will be at Red Bluff. PREP SPORTS Tennis action highlights prep sports day LUMBERJACKS 56, WARRIORS 50 THE SCORE MERCY » PAGE 2 BOndS » PAGE 2 SPORTS » redbluffdailynews.com Tuesday, March 11, 2014 » MORE AT FACEBOOK.COM/RBDAILYNEWS AND TWITTER.COM/REDBLUFFNEWS B1