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StaffReports ORLAND The Mercy Warriors basketball teams had a big week- end in Orland, each going to the championship game in the Prov- idence Christmas Classic tour- nament — the boys winning to stay perfect on the season, the girls coming up just short. The boys' team started action witha63-37rompoverProvidence Christian on Friday, holding the Lionstojust14through3periods. "It was a good win for the Warriors," Coach Steve Shella- barger said. "Everyone saw the court for a lot of playing time." Junior Grace led the Warriors with 16 points, 4 rebounds and 5 steals. Other standouts included Nick Ornelas with 13; Travis Gor- denwith10pointsand9rebounds; Nate Bennett with 6 points and 8 rebounds; Marcus Kuchle with 9 reboundsandTeddyRanbergwith 6 rebounds and 6 steals. In Saturday's championship game, the Warriors fell behind when Faith Christian posted a 23-point second quarter, but managed to tighten up on de- fense to hold of the Lions for a come from behind win at 62-60. "Attheendofthethirdwewere downby6andputfullcourtman pressure on," Shellabarger said. "They didn't handle it very well. We got up by 6 and ended up hangingonwithsomeclutchfree throws down the stretch." Ranberg put up 22 points and 11 rebounds to lead the War- riors, followed by Richie Borges with 13 points and 7 rebounds, Grace with 10 points and 5 re- bounds, Gorden with 9 points and 10 rebounds and Kuchle with 6 points and 11 rebounds. MERCY HIGH Boys take championship at Providence tourney Staff Reports RED BLUFF The Spartans hoped to finish this year's Holiday Clas- sic on a positive note, but the Franklin Wildcats stood in their way and handed the hosts a 65-51 loss Saturday afternoon. After suffering a lopsided loss Friday night against South Med- ford,theSpartanscamebackstrong against the Wildcats, going up 14-7 early in the battle for third place. But the Wildcats would go to a full court press and started mak- ing their shots to pull within 1 be- fore Joey Knight's bucket at the buzzer extended the Spartans' lead to 16-13 at the end of the first. Franklin would take the lead in the second and not look back. The Spartans had trouble with the press, but a miss and put back by Lane Pritchard and a three- pointer from Evan Tanner pulled Red Bluff within 1 at 26-25. The Wildcats worked the kinks out of their shooting game and put up 22 in the second period, while the Spartans missed too many shots and had trouble pull- ing down rebounds, sending into halftime down 35-29. Coming from behind, the Spar- tanscontinuedtoforceshotsinthe third and rebounds were hard to come by, and going into the fourth the Spartans were down 47-40. InthefinalframeFranklindidn't letupandchanceswerefewforthe Spartans, who put up 9 points. Pritchard led the Spartans with 16, followed by Knight with 13 and Tanner and Eric Spencer, each with a pair of three-pointers. Sage McNeil sank four from the paint and Cameron Perdue and Bryce Sinclair each had a score. Saturday's game came after a lopsided loss to the defending champion South Medford. SOUTH MEDFORD 81, RED BLUFF 28 The Spartans went down to the South Medford Panthers 9-0 in the opening minutes of Friday night's late game at the Holiday Classic, struggling to get clean shots, offensive boards and some- times just to get the ball past mid court on offense. By the end of the night the Pan- thers, defending champions of the Holiday Classic, would take an 81- 28 win over Red Bluff. HOLIDAY CLASSIC SPARTANS COME UP SHORT AGAINST 'CATS CHIPTHOMPSON—DAILYNEWS Red Bluff's Lane Pritchard (23) puts up a shot against Franklin Saturday during the Holiday Classic. WILDCATS65,SPARTANS51 PANTHERS 81, SPARTANS 28 THESCORE CHIP THOMPSON — DAILY NEWS Staff Reports REDBLUFF The Lady Cardinals started out slow Saturday in the final girls game at the Holiday Classic against the hosting Lady Spartans, but came out strong in the second period en route to a 52-46 win thanks to a stellar per- formance by Kaylee Shoemaker. The Spartans were up 10-7 by the end of the first period, but Shoemakerputup8pointsinthe second to bring the Cardinals to within 1 at the half, 20-19. The Spartans came out flat in the third, missing too many shots, and the Cardinals went up 39-31 at the end of the third and the deficit would be too hard to overcome, as Shoemaker contin- ued to score with a basket and a pair of three-pointers. "We weren't shooting well enough to win a championship game," Spartans Coach Kathy Brandt said after the game. "We went flat and they were hitting their shots." Shoemaker finished with 28 points and 7 rebounds fol- lowed by Whitney Armstrong with 7 points, 4 assists and 4 rebounds and Brenna John- son and Morgan Mason with 6 points each. Mariah Castle had 6 rebounds. Kylee Kitchell led the Spar- tans with 14 points, 15 rebounds and an assist followed by Ally- son Drury with 9 points, 6 re- bounds and an assist; Maggie Winning, who was battling a stomach bug and sat out much of the game, with 8 points, 2 rebounds and 3 assists and Ju- lia Brandt with 7 points, 4 re- bounds and an assist. The Cardinals move to 5-6 on the season and are scheduled to face Orland at 7:30 p.m. Tues- day, Jan. 5 in Orland. The Spartans go into the break 5-4 and are scheduled to travel to Redding for a 7:30 p.m. game against Shasta Jan. 5. HOLIDAY CLASSIC ShoemakerleadsCardstowin CARDINALS 52, SPARTANS 46 Up next for Cardinals: The Car- dinals take on Orland Tuesday, Jan. 5at 7:30p.m. in Orland Up next for Spartans: The Spartans will head to Redding on Tuesday, Jan. 5at 7:30p.m. THESCORE By Jeff Seidel The Associated Press WASHINGTON John Wall had a career-high 19 assists and also scored 12 points, Marcin Gortat had 27 points and 16 rebounds and the Washington Wizards beat the Sacramento Kings 113- 99 on Monday night. Wall was just 4-for-15 shoot- ing but finished with assists on nearly half of Washington's 42 baskets. He connected with Gor- tat several times on a night when injuries limited coach Randy Wittman to using only eight play- ers. Six of those Wizards finished in double figures, though, thanks often to Wall's good passing. Gortat set a new season high for points by halftime with 21 as the Wizards took a 63-59 lead at the break. Garrett Temple added a ca- reer-high 23 points while Ra- mon Sessions (15 points) and Kris Humphries (15) also pitched in. DeMarcus Cousins led Sacra- mento with 22 points while Rudy Gay added 16. Washington led throughout much of the third quarter until the Kings finished with the peri- od's final eight points for an 84- 84 tie. The Wizards then took command by scoring the first eight points of the fourth quarter — even though Gortat was out. This is the only time the Kings come to Washington this season. The Wizards head to Sacramento on March 30. Tip-ins Kings: Former Wizard Caron Butler entered late in the first quarter and received a big ova- tion from the crowd. ... The Kings have not fared well in back-to- back games this season. They now are 2-12, including an 0-7 mark on the second night of games. Wizards: The team announced at game time that Gary Neal (sore back) would join the list of injured players out. Washington had six players out due to inju- ries — including Bradley Beal, Otto Porter, Alan Anderson and Nene also could not play. ... Even though the Wizards trailed 35- 34 after one, that was the most points they'd scored in the open- ing quarter this season (31 had been the mark before). NBA Red Bluff's Jesse Miller (24) drives in for a shot Saturday against the Corning Cardinals at the Holiday Classic. CLASSIC PAGE 2 Girls fall just short against American Christian MERCY PAGE 2 THE ASSOCIATED PRESS Washington Wizards guard Garrett Temple (17) goes up to shoot over Sacramento Kings forward DeMarcus Cousins (15) and Darren Collison (7), in Washington Monday. Wizards beat Kings, 113-99 SPORTS » redbluffdailynews.com Tuesday, December 22, 2015 MORE AT FACEBOOK.COM/RBDAILYNEWS AND TWITTER.COM/REDBLUFFNEWS B1