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By RICH GREENE DN Sports Editor Luckily for Mercy, the Warriors best effort was better than its worst effort was bad. Mercy raced off to 23-4 first quarter lead, Tuesday, in the first round of the Division VI playoffs and then held on after allowing the visiting Butte Valley Bulldogs to score the first 12 points of the sec- ond half in a 61-45 win. "Sometimes we are the first quarter team and sometimes we're the third quarter team. That's how the season has been," Mercy coach Steve Shellabarger said. The Warriors looked every bit as good as the 23-4 score would sug- gest in the first half, receiving con- tributions from everyone. Mercy was first to the ball, deflecting entry passes to the post, which set up an offense that made the most of the extra pass. The Warriors led 40-17 at half- time, but when the third quarter starter, Shellabarger said his team just came out flat defensively, which led to offensive struggles. It would take over five minutes into the half, before a Jeremie Jones free throw rattled in for Mercy's first point of the second half. Meanwhile, the Bulldogs had clawed back into the game behind the post play of Arturs Vorobjovs and 3-pointers from Jeremy Lopez and Jose Avalos. Butte Valley trimmed the Mercy lead all the way down to six points when Ryan Ward responded with a 3-pointer. Ward would hit another at the third quarter buzzer, one of his four for the game, and Mercy boosted its lead back to double-digits at 47- 37. Butte Valley would never get closer and the No. 5 seeded War- riors finished off the game to earn a long road trip to No. 4 seed Loyal- ton, Thursday in the quarterfinals. Mitchell Lopez had 14 for the Warriors, Ali Syed added 11 and Cameron Vietti gave Mercy a fourth double-digit scorer with 10 points to go along with eight rebounds. Mercy made 10 3-pointers on the game. Avalos led the Bulldogs with 14 points and Vorobjovs added 10 points and seven rebounds. Sports 1B Wednesday February 24, 2010 Wednesday D-V Boys Bball Playoffs — Los Molinos at Lib. Christ., 7 p.m. Olympics — Coverage on NBC, CNBC, MSNBC Olympics — U.S. mens hockey quarterfinal, Noon, NBC NBA — Lakers at Stars, 6 p.m., ESPN NCAA — Pittsburgh at Notre Dame, 4 p.m., ESPN2 NCAA — Oklahoma State at Texas, 6 p.m., ESPN2 Thursday's playoffs Girls Basketball #5 Corning at #4 Foothill Division III 1st Round 7 p.m. #5 Corning Cardi- nals:16-9; 8-2, Northern Athletic League champi- ons # 4 Foothill Cougars: 10-13; 4-9, fifth in Eastern Athletic League Directions: I-5 north to Exit 678. Merge onto CA-44 East, toward Lassen National Park, for seven miles. Take the Deschutes Road exit and turn left. School is at 9733 Deschutes Rd. Players to watch: Corning — #33 Brittney Garrett, #5 Regan Albee, #10 Chante Dale Foothill — #4 Jenna Coats, #25 Grace Fox, #11 Janelle Gaddy Notes: Last year Corning won the D-IV champi- onship, while Foothill was playing in the D-II tourna- ment....Corning has three legitimate offensive weapons in Garrett, Albee and Dale, all three are averaging dou- ble-digits Boys Basketball #5 Mercy at #4 Loyalton Division VI Quarterfinals 7 p.m. #5 Mercy Warriors:14- 12; 1-3, tied for third in Tri- Cities League; beat Butte Val- ley 61-45 in the first round on Tuesday # 4 Loyalton Grizzlies: 9- 8; 4-4, third in Feather River League; received first round bye Directions: About a four-and-a-half-hour drive. Take 36 East for about 66 miles then turn right at CA-89 South and take that for 33 miles. Turn left at CA-70 East/CA-89 South take that for 10 miles before taking another left. Stay on CA-70 East/CA-89 South/West Main Street through town for another 23 miles. Turn right at CA-89 South then go another 23 miles until you can continue onto CA-49 North/East Main Street for 13 more miles before turning left onto 4th Street. The school is at 400 4th Street. Players to watch: Mercy — #21 Jeremie Jones, #24 Mitchell Lopez, #23 Cameron Vietti Notes: Loyalton also received a first round bye in last season's D-VI playoff, but was upset in the quarterfinal Warriors hold on, advance Daily News photo by Rich Greene Mercy's Ryan Ward fights for possession, Tuesday night. Cardinals headed to D-I final, Mercy and Los Molinos upset By RICH GREENE DN Sports Editor CORNING — A little rain — ok, a lot of rain — a sloppy mud field and even Oroville's goalie might have slowed down the Corning Cardinals, in Tuesday's Division I boys soccer semi- final, but it wasn't going to stop them. The Cardinals outplayed their opponents and the weather conditions in a 6-1 win that earned them a berth back in the Division I finals and a chance to redeem themselves. Last season, the Cardi- nals only loss of the season came during a 2-1 defeat against Wheatland in the final. On Saturday at noon, Corning will host the cham- pionship game once again. "We worked hard to get here," senior midfielder Fredy Carrillo said, adding that last season's final loss served as motivation. While the goals came easy for Corning in the sec- ond half, five of them actual- ly, the Cardinals struggled to put the first one on the board. Oroville's goalie and defense bogged down the box and the mud helped slow down the ball. Still Corning's offense came wave after wave, with five corners, a couple of free kicks from inside 30 yards and some missed opportuni- ties on balls crossing into the box. Finally at the 30-minute mark, Carrillo earned the Cardinals a third free kick, from about 25 yards out. Then the weather played into the Cardinals favor, when Oroville's goalie was unable to hold onto a low driven free kick and Carrillo rushed in from the wing to knock home the rebound. Corning went into half- time drenched, but with a well-deserved 1-0 lead. The Cardinals class became apparent just three minutes into the second half when Herminio Miranda found Carrillo streaking down the right side for a sec- ond goal and one that breathed a side of relief for the Corning faithful. Ten minutes later Clemente Arreguin added a third Corning goal, which was then followed by Jorge Machado picking out Bob Morales on his right wing. Morales buried a beauti- ful shot from 18 yards out for a 4-0 Corning lead. Machado scored one himself before the game was over, dribbling through a broken Oroville defense and finishing past the keeper. Oroville got onto the board during the final min- utes of the game, but Carril- lo countered by completing his hat trick just as the final whistle blew for a 6-1 final. While the field left some dicey moments for defend- ers, Morales said it played to Corning's home field advan- tage. "We've been practicing on this for awhile, it can take it's toll," he said. Esparto 3, Los Molinos 1, 2OT The top seed in the Divi- sion III boys soccer playoffs fell 3-1 to Esparto in double overtime, Tuesday. In a well-played game despite the sloppy condi- tions, Freddy Castellon scored the Bulldogs lone regulation goal. After being tied 1-1 through 80 minutes the two teams played a scoreless first overtime, until Esparto came away with two goals in the second overtime for the win. Hamilton 5, Mercy 3 Mercy fought back twice to square the game up, but Hamilton had too much for the Warrior back line to hand and advanced to the Division III boys soccer championship game with a 5-3 win. Alvaro Ortega had tied the game at 3-3 on a penalty kick for his 11th goal of the season. Samantha Mondragon and Henry Wan also scored for the Warriors. Although the semifinal loss came as a disappoint- ment, it was a successful turnaround season for the Warriors, who earned a share of the Mid-Valley league title, by splitting its season series with rival Los Molinos. Head coach Victor Tor- res said he's excited about the Warriors heading into the 2010-2011 season as they will bring back a young nucleus. Daily News photo by Rich Greene Corning's Jorge Machado tries to flick a ball past Oroville's goalie. Lakin wins at 154 DN Staff Report Los Molinos wrestler Richie Lakin captured the 154-pound title at the Division III/IV Northern Section wrestling championships in Tulelake on Saturday. Two other Bulldogs placed at the event. Jacob Haley was fifth at 121 pounds and Trevor Chamberlain was fifth at 142 pounds. Spartans close out EAL with win over Paradise DN Staff Report The Red Bluff Spartans basketball team closed out their regular season with their first back-to-back wins since December after beating Paradise 67-49, Tuesday night. The Spartans shot the lights out in the first half with seven 3-pointers on their way to 10 for the game and had built up a 44-19 lead by halftime. Grant Blaser led Red Bluff with 20 points and Trevor Capik chipped in with 13 points. The Spartans had previously come off a road win at Shas- ta, to close out the EAL at 5-9 as they await their playoff opponent to be announced Wednesday. "The way we won those two games – we played well and shot well. That's just a big boost to your confidence and that just makes us more dangerous in the playoffs," coach Stan Twitchell said. John John Velasco had eight points and Zane Medeiros and Cody Gappa each had six points. Daily News photo by Chip Thompson John John Velasco drives to the bucket.