With winterfest coming to an end it is time to reveal who is the winterfest king and queen. Before that can happen though, the RHS varsity basketball team must go up against their rival Escalon High school. With much anticipation from the student body for the game the team knew they needed to live up to the schools expectations. The team was able to do that after a tough fought battle, ending with a score of 53-39.
The game started as a defensive effort as RHS was able to hold Escalon to only six points, but the offense struggled to get on the same page only scoring nine points. The second quarter was truly when the Indians’ defense stepped up as they only allowed Escalon to score four points, while the Indians offense scored 11 points making the score 10-20 heading into halftime. During halftime the girls dance team was able to show their skills to both student bodies of RHS and Escalon. After this, the RHS winterfest candidates came onto the court to see whether they would be the winterfest king or queen. After much anticipation it was revealed that senior Eric Guvera and freshman Allie Grussing had been crowned winterfest king and queen.
Heading into the third quarter there was much confidence for the Indians. The fans were excited, having several chants against the Escalon sideline. However the Escalon offense made sure to keep this game close as they scored 18 points in the third quarter putting them at a total of 28 points. The Ripon High offense made sure Escalon didn’t take away their lead as they scored 14 points. This led the game to being 28-34 by the end of the third quarter.
With their sizable lead gone, the Indians needed to make sure their defense could hold up for one more quarter and not give up 18 points as they did in the previous quarter. The defense however would allow 11 points to the Escalon offense, but were able to come out with the win as the Indians posted up 19 points, which included an incredible dunk by Marcus Madoski. This ended the game at a score of 53-39.
Senior point guard Ethan Bauer stated, “We were really confident. We knew we had to just play high, play really consistent. That’s pretty much what we did.”
The win was very impressive and the entire ripon student section cheered the entire game. Despite some flaws this team may have, there is a lot this team has to look forward to heading into the final stretch of the season.
