The Davis High girls basketball team may be out of the running for a Delta Valley Conference championship, but it hasn’t thrown in the towel on its season just yet.

This week at practice — following a loss to Grant on Tuesday which mathematically eliminated the Lady Blue Devils from defending their DVC title — head coach Karen Foster presented her squad with a new goal: win the last four conference games and send seniors Tiffany Ho and Sara Sousa out on a high note.

On Friday night against Laguna Creek, DHS took the first step toward achieving its goal.

Led by strong performances from Tori Powell, Emma Stenz and Danielle Gantar, the Devils overcame a seven-point halftime deficit to beat the Cardinals, 50-42, at The Cage.

“We had a long talk this week and we told them (that) we’re going to win out,” Foster said. “We want four and we’ve got three more (DVC games) to go.”

Early on, DHS’s mission appeared to be in jeopardy.

The Cardinal press vexed the Blue Devils (9-13, 2-5) in the first half, causing them to misfire on passes and turn the ball over several times. Capitalizing on DHS’ offensive struggles, Laguna Creek (9-12, 3-4) took a 26-16 lead late in the second quarter.

“We came out sluggish,” Foster said. “I said at halftime, our defense was good, but we needed to improve our offense.”

A free throw and a short jumper by Becca Hassid gave the Devils some momentum heading into intermission, but there was still ground for them to make up, trailing 26-19.

And in the third quarter, Davis went to work.

Stenz and Caitlin Mazzoleni both connected on short jumpers. Gantar yanked down an offensive rebound and laid the ball in, before corralling another board on the ensuing defensive possession, and finding Powell streaking down the court for an easy layup. The basket tied the game up at 31-31 with 1:12 left to go in the period.

The Cardinals toughened up after that and delayed the charging Blue Devils from taking the lead, at least for a while.

But DHS finally went ahead on a baseline jumper by Stenz with 4:30 to play.

From there, Gantar found Ho, Stenz and Ashleigh Vandenbrink for baskets and the locals played stifling defense to ice the game.

For DHS, Powell was a whirling dervish, scoring 10 points and forcing several turnovers. Stenz also added 10, and Ho chipped in eight.

Gantar scored only two points, but was the Devils’ primary facilitator on offense.

DHS will play a nonconferece game at Inderkum on Tuesday, before facing DVC opponents Monterey Trail (Friday at home), Franklin and Elk Grove to close out the season.

— Reach Will Bellamy at [email protected]

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DHS junior Tori Powell leaps into the stands to make a save on Friday, during the Blue Devils’ 50-42 home victory over Laguna Creek. Wayne Tilcock/Enterprise photo

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