The Twentynine Palms High School Wildcats boys’ basketball team lost to the 25-0 undefeated Rancho Mirage Rattlers at home Friday Night. Coach Jeremy Johnson said the Wildcats played tough defense and tied the Ratters 62-62 with 42 seconds left in the game. It was a back-and-forth game until the final buzzer sounded, but the Wildcats came up short in the 64-66 loss.
Leading the Wildcats was D’Shaun Barrett with 14 points, Abraham Bell and Jimmy Shragge both had 12 points, and Adam Bell with 10 points. Abraham Bell led the rebounding with eight rebounds, Adam Bell and Demetrius Holmes both had five rebounds.
Yucca Valley High School boys’ soccer lost to Desert Hot Springs High School, score 4 to 2. Senior Andrew Bellucci scored two goals; junior Vincenzo Costigliola had two assists; senior goal keeper Luis Estrada had 10 saves.
The Twentynine Palms High School Wildcat boys’ soccer squads lost to the Rattlers of Rancho Mirage last Friday night in Twentynine Palms. Coach Nathan Niles said a strong first half led to a 1-0 score at the half. Sophomore Rhyen Smith scored early in the second half on an assist from Sam Eggers and the game stayed 1-1 through 70 minutes before two late goals. Keeper KJ Morton recorded 14 saves to keep the scoring down. The score ended at a very close 3-1 loss.
The junior varsity Wildcat team played great team defense to limit Rancho Mirage to only 18 shots on goal. Keeper Lyle Williams had 15 saves in his second start in goal. The game ended in a 0-3 loss.
The varsity team travels to rival Yucca Valley High School for the second leg of the Elks Cup tonight. Kickoff is at 5 p.m.
Four girls from the Yucca Valley High School wrestling team won their matches this weekend and will be competing in CIF Regional meet in Corona. Coach Larry Giron said qualifying for a chance to compete in the state championship are Vanessa Contreras, Julie Fuentes, Katherine Kennedy, and Sahaara Pena. Congratulations to the Yucca Valley girls’ wrestling team.
In high school sports today, cross-basin rivals Yucca Valley High School and Twentynine Palms High School boys’ and girls’ basketball teams will play each other. The boys will play in Yucca Valley; the girls will play in Twentynine Palms. Both varsity games start at 6 p.m.
Also today, the Joshua Springs boys’ and girls’ basketball teams will host San Jacinto Valley Academy at home. The girls start at 5 p.m.; the boys at 6:30.
