MARYSVILLE, CA (MPG) - The Marysville Indians girls’ basketball team inched one game closer to the 2023 Division IV CIF Sac-Joaquin final as they silenced the Hughson Huskies in a dominant 76-18 victory last Thursday, February 16.

The fourth seeded Marysville squad best Ripon 60-15 on February 14 before they controlled the game from the jump against Hughson.

The Lady Indians quickly put the game out of reach for the Huskies by the end of the first half as they led 49-14. The defensive tactic of the full-court press flourished as it has done for most of the season.

Marysville (26-4) head coach Ike Prince expressed to the Dispatch that the effort and hard work the Lady Indians have put in all season was paying its dividends towards the end of the season.

“They leave all the effort on the court,” Prince told the Dispatch.

Marysville had a total of 36 steals and 12 blocked shots in the game, which both were higher than their season averages of 27.2 and 5.7.

Lady Indians senior guard Sophia Rogers led Marysville in the game with 10 steals and ranked sixth in the California in the latest MaxPreps February 8 updated rankings in the takeaway department.

Rogers also led the Lady Indians in scoring with 20 points and six assists on the night.

Rogers exclaimed to the Dispatch they are one another’s biggest supporters on the court and it shows throughout the stat sheet and the constant cheering on the bench through every game.

“We lift one another up by cheering and encouraging one another,” Rogers said.

Marysville had five total players score in double figures. Senior forward Karisma Briggs and junior forward Krystal were the two other players besides Rogers to post a double-double in the big victory.

Krystal finished with 14 points, team-high 11 rebounds, three assists and four steals while Karisma added 13 points, 10 rebounds, five assists and six steals on the night.

The Lady Indians defense gave up four points in the second half and held the Huskies to 18 for the entire game when they averaged 47.2 for the entire season. Seven out of the eight players that checked in the game for Marysville recorded at least two steals in the game.

Hughson shared the Trans Valley League title with the third seeded Riverbank in the Division IV bracket.

The Lady Indians traveled on Tuesday to league rival Colfax in hopes of clinching a return trip to the Golden 1 Center where they played a regular season game in December.

Two of the four losses Marysville had this season were to Colfax in the Pioneer Valley League season. The box score from the second meeting between the squads on February 1 doesn’t show that the Lady Indians did have the lead at the half and they were in the game until the last few minutes overall.

Prince added that one of the biggest things to be successful against Colfax was not to turn the ball over. Marysville had 28 turnovers in the February 1st matchup and it did contribute to Colfax being able to get a lead and extend it in the second half.

Prince expressed to the Dispatch his team is full of shooters, so if they were capable of knocking down shots against Colfax, they had a chance to be victorious.