Lady Warriors unbeaten to start the season

Mountain Basketball has hit the ground running to open their year and early indications have shown that they may be one of the top teams in the Central Section.

Tehachapi (5-0) won their first two pre-season games and followed that up with a Frontier Tourney Thanksgiving Hoop Fest championship this past weekend, going undefeated in the Silver Division.

The Warriors started the season with a dominating performance at home in a 56-14 victory over Stockdale. Riley Walden led the way with 10 points, nine steals and five assists, followed by Michelle Orellana (10 points), Koree Rodden (nine points), Kennedy Perkins (seven points, four rebounds, three blocks), Jamie Neaderbaomer (five points, three rebounds), Trista Diefenderfer (five rebounds, three points), Camille Foster (five blocks, four points, three rebounds), Emily Valdez (four points) and Carly Hayes (four blocks).

Later in the week, the Lady Warriors took on Cesar Chavez and won 65-41. Standout performances came from Walden (24 points, five steals, four assists), Laura LaMonte (17 points), Orellana (nine points), Neaderbaomer (four points), Foster (six rebounds), Diefenderfer (six rebounds, four steals) and Rodden (four rebounds).

In the Frontier Tournament, Walden was named to the all-tournament team with her stellar performance, helping the Lady Warriors to a win over Lancaster (56-26), Sanger (60-31) and Shafter (47-27). Riley had 32 points overall for the tournament. Other highlights included Jamie Neaderbaomer (eight points), Trista Diefenderfer (eight points) and Camille Foster (six rebounds) against Lancaster, Orellana (15 points, four steals), LaMonte (11 points, seven steals) and Rodden (five rebounds) against Sanger and Orellana (nine points, five steals), LaMonte (nine points), Foster (eight rebounds), Hayes (six rebounds) and Rodden (five steals) against Shafter.

The varsity team will feature seniors Trista Diefenderfer, Addison Grenz, Michelle Orellana, Laura LaMonte and Emily Valdez, juniors Carly Hayes, Kennedy Perkins and Camille Foster, sophomores Jamie Neaderbaomer, Annie Loken and Riley Walden and freshman Koree Rodden. The coaches are Scott Sheen and Maura Smith.

This year’s junior varsity team will consist of juniors Baylee Torres, Olivia Loyd and Averee Napier, sophomore Sophia Garcia, and freshmen Pristine Perkins, Ella Schneider, Jaelyn Dock, Tatiana Vlachos, Brooklyn King and Ariana Flores. The coaches are Cynthia Hernandez and Cedar Caldwell.

Tehachapi will not have any games this week due to the Thanksgiving holiday but will be in action again at home next week with a home contest against Rosamond on Tuesday, Nov. 29 at 6 p.m. and a road game at Garces Memorial on Thursday, Dec. 1 at 6:30 p.m.