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Lady Pride come up big in first day of home tourney
Pitman girls pic
Whitney Barnes scores one of her many baskets Friday night in Pitmans blowout of Pacheco in the Pitman Pride Holiday Classic tournament. - photo by FRANKIE TOVAR / The Journal

Pitman High signaled the beginning of the second annual Pitman Pride Holiday Classic with a dominant performance against Pacheco High Friday night as its girls pounced on the Panthers for a 68-42 win.

“We played a lot better today as a team. We moved the ball. I’m sure we had quite a few assists; the ball was moving well,” Pitman head coach Dustin Curtiss said. “We were a little selfish in the first, but in the second half we moved the ball really well. If we can do that we’ll be pretty good.”

Pitman was led by freshman Whitney Barnes, who routinely nabbed offensive rebounds and turned them into points. With the paint all but shored up, the Pride put in a 19-4 first quarter before entering the half with a 29-16 lead.

Pacheco’s Samantha Rodriguez stepped up for the Panthers in the second half as she served as her team’s only source of offense, but the one-person effort wasn’t enough to contend with the Pride who displayed solid team play from the backcourt to the boards. Before rotating in the bench in the fourth quarter, Pitman led 55-26.

“We did some good things today. Defensively, I think we can still get better. Offensively, we missed some shots that we could have made. But overall, this was probably the best game we’ve had all year,” Curtiss said.

Barnes finished as the game’s top scorer with 20 points through three quarters. Kaylin Randhawa finished second in scoring with 11 points.

“We got her out here a little late, because of volleyball. But she’s getting there,” Curtiss said of Barnes. “You can tell she’s still trying to get her basketball legs, she hasn’t got them completely yet. But when she does she’s going to be pretty dangerous. She’s physical and she uses her body well down low, all the things that are good to have in a post player.”

Pitman plays again tonight at 8 p.m. against Half Moon Bay High or Grace Davis High in its home gym.