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Bruin teams settling in to winter sports schedule
12-10 R olanolan
Riverbank guard Leilani Olanolan is shown in action during a game last season; she has put together some outstanding efforts on the court for the Lady Bruins already for the 2025-26 campaign, including a 50-point night in a win over Grace Davis. File Photo

Winding their way through a busy preseason, high school winter sports teams in Riverbank have put several contests in the books.

Basketball and soccer squads are seeing action both home and away, keeping up a hectic pace.

 

GIRLS BASKETBALL

After losing their first game in preseason play at Liberty Ranch, the varsity Lady Bruins came back with a decisive 62-48 win against McNair and a tight 54-50 win over Mountain House. They went on from there to lose their final game in November on Nov. 29 to Laguna Creek, but started December off on a high note. Senior Leilani Olanolan poured in 50 points in an 89-34 victory over Grace Davis on Dec. 1 and followed that up with a 28-point performance over Downey in a 76-41 Lady Bruin victory on Dec. 3. The girls also defeated Ceres by a 45-40 final on Dec. 5.

 

BOYS BASKETBALL

Getting back close to the .500 mark in preseason action, the varsity Bruin hoop boys lost their opener this season to Enochs, 70-39, then nailed down an overtime win, 66-63, against Delhi on Nov. 24. They were at Livingston on Nov. 25 and earned a 65-60 win, the came home for a Dec. 2 game and defeated Denair, 68-55. They lost to River Islands, 56-53, on Dec 4 in tournament play, and dropped the next two in their host tournament, 51-50 to Los Banos on Dec. 4; 68-46 to Hughson on Dec. 6.

 

GIRLS SOCCER

Playing to a 3-4-1 record so far in preseason, the Lady Bruin varsity girls have taken wins over Napa, 2-0; McNair, 6-2; El Dorado, 5-0; and tied Merced, 2-2. Their losses have come to Richmond, 1-0; Escalon, 3-0; Beyer, 8-0; and Carmel, 6-0, in a mix of tournament action and single games.

 

BOYS SOCCER

Looking to find some consistency, Riverbank’s varsity soccer boys had gone just 1-2-3 through their first six games. Their first three contests of the season were all ties; including 1-1 against Millennium on Nov. 21; 3-3 against Denair and 3-3 against Hughson. They then lost to Escalon, 2-1, before getting their first win of the campaign in a 4-2 decision over Ripon Christian on the road on Dec. 2. They fell in a hard-fought game to Weston Ranch, 3-2, on Dec. 4.

 

Editor Marg Jackson contributed to this report.