The Granite Bay High girls basketball team bounced back from an opening round loss to claim the consolation championship Saturday at the Cartwright Classic in Elk Grove.

After suffering a loss on the scoreboard and in their starting back court Thursday night, the Grizzlies bounced back with a double-digit victory over the host Thundering Herd on Friday. With starting point guard Whitney Alviso out with a knee injury, juniors Shelbi Tooley and Maria Dela Cruz stepped in to lead the Grizzly offense to a 42-30 win.

"For our first week, I am pretty happy with how we played," said first year coach Melissa Triebwasser. "Our defensive effort was really solid, and the offense is coming along. We had to overcome the loss of a really good point guard with Whitney going down early, but the juniors and really the whole bench stepped up and played well.”

Sarah Sciascia led all scorers with 18 points, including nailing four 3-pointers on the night, and also added five rebounds and three steals. Senior Alexis Stevens was also effective on the offensive end, hitting on seven points for the game.

In the final game on Saturday, the Grizzlies squared off against a big and athletic Pleasant Grove team, who wreaked havoc on the offensive end for Granite Bay. The Grizzly defense was tough as well, and after the opening period ended with at an 11-11 tie, Granite Bay allowed just seven total points over the next two quarters, and took a double-digit lead into the final period.

The Grizzlies survived the loss of Sciascia and Stevens to foul trouble and held on for the three-point victory, 36-33, with some clutch shooting from the foul line by junior Laura Preston, who nailed two free throws with less than 10 seconds to play.

The Grizzlies had 19 steals for the game, including four for Sciascia, five for Stevens and five for senior Hannah Mashaw. Sciascia had seven points and five rebounds, and Stevens added eight and four.

”I am really happy to win the consolation bracket in our first tournament, but the schedule only gets tougher going forward,” Triebwasser said. “We will get back to work this week and get ready to have a good showing at Oak Ridge this weekend."

Sarah Sciascia was named to the all-tournament team, after averaging 12 points, seven rebounds and four steals a game.

In other Granite Bay news, both the freshman and junior varsity Lady Grizzly teams finished second in their respective brackets at the Mira Loma Matador Madness Tournament. The freshmen fell in the championship game to SFL rival Roseville High, and the JV lost to a familiar foe as well, going down to Del Oro in the final game.