California basketball team told to 'tone it down' after 116-10 victory
HANFORD, California -- The Hanford High Bullpups are a traditional girls basketball powerhouse. They won state in 2001.
But the team has been told to tone it down a bit after a 116-10 blowout win over Mt. Whitney last week.
CIF Central Section Assistant Commissioner Jeff Cardoza says Hanford received a formal warning that reminded the school of the CIF's "Pursuing Victory With Honor" program.
"With that score, just felt it wasn't in good sportsmanship," he said. "We've had a lot of incidents where those kinds of games happen, and we end up in a situation where there can be fights, there could be fan issues."
Hanford's athletic director said the team wasn't trying to embarrass anyone, but the Bullpups are a D-1 team in a league filled with D-II, D-III and D-IV teams. The warning was not well received by Hanford fans.
Hanford went into Thursday night's game against Lemoore with a 14-4 record and won, 67-23.
The team has lost to Clovis, Buchanan and Bakersfield -- teams they may see them again in the playoffs. So the Bullpups don't believe they need to ease off on the gas pedal.
If the Bullpups get up on a team by 45 points, they've been told not to press, trap or shoot three-pointers.
"They also play 29 games in a season," Cardoza said. "Is one game going to make a difference? When you have a team down 68-2, the game is pretty much over."
Hanford wasn't the only girls team to draw this kind of attention.
Clovis West was issued a similar CIF warning after beating Ridgeview 102-30 early in the season.
----------
