Girls wrestling, less popular in East County than other parts of California, is starting to gain steam in locally.

Several local girls made the Bay Valley Athletic League proud last weekend at the North Coast Section Championships. Pittsburg, the host school, placed 10 wrestlers at NCS and finished 10th overall.

Lachae Banks, who finished first in the 235-pound weight class, paced the Pirates. After two bye rounds and a forfeit, Banks pinned Castro Valley’s Alysia Baker for the championship.

In the 114-pound class, Desirae Coniglio finished second. Coniglio won her first round via injury default and the next round through forfeit. In the semifinal match, she defeated Alena Caswell of El Molino but was felled by Ukiah’s Harmonie Roberts in the title round. Jocelyn Jordan also placed for the Pirates, finishing sixth in the 146-pound bracket.

Though Liberty and Heritage don’t boast full girls squads like Pittsburg, they were still well-represented at the section meet. Lion Kristina Diaz finished third in the 118-pound division. She started out by pinning Middletown’s Brianne Nelson in the quarterfinal match but fell to Albany’s Chanel Chawalit in the next round in a tough battle. Diaz rallied to defeat Alyssa Hopper of San Leandro in the consolation semifinal. She claimed third after pinning Castro Valley’s Emily Courchaine.

Diaz finished her senior season at Liberty with an impressive 17-5 record.

Lania Aguayo, a 108-pound Heritage wrestler, claimed third place at NCS. She defeated Wendy Ho of James Logan in the first round but lost to Novato’s Carissa Madson in the next match. Aguayo finished her day at the tournament with four straight pin victories – over St. Patrick/St. Vincent’s Caitlin Macanan, Irvington’s Mariah Damaso, Del Norte’s Nicole Mattz and finally Andrea Ayad from Mission San Jose for third place.

Pittsburg’s Banks and Coniglio, as well as Liberty’s Diaz and Heritage’s Aguayo, qualified for the California Interscholastic Federation state meet, held Feb. 24-25 in Lemoore.

GIRLS BASKETBALL

Liberty 52, Antioch 38

Liberty made its case for North Coast Section playoff seeding with a 52-38 victory over Antioch on Tuesday.

Deer Valley 76, Freedom 21

BVAL champ Deer Valley spread the ball around in a 76-21 Tuesday win over Freedom, with 10 players netting six points or more. Kristine Fleming led DV with 12 points.

Heritage 61, Pittsburg 43

Four Patriots scored in double figures Tuesday night as Heritage defeated Pittsburg 61-43. Miranda Nelson led the Patriots with 13 points.

– Compiled by Justin Lafferty