Lily Simolon of Bishop Diego girls basketball
Bishop Diego's Lily Simolon has her shot blocked by Foothill Tech's Petra Falcocchia during Tri-Valley League first-place battle. Credit: Jeff Liang / Noozhawk photo

The top-ranked Bishop Diego girls basketball ran into a fired-up Foothill Tech team and suffered a 49-30 loss in a battle Tri-Valley League leaders on Tuesday night at the Brick House Gym.

Foothill Tech moved into sole possession of first place at 3-0 (12-5 overall) while Bishop Diego fell to 2-1 (18-3 overall). The Cardinals were ranked No. 1 in this week’s CIF-SS Division 4A poll.

Galilea De La Cruz of Bishop Diego drives to the basket against Foothill Tech. De La Cruz led Bishop Diego with nine points. Credit: Jeff Liang / Noozhawk photo

“Foothill outplayed us tonight,” said Bishop coach Jeff Burich. “They wanted it more from the tip. We hurt ourselves with some bad passes, poor defensive rotations and not helping each other out.

“We will learn from this game and get better.”

Galilea De La Cruz had nine points and grabbed 11 rebounds, and Lily Simolon scored eight points and grabbed 14 boards.

Bishop Diego fell behind 11-4 in the first quarter and trailed 27-11 at halftime.

“We picked up in the third quarter and cut the lead to seven (30-23) at one point. But a few more mistakes had them up 36-26 going into the fourth quarter.

I was proud to see us battle back in the third quarter and made a game of it until midway through the fourth.”

The Cardinals play at Santa Clara on Friday.

— Noozhawk sports editor Barry Punzal can be reached at sports@noozhawk.com. Follow Noozhawk Sports on Twitter: @NoozhawkSports. Connect with Noozhawk on Facebook.