Eye-Opener for Wolverines

WOODLAND HILLS — Playing less than your best game and still winning is certainly better than a poke in the eye.

Just ask the Harvard-Westlake High girls’ basketball team, which experienced both Tuesday night.

The Wolverines made 42% of their shots, committed 15 turnovers and temporarily lost the services of point guard Brooke Porter to an eye injury, but managed to defeat Louisville, 63-33, in a Mission League opener at Louisville.

“It certainly wasn’t a pretty sight, but we’ll take it,” Coach Brian Taylor said.

Any sight at all was a relief to Porter, who lost a contact lens and received a cut to her left eyelid after colliding with guard Kari Crawley of Louisville.

“I was scared there for a while,” said Porter, who returned to the game and finished with six points.

Senior guard Corrie Roberts had 16 points and seven steals for the Wolverines (13-4).

Omelogo Udeze added 16 points, 10 rebounds and six steals, while L’Tanya Robnett contributed 11 points.

With four starters back from last season’s Mission League co-champions, Harvard-Westlake scheduled a difficult nonleague slate, including appearances in Santa Barbara’s Tournament of Champions and Ayala’s Best of the West tournament.

Louisville is the least experienced team in the league.

With three freshmen in the lineup, the Royals played a less challenging schedule, but climbed to No. 10 in The Times’ regional poll with a 9-0 record.

“There’s no doubt that was the best team we’ve played all year,” Louisville Coach Paula Getty-Shearer said of the Wolverines. “I was pleased not to see any fear in my girls’ eyes, which is something you might expect in a situation like this.”

Freshman center Chantal Kazay had eight points and 16 rebounds while playing against Harvard-Westlake’s talented front line of Udeze, Robnett and Carissa Abbott. Freshman guard Megan Wiser scored eight points for Louisville.

The Wolverines, who shared the league title last season with Alemany, figure to again battle the Indians (10-4, 1-0) for the championship. The teams meet Tuesday at Harvard-Westlake.