Truly Wase’s world

Barry Faulkner

With one full round of league play complete, it is now official:

The Golden West League is Trisha Wase’s world.

Wase, a junior point guard for the Estancia High girls basketball

team, put an exclamation on the notion Monday, coming within one

rebound of a quadruple-double while leading the Eagles to a 61-43 win

over visiting Ocean View.

The 5-foot-4 floor general amassed 15 points, 11 assists, 10

rebounds and nine steals, much of those numbers coming in the fourth

quarter, when she simply took over the game after Ocean View had

trimmed a 19-point deficit midway through the second quarter to 37-27

just 17 seconds into the final period.

The stat line last year’s Pacific Coast League Co-Player of the

Year might have produced without sitting out the first 3:33, as

punishment for missing practice, or the handful of minutes she lost

to foul trouble before fouling out with 11 seconds left, is open to

speculation.

First-year Estancia Coach Tami Rappa acknowledged afterward the

level of dominance Wase brings to the floor.

“She can step up when she wants to and no one in this league can

stop her,” Rappa said. “She’s a mismatch for anyone who guards her.

She can take it to the hole, or dish to our inside players or our

wings. And all those little dishes light up our team.”

And that’s just on the offensive end. On defense, Wase frequently

toys with opponents, lulling them to sleep, before stripping them off

the dribble, or using her anticipation and quick hands to deflect

passes to her teammates. Deflection is also a familiar method she

uses to help Estancia collect rebounds, though she is strong enough

to burrow for position and athletic enough to snatch errant shots

from the air with one hand.

But, as amazing as it sounds, the Eagles (11-8, 6-0 in league)

were anything but one-dimensional against the Seahawks (9-10, 2-4).

Senior center Tisha Gray flirted with a triple-double of her own,

pouring in 20 points, on 8-of-13 shooting, and also collecting 10

steals and seven rebounds. She added one assist and one blocked shot.

Senior forward Xochitl Byfield chipped in 12 points, four steals,

four rebounds, one steal and one block. But she was the key early,

hitting her first three field-goal attempts, including two from

beyond the arc, to help the Eagles burst to a 20-3 first-quarter

lead.

The Eagles, who have now won 11 straight league games dating back

to last season’s run to a share of the PCL crown, were 8 of 14 from

the field in the first quarter. But they cooled off from there and

joined in the sloppy play that Ocean View displayed throughout,

allowing the visitors to stay within striking range.

Ocean View, plagued by the Eagles’ full-court pressure, finished

with 36 turnovers. But Estancia committed 22 turnovers, shot just 6

of 25 from the field in the middle quarters (24%), and hit just 7 of

14 foul shots to prevent a blowout.

Estancia visits Westminster (5-1 in league) Wednesday with first

place on the line.