Eagles crumble under pressure, 72-55

Bryce Alderton

Estancia High girls basketball coach Tami Rappa mentioned after her

team’s 72-55 loss to visiting Harvard-Westlake Saturday night that

teams don’t get to the CIF Playoffs without being physical. Boy, was

she ever right.

“Finesse” wouldn’t be the brand of basketball the Eagles (17-9),

or the Wolverines (24-5) play, rather an “in-your-face” style that

led to 46 fouls, 28 by the hosts, in a CIF Southern Section Division

III-A second-round girls basketball game where Estancia lost two

players to technical fouls, and along with that, its composure.

“That’s one of the strangest games I’ve ever seen,” said

Harvard-Westlake Coach Melissa Hearlihy. “You don’t usually see two

players pick up their fifth fouls, both on technicals.”

Eagle starting point guard Trisha Wase (junior) fouled out with

three minutes, 13 seconds remaining in the first half after receiving

picking up her fourth personal foul and a subsequent technical. Wase

lead the Eagles to a 17-7 cushion at the end of one quarter. The

Co-MVP of the Pacific Coast League a year ago directed the Eagle

offense, knifing through the defense for a couple of underhand scoop

layups and dishing out five assists, while amassing seven points,

three steals and two rebounds.

“There are certain things you can’t do and I just hope we learned

some self control,” said Rappa, who also griped about the discrepancy

in foul shooting.

The Wolverines made 31 of 45 free-throw attempts (67.3%), while

the Eagles attempted just 10 and made six.

“I can’t blame the referees, but I didn’t like them,” said senior

Xochitl Byfield, Estancia’s leading scorer (18 points on 7-of-17

shooting), who also grabbed three rebounds and had a blocked shot.

“We should have blown (Harvard) out. We let the refs get to us and we

can’t do that.”

The Wolverines used runs of 7-0 and 11-0 to close out the first

half, leading, 29-23, after the Eagles jumped quickly out of the

gates.

Mino and Byfield accounted for 10 of the Eagles’ first 12 points

as they built a 12-3 lead, giving Rappa a glimpse of what could have

been.

“We should have ended on a better level,” Rappa said. “I saw it in

the first quarter and after that we crumbled.”

The Wolverines’ kept the momentum, ending the third period with a

7-0 run in the final 3:55 after Krystal Mino, who scored seven points

on 3-of-7 shooting and added three steals and two assists, fouled

out.

Wolverines’ leading scorer, Stephanie Clark, scored seven of her

16 points in the third quarter, twice breaking Estancia’s press for

layups and converting three of her 10 free-throw attempts in the

quarter.

“Stephanie and Delara (Bastani) had great back-door cuts for open

looks, and our point guards were able to take care of the press early

in the game.” Bastani scored 11 points with eight rebounds, four

assists, two steals and a blocked shot.

Estancia senior Tisha Gray continued to battle, getting eight of

her 14 points in the final quarter, alongside junior starter Nancy

Castro, who tallied nine points with seven rebounds. Gray had seven

boards.

Nicolle Wilson (one steal, one block), along with Imelda Pena (two

rebounds and an assist), gave the Eagles help off the bench, but

Harvard-Westlake proved too much.

Byfield, along with Gray, played their last game in an Eagle

uniform Saturday. Byfield said she plans on attending Orange Coast

College. OCC women’s coach Mike Thornton was in attendance Saturday,

watching Byfield.

“It’s sad because I’ve played with (Mino) and (Wilson) my whole

life,” Byfield said. “I will miss them.”