Patriots close, but can’t close out Colts at home

By ECS Staff
Updated: January 23, 2016

2015-16 EAST COUNTY PREP GIRLS BASKETBALL

By James McHugh
© East County Sports.com
EL CAJON (1-23-16) — Not many teams can commit 31 turnovers in a game and still compete till the very end. Interestingly enough that’s right where the Lady Patriots of Christian High found themselves Friday night (Jan. 22) against Central League foe Crawford. In the end Christian fell 40-34 to the Colts at the Ryan Athletic Center, but the Patriots made a game of it despite their shooting and ball handling woes.

MARISSA GILES and BROOKE OWENS led the scoring for Christian with 11 and 13 points, respectively. And while HAYLEY ROBINSON didn’t record a bucket on the night, she pulled down 17 rebounds to keep the Patriots close time and time again.

“Hayley is our most aggressive rebounder and our most aggressive player in the post. She’s our best rebounder by far, she just works hard,” coach TIFFANY GILES said after Robinson’s big night on the glass.

The Patriots trailed 10-7 after one quarter of play, then rebounded to take a 16-15 advantage into the break. A third quarter riddled with foul trouble and turnovers for both the Colts and Patriots led to a 24-24 tie headed into the final frame.

The Patriots desperately needed one offensive spurt to pull out a mild upset of the visiting Colts, but the shots weren’t falling and then things went from bad to worse. In total the Patriots connected on just 9-49 shots from the field throughout the night. Still two Giles free throws with 7:38 to play gave the Patriots a 26-25 lead. Edith Okello responded with a free throw of her own for the Colts, knotting things once again at 26-26 with 6:17 to play.

From there the Colts embarked on an 11-2 run which included turnovers on four consecutive possessions for Christian. That all but sealed the Patriots’ fate trailing 37-28 before a SAGE SALACUP three pointer gave Christian a slight glimmer of hope with under two minutes to play. Owen soon fouled out, however, eliminating one of the Patriots most prolific scoring threats.

Coach Giles found some silver linings in the Patriots play. “We still need to work on our rebounding and especially on not panicking at the end of games, but we’ve been working on being able to break the press and we’re getting a lot more confident in that, I can see the confidence building in the girls for that.”

Ushara McDonald and Edith Okello scored 31 of the 40 Colts points on the night, Diamanie Kenion contributed another 7. Christian held seven other Crawford shooters to three points on 1-22 shooting between them.

Christian: Marissa Giles 13 (11 reb, 4 stl, 2 ast, 1 blk), Brooke Owens 11 (3 reb, 3 stl, 1 blk), Jasmyn Crawford 5 (8 reb, 2 stl, 1 ast, 1 blk), Sage Salacup 3 (8 reb, 1 ast, 1 stl), Alyssa Rothrock 2 (5 reb), Hayley Robinson (17 reb, 3 stl, 1 ast, 1 blk), Taylor Giese (1 reb), Wendy Shen (1 reb).

El Cajon Valley discusses strategy during Friday night’s home game against El Capitan.

EL CAJON VALLEY 64, EL CAPITAN 49 – In a contest between two teams trying to get ahead early in league play, the El Cajon Valley Braves traveled to Lakeside Friday (Jan 22) to take on the El Capitan Vaqueros and were able to get the victory, 48-42.

It was hotly contested in the first half as the Braves led after the first quarter 12-8 but the Vaqueros raced ahead outscoring the Braves 15-10 in the second to take the 23-22 lead at the break.

LEANNA WATSON as usual did her thing for the Braves as she led them with 14 points. However she had help as MARY AWADICH canned 10 points.

In the second half, both teams went back and forth in the third quarter as the Braves edged El Capitan 11-10 to knot the score at 33-33. It was an interesting second half for both squads as the officiating kind of took over as both teams were called for a total of 29 fouls.

The fouls came into play during the middle of the fourth quarter as El Capitan, leading by 3 points, lost MARIE COOK when she was called for her fifth foul. At that point Cook had poured in 26 points. El Capitan couldn’t sustain their momentum and the Braves took advantage as they outscored the Vaqueros 15-9.

El Cajon Valley: Leanna Watson 14 (9 reb, 6 ast, 4 stl), Mary Awadich 10 (2 reb, 5 ast, 2 stl), Titishia Clemons 9 (2 reb, 2 ast, 5 stl), Kaheen Hasan 6 (3 reb), Sumaya Hameed 6 (4 reb, 1 ast, 2 stl), Rabab Issa-Taba 1 (6 reb), Farah Kannan (4 reb)

El Capitan: Marie Cook 26 (5 reb, 1 ast, 4 stl), Sarah Lohman 7 (6 reb), Taylor Fagan 3 (7 reb, 5 ast), Lynda Hicks 2 (5 reb, 1 ast, 2 stl), Zanndra Ragole 2 (1 reb, 3 ast, 1 stl), Makenzi Kygar 2 (1 reb, 3 ast).

— Adam Paul

GROSSMONT 55, SANTANA 53 – In a fight to the finish Friday night (Jan. 22) the Grossmont Foothillers avoided a Grossmont Valley League upset by the determined Santana Sultans.

Led by freshman guard ATHENA SOTELO who scored 18 points, recorded 8 steals and dished 5 assists, Grossmont ducked the ambush as it evened its GVL record to 1-1 and their overall to 16-4.

LYDIA HALCOTT also did some damage for the Foothillers inside the paint with 12 points, 8 rebounds and 2 blocks, as did CANDACE HENDERSON with 10 points, 5 rebounds and 2 steals.

EMILY BARNES was also a force near the glass with 9 rebounds.

“We were up by 18 at the half,” said Grossmont coach GRACE CAMPBELL. “My starting point guard got injured the end of second quarter, and in the second half Santana took advantage of that. They came back from behind and almost beat us with their almost game winning 3-point shot bouncing in and out.

“The thing about this league is that the league title is up for grabs by any team, therefore we need to bring it hard every night with minimal mistakes,” she added.

Grossmont: Athena Sotelo 18 (3 reb, 5 ast, 8 stl), Lydia Halcott 12 (8 reb, 2 blk), Candace Henderson 10 (5 reb, 2 stl), Symone Griffith 8 (1 ast, 2 stl), Emily Barnes 4 (9 reb), Jasmine Lee 3 (2 reb).

Santana: No report from Santana.

— Bill Dickens

GRANITE HILLS 52, HELIX 38 – Led by the one-two punch of RAELLEAH MOORE with 21 points and MICAYELA HERNANDEZ’ 15, Granite Hills overwhelmed Helix in a Grossmont Hills League encounter in El Cajon Friday night (Jan. 22).

The Eagles (10-9, 2-0 GHL) remain tied with Mount Miguel at the top of the GHL.

“We cut down on our turnovers,” which was a good thing,” said Eagles coach CURTIS NORWOOD. “We made better decisions. It was a good starting point to go against West Hills (which the Eagles will do on Tuesday (Jan. 26)). We’ve got to play “B” basketball or better when we meet them.”

“EMMA KUBARI was our defensive leader tonight,” Norwood said. “She was our stalwart, she set the tone.”

The Highlanders (3-12, 0-1 GHL) trailed by only one point at halftime but could not maintain their momentum in the second half.

DANIELLE SIMMONS paced Helix with a double-double of 14 points and 15 rebounds to go along with 5 blocks, while CAM OWENS pitched in 12 points and grabbed 5 rebounds.

Granite Hills: Raelleah Moore 21, Micayela Hernandez 15, Diamond Hollis 6, Emma Kubari 6, Kani Kubari 4.

Helix: Danielle Simmons 14 (15 reb, 1 stl, 5 blk), Cam Owens 12 (5 reb, 2 ast, 1 stl, 2 blk), Taylor Garrett 7 (4 reb, 2 ast, 5 stl), Kaliah King 2 (2 ast, 1 stl, 1 blk), Jazmyne Turner 2 (4 reb, 1 ast, 2 stl, 1 blk), Janae White (4 reb, 1 blk),Olivia Missouria (3 reb, 1 stl).

— Bill Dickens

MOUNT MIGUEL 71, MONTE VISTA 8 – When it comes to rivalries, many people look at schools like they are siblings. Well, in that case, big sister won on Friday (Jan. 22) when the Mount Miguel Matadors showed Monte Vista who is better. Big sister Miguel took down little sister Monte Vista 71-8 in a Grossmont Hills League game.

The Matadors (14-5, 2-0 GHL) were led by SATERA BATES’ 26 points. She was joined in double digits by CAMARA DOUGLAS’ 18 points and DESTINI ANDERSON’s 13 points.

MARIAH WHITEHEAD had a team-high four points for the Monarchs (3-15, 0-2 GHL).

The game was never in doubt as the Matadors, who were celebrating their second annual Pink Out game, scored 20 points in the opening eight minute segment.

Both teams will participate in the Steve Albers Memorial Shoot-Out at West Hills Saturday (Jan. 23). Monte Vista will face El Capitan at 10:30 a.m. Mount Miguel will take on La Jolla Country Day at the Western Santee campus at 6 p.m.

Mount Miguel: Satera Bates 26 (4 reb, 3 stl, 1 ast), Camara Douglas 18 (8 reb, 2 stl, 1 ast, 1 blk), Destini Anderson 13 (2 reb, 7 stl, 1 ast), Rozlyn Pierce 8 (4 reb, 2 stl), Michelle Corley 4 (2 stl), Amber Hard 2 (6 reb, 1 stl).

Monte Vista: Mariah Whitehead 4 (1 reb), Cierra Ross 2 (6 reb, 2 stl), Cassie Calderon 2 (5 reb, 1 blk), Kyria Whitley (4 reb), Dejah Moore (3 reb), Sewit Tesfamicael (2 stl, 1 ast, 1 blk).

— Chris Davis