East County Sports

GIRLS: Matadors topple Falcons

Mount Miguel's Ixchel Rojo puts up a shot against Torrey Pines. / photo by Dave Dickens

Mount Miguel’s Jennifer Moreno gets ready to defend against Torrey Pines on Friday night. / photo by Dave Dickens

2019 EAST COUNTY PREP GIRLS BASKETBALL

 

EastCountySports.com staff report

 

SPRING VALLEY – The Mount Miguel Matadors win over the Torrey Pines Falcons on Friday night might’ve been considered an upset.

Mount Miguel’s Ixchel Rojo drives against Torrey Pines. / photo by Dave Dickens

But, the 16th-ranked Matadors’ 63-59 win over the 19th-ranked Falcons might not be a surprise to those that have seen the rapid development of this year’s Mount Miguel squad.

Make no mistake, Mount Miguel is still among the top programs in the county but a revamped roster had head coach Robbie Sandoval nearly starting from scratch, with the team only getting things going late in the summer before school started, which is later than normal for his squads.

Zanna Hurst, a freshman, scored 23 points, including five three-point field goals, and Jennifer Moreno, another freshman, added 20 points and five steals, as the Matadors won at the Holiday Prep Classic.

The game was a part of pool play in the tourney’s NCAA West Division. Mount Miguel is 1-1 at the event thus far.

Hurst started quickly, hitting a trio of treys in the first quarter.

Mount Miguel’s Jacquee Brown defends against Torrey Pines on Friday. / photo by Dave Dickens

Hurst scored nine points in the fourth quarter as the Matadors overcame a 10-point third-quarter deficit. She finished with six rebounds.

Ixchel Rojo had nine points, including a three-pointer in the third quarter. She also four assists.

Jacquee Brown had a three-pointer in the fourth quarter for the Matadors.

Mount Miguel (8-4) hosts Fremont Mission, of San Jose, at 5 p.m. on Saturday.

Mission San Jose is the only 2-0 team in the pool, having defeated Torrey Pines, 76-61, and Shadow Ridge, 63-47.

Shadow Ridge defeated the Matadors in a tournament game on Thursday.

 

EL CAPITAN 45, HAYWARD 23 – Mackenzie Curtis scored 22 points to lead the El Capitan Lady Vaqueros to a win over Hayward in the NCAA East Division of the SoCal Holiday Prep Classic.

Emma Driskill added 11 points for El Capitan, which improved to 6-5 on the season.

Tiffany Bickford added five points for El Capitan, while Jacey Danks came home with four points.

The Vaqueros improved to 2-0 at the event with one pool play game left to play on Saturday.

El Capitan will face Sandra Day O’Connor High, of Phoenix, on Saturday at the Vaqueros’ gym at 8 p.m.

Tonight was a rough game. We left a lot of energy in the game last night. If we do that (Saturday) it will not be a very good game. Jacey Danks took it to another level tonight. She posted up and stayed strong. Emma (Driskill) had a good game on the board as well. Hannah Burton had four offensive rebounds alone and give us second chances. – Mackenzie Curtis

 

This (opponent) was a different type of team then (Thursday) night. Last night was a more energetic game, mostly because we ran our defense well. We played better in the second quarter. We scored more once our guards ran the offense like we’ve practiced. I think our defense and communication could have been better tonight especially when we got tired, including me. – Jacey Danks

 

Tonight’s game was alot of fun. Coming into every game our mindset as a team is to ‘hold onto our thoughts’ and not give them up. In order to do so we need to be consistent with our own personal role along with the communication among the team. Tonight, I was able to get some minutes in which was awesome for me since I don’t usually get many opportunities, and I think that, even though I didn’t make it to the boards, I was able to contribute by getting those rebounds. I just had to want it more than anyone else on the court and that led to my team getting those extra chances on offense. – Hannah Burton

 

Jacey and I have been stepping it up the past couple of games, getting more rebounds and finishing around the basket. We gave them more looks to score than we should have but our defense has been getting better. – Emma Driskill

 

CHRISTIAN 83, SPRING CREEK (NEV.) 46 – At the Las Vegas Holiday Classic, the Patriots defeated the Spartans to improve to 7-2 on the season.

Second-ranked Christian moved on to Las Vegas after its tournament in the greater Phoenix area before the holiday.

Christian busted out to a 24-10 lead in the first quarter and extended the advantage to 47-21 at halftime.

The Pats continued to the pressure in the third quarter, outscoring Spring Creek, 28-13 to lead 71-34 heading into the fourth.

 

Lakaila Aguiningoc-David has the ball against Fallbrook on Friday. / photo by Dave Dickens

Santana’s Briana Jerig hoists a shot against Fallbrook on Friday. / photo by Dave Dickens

FALLBROOK 53, SANTANA 17 – The Warriors handled this one from the outset, getting out to a 28-9 lead at halftime.

Jordyn Beatty, a sophomore had four points for Santana.

Senior Lakaila Aquiningoc-David had four points and two rebounds.

Bella Terry, another sophomore, had three points and 10 rebounds for the Sultans, who fell to 3-10 overall.

The Warriors improved to 5-4.

Santana will face Patrick Henry on Saturday to try and earn its first win of the tournament.

The game is scheduled for 2 p.m. at Santana High.

 

GLADSTONE 37, WEST HILLS 35 – The Wolf Pack got nine points from Nolie Wiley in the game but the team was held to just four points in the fourth quarter.

The score was tied at 10-all after the first period, as Katie Caires knocked down a three-pointer for West Hills early on.

The Gladiators led 22-17 at halftime, although Paige Evans made a three-pointer for the Pack in the second quarter.

Evans hit her second trey of the game in the third quarter, as the game was once again tied after three quarters, 30-all.

Wolf Pack fell to 9-3 in the season.

Gladstone picked up just its second win of the season.

 

HELIX 56, MORSE 50 – The Highlanders won at the Baron Classic to improve to 9-2 on the season.

 

SOLDOTNA 70, VALHALLA 24 – Soldotna, of Alaska, improved to 5-0 by defeating the winless Lady Norsemen, who fell to 0-7.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *