By Eric Terrazas, Staff Writer

SANTA FE SPRINGS – Keppel High School quickly showed why it earned the top seed in the CIF-Southern Section Division 2AA girls basketball playoffs in Wednesday’s second-round game at Santa Fe.

The Aztecs led from start to finish and went on to a dominating 69-15 victory over the Chiefs.

Keppel seized control instantly by racing to a 30-4 lead after the first quarter.

Alyson Lock scored a game-high 23 points to pace the Aztecs (25-4), who advanced to Saturday’s quarterfinals against either Thousand Oaks or Camarillo.

Samantha Lee and Lauren Saiki also played key roles for Keppel by scoring 15 and 10 points respectively. Lee’s points came on five 3-pointers.

“It was a team effort from the start,” Keppel coach Joe Kikuchi said. “We shot the ball well and got the easy shots.

“All my role players played their role. Besides my strong five, my role players are what makes it click.”

Santa Fe finished its season at 17-11. The Chiefs, who earned a share of the Del Rio League title with an 8-2 record, had their eight-game winning streak snapped.

“We ran into a hurricane,” Santa Fe coach Matt Zamora said. “(Keppel) is a great basketball team. Coming into this game, we knew we would be up against it. Their point guard (Saiki) is absolutely stellar and Alyson Lock is an absolute stud.

“We did not play a great game. Yes, they’re a very good team but we did not play well. But a lot of that I attribute to Keppel. They’re a great team.”

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