Girls Basketball: Cal defeats La Mirada to reach second round for the first time since 2011; El Rancho also wins

California’s Aurea Estrella (10), left, and Farah Waked (12) celebrate their win over La Mirada in their CIF girls basketball playoff game at California High School in Whittier on Thursday February 16, 2017. (Photo by Keith Durflinger/Whittier Daily News/SCNG)


CIF-SS PLAYOFFS
CAL 50, LA MIRADA 32
WHITTIER —
It’s been a special season for the California High School girls basketball team and the Condors will get more time experiencing it.Denae Alvarez scored 12 points and Nicole Robles and Zoe Alvarez had 10 each to lead host California to a 50-32 victory over La Mirada in a CIF Southern Section 4AA first-round game on Thursday.
The Condors (18-7), making their first playoff appearance in three seasons, advanced to the second round for the first time since 2011 and will travel to Palmdale, a 36-30 winner over San Gorgonio, on Saturday.
Lauryn Jordan scored 21 points and had 11 rebounds for La Mirada (6-21). which had its season end against a Del Rio League team for the second consecutive season. Whittier defeated the Matadores 51-25 in the first round last season.
The game, which was tight for much of the first half, changed near the end of the second quarter. Cal, after giving up a 6-0 run, closed the half with a 5-0 burst, getting a 3-pointer by Valerie Vazquez and a fastbreak layup by Zoe Alvarez for a 22-17 lead at the break.
The Condors then outscored La Mirada 16-11 in the third for some breathing room before making shots down the stretch to win by 18.
Farah Waked keyed the 16-11 surge in the third quarter with three 3-pointers, the final one for a 38-26 with 53 seconds left in the quarter. Denae Alvarez also had a 3-pointer in the quarter and Zoe Alvarez and Paris Rivera hit short jumpers.
Jordan, who had 15 points in the first half, kept the Matadores within striking distance with consecutive turnarounds, but Robles pushed it to 43-30 with 2:13 left before a Zoe Alvarez’ three-point play made it 48-32 with 56 seconds left.

Cal’s Denae Alvarez: “We want to go as far as we can. I’m really proud of my team, because we’ve been working hard and we’re doing what we are supposed to do. It’s been really fun. It’s my senior year, so I’m really thankful for my team for getting us this far.”
— Stephen Ramirez
EL RANCHO 54, WESTMINSTER 47
PICO RIVERA —
Beating a team twice is always a hard thing to do. El Rancho High School learned exactly what that meant through two quarters on Thursday night against Westminster. After dominating the Lions 68-41 in a nonleaguwe game three weeks ago, the Dons were struggling to put their foes away, leading 23-19 at halftime.
But in the second half, El Rancho’s size and full-court press defense became too much for young and undersized Westminster, defeating the Lions 54-47 in the first round of the CIF Southern Section Division 1A girls basketball playoffs.
For one half of basketball, Westminster (15-12, 7-3) really made it difficult for Del Rio League champion El Rancho (25-4) to get its rhythm going.
A few tweaks here and there was all El Rancho needed as Westminster never took the lead in the second half. Two quick 3-pointers by guards Nicole Mercado and Destiny Reyes gave the Dons a 29-19 lead with 6:31 to go in the third quarter. Immediately after Reyes’ shot went through the basket, Katz called a quick timeout to try and quiet the storm.
“I just thought that we came out a little soft,” Katz said. “We preached rebounding the whole week, we preached rebounding at halftime and I thought we gave up some easy baskets right there at the start of the third quarter. We had a chance to grab some rebounds and we didn’t do it and they hit a 3 off one of them. You got to do what you have to do to win the game and we didn’t rebound.”
A significant reason why Westminster struggled crashing the boards was El Rancho freshman center, 6-foot Amy Navarro. She finished with a team-high 13 points and 16 rebounds. Navarro’s post presence played an intricate role in the Dons’ 17-10 third quarter run that created enough separation going into the fourth.
“(Navarro) hurt us because we’re not very big and that hurt us inside,” Katz said. “But our bigs are mostly sophomores and juniors and they really battled all game, which bodes well for us next year.”
Westminster junior forward Nyla Bivens scored a game-high 14 points. With 1:14 to go, Bivens hit a field goal to cut the deficit to 11. But it was not enough, as Westminster’s Kianna Garcia, Brianna Green and Amy Yang all fouled out.
El Rancho senior guard Brittany Corona finished with 12 points.
El Rancho coach Randy Shigezane: “I knew it was going to be a lot tougher. I told the girls that it’s going to be difficult. It’s just the way it is. We made a few tweaks on offense and that’s pretty much it.”
OTHER SCORES
1AA

Sonora 73, Cajon 30
1A
El Rancho 54, Westminster 47
Cantwell-Sacred Heart of Mary 53, Patriot 40
2A
Glendale 56, Whittier 46
La Habra 42, Dana Hills 39
3A
Viewpoint 54, Montebello 48
4AA
Whittier Christian 50, Ontario 44
4A
Pioneer 55, Bassett 48
SATURDAY’S SCHEDULE
All games begin at 7 p.m.
1AA

Lynwood at Sonora
1A
El Rancho at Antelope Valley
Esperanza at Cantwell-Sacred Heart of Mary
2A
Lompoc at La Habra
4AA
California at Palmdale
Whittier Chr. at Cathedral City
4A
Sage Hill at Pioneer

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