MATADORS 63, LADY DONS 55
       Cathedral Catholic.... 13  9 17 16 - 55
       Mount Miguel..........  8 22 19 14 - 63
 
MATADORS (23-7)      FGS  3FG  FTS PTS REB AST STL BLK
02.Myishia Watkins   5-17 3-8 11-17 24   6   5   1   0
05.Chantel Yell      1-3  0-1  0-0   2   8   1   0   0
14 Dejanay Pope      0-0  0-0  0-2   0   6   0   0   0
24.Shay Young        6-11 0-1  2-3  14   6   2   0   6
30.Breahna Jones     0-0  0-0  0-0   0   3   0   1   0
32 Deijah Banks      0-0  0-0  0-0   0   2   0   0   0
42 Danielle Miller   7-19 2-3  6-11 23  10   2   0   1
team                                     4
TOTALS             19-50 5-13 19-33 63  45  10   2   7
Take the Charge: Yell 3.
 
LADY DONS (15-13)    FGS  3FG  FTS PTS REB AST STL BLK
04.Juliet Jones      0-2  0-2  0-0   0   5   2   0   0
12.Christina Kime    6-16 1-5  1-2  14   4   4   2   0
13 Drew Millsom      0-0  0-0  0-0   0   1   0   0   0
14.Wendy Anae        4-9  0-0  1-1   9   6   1   0   1
15 Valerie Nawashine 1-8  0-1  3-4   5   3   1   0   0
20.Malia Nawashine   3-7  0-0  6-6  12   3   2   1   0
24 Brittany Schwan   0-1  0-0  0-4   0   5   1   0   0
33.Emily Kearney     6-19 3-9  0-0  15   8   0   1   2
42 Lindsay Kendall   0-1  0-0  0-0   0   0   0   0   0
team                                     4
TOTALS             20-63 4-17 11-17  55 39  11   4   3
Take the Charge: V.Nawashine 1.
Turnovers: Mount Miguel 11, Cathedral 10.
Fouled out: none. Technicals: none.

© East County Sports.com
RANCHO PENASQUITOS (3-2-11) — It's the type of playoff game everyone wants to experience: close, competitive, with standout players making key plays down the stretch.

While Monte Vista came up with several clutch shots and defining defensive stops to tie Tuesday's (Mar. 1) San Diego CIF Division II semifinals heading into the final minutes of regulation time, it was host Westview which produced the biggest final piece to gain an opportunity to play for a championship.

With Monte Vista poised to stop Wolverines standout Melissa Peng, instead it was 3-point shooter Jamie Legaspi who drained a deep triple from the corner with 16 seconds remaining, the deciding shot in a 53-48 triumph.

Westview advances to the D-II finale against 56 Freeway rival Mt. Carmel, which concurrently advanced by downing defending champion West Hills, 43-32. Monte Vista, in seeking its second-ever trip to the final – the other came 25 years ago during the 1985-86 season – finishes the year at 26-7 overall as the second-best team in school history.

The Wolverines re-claimed the lead at 40-39 when Peng hit a 3-ball midway through the fourth period, but the Monarchs eventually moved even on a steal by TASHA BROWN, who converted 1 of 2 foul shots to tie it at 46-all with 1:13 left to set-up a dramatic final minute.

ALEX ROSS, who led Monte Vista with 15 points (all on triples), then stole the ball by tipping away an inbounds pass which deflected off another Westview player. The turnover gave the third-seeded Monarchs a chance to re-claim the lead, but the team missed a shot with 33 seconds left.

Westview grabbed the ball with all eyes on Peng, who penetrated the lane, but saw a pair of defenders collapse on her. Peng passed the ball back to Taylor Suggs, who immediately kicked the ball outside to Legaspi.

It was anything but a sure-thing, tie-breaking shot.

"I really don't know what the play was. My only job is to stand in the corner and wait until the ball comes to me," said Legaspi, who finished with 12 points, all on triples. "When I shot it, I thought I missed long because my legs cramped up – my calves got extremely tight and I fell to the floor after the shot."

The basketball swished perfectly through the net with 16 seconds to go.

Westview then fouled DEANNA BEMBRY rather than allow a 3-point shot. She made both to move the Monarchs within a point with 11.2 left, but the Wolverines countered by making 3 of 4 from the line in the final 9.9 seconds to gain a second straight trip to the final.

"It's nothing on us – she made the shot," noted Ross.

Added center SHAMONIQUE BOYD, who posted 12 points and 6 rebounds, "The game was too close. Both teams had chances, but we missed on too many chances."

Monte Vista 's hustle allowed them to grab a 6-point, third-quarter cushion after trailing in the early going.

Bembry tossed in all of her 10 points in the second half, including a driving layin with the left hand to grab a 26-25 advantage.

Boyd, the center, followed with a reverse layin off a Bembry assist, then Ross nailed one of her five 3-point goals to push the margin to 31-25.

However, Westview (23-7) rallied behind Peng, who recorded 18 of her game-best 21 points in the second half. Included was a 3-ball to grab a 40-39 lead with 5:31 remaining, then she went 4-for-4 from the foul line down the stretch.

Both Bembry and Peng were slowed during a tight first half, yet both shined in crunch time.

"What can you say? It was a great game and they made the big shot at the end," said Monarchs coach MICHAEL SKIBBE, who transformed a last-place team into a CIF contender in four short seasons. "Our girls played hard, so it's tough to take."

Monte Vista: Alex Ross 15 (2 stl, 2 ast, 1 reb), Shamonique Boyd 12 (6 reb, 3 stl, 1 ast, 1 blk), Deanna Bembry 10 (9 reb, 4 ast, 3 stl, 1 blk), Felicia Porter 4 (9 reb, 2 stl, 1 ast, 1 blk), Tasha Brown 3 (4 reb, 1 stl), Dionna Mercer 3 (5 reb, 2 ast), Shantee Woods 1 (1 reb), Stefanie Banks (1 reb).

By Andrew Smith
© Special to East County Sports.com
RANCHO PENASQUITOS (3-2-11) — If what they say about wolves traveling in packs is true, then the West Hills student body definitely got the memo.

After a last-second layup by EMILY COLE in the quarterfinals lifted the Wolf Pack to a victory over Serra, the West Hills faithful flooded the No. 1 seeded Mt. Carmel gym Tuesday (Mar. 1) night in hopes of advancing to the CIF Division II finals, only to be eventually denied, falling to the Sundevils, 43-32.

Mt. Carmel head coach – and former East County player and coach – TIM JOLLETT hit the nail on the head with his assessment.

"In a semifinals game, everyone is really tense, so both teams knew it would be a low scoring game," he said.

It was just bad timing for West Hills as it came off of an 11 for 51 shooting performance only to match its previous season-low of 32 total points. The Pack’s aim wasn’t any better at Mt. Carmel. West Hills connected on only 11 of 54 field goal attempts (20.4 percent) in losing to the Sundevils.

“If we had made just 30 percent of our shots we would have won the game,” Kinser said.

In the first quarter the game stayed close as Cole and junior forward TAYLOR INGRAHAM both had a pair of field goals apiece, but the Sundevils countered by nailing 3 of 5 three-point attempts and held a 6-point lead at the end of one period.

Six-foot-1 junior center JILLIAN BROWN kept the Wolf Pack in the game in the first half by collecting 9 of her game-high 12 rebounds but at the half Mt. Carmel lead 21-16.

After a poor shooting start to the third quarter by both teams Mt. Carmel junior Brianna Stewart nailed a trey with 10 seconds left, as she along with senior Geanna Verde-Burke lead the Sundevils, scoring 11 points apiece.

Down 7 at that point Cole sprinted down the court and set Ingraham up for an impressive layup to cut the lead to 28-23 heading into the final period.

The Wolf Pack struggled from the field mightily in the fourth and were held to no field goals in the first six minutes as the Sundevils would finally take control of the game, capped by a 3-pointer by Alliya Pickney that gave Mt. Carmel a 37-27 lead with 2:10 remaining.

Seeing his team struggle offensively for the second straight game West Hills head coach RYAN KINSER stated, "I'm disappointed tonight because we couldn't put the ball in the basket once again. At this level of competition you gotta be able to make shots and we just fell short tonight."

Sundevils coach Jollett applauded the Wolf Pack afterwards saying, "They played great. It was a real nail-biter because nobody seemed like they wanted to win. We just made enough plays at the end, but West Hills played a heck of a game."

Coach Kinser, talking about this year’s Wolf Pack team stated, "I'm very proud of them. We had a lot of injuries throughout the year. Six girls didn't play for different reasons, so we were short-handed it seemed like all year. We accomplished what we wanted to by winning our league and getting deep into CIF playoffs, but again I'm very proud of them."

Losing only one senior to graduation from this year's squad, it's no question the Wolf Pack will be back next year hungrier and motivated to accomplish even more. This season was supposed to be a rebuilding year but it turned out much better than that as the Wolf Pack finished 19-10 and captured the Grossmont Hills League championship.

West Hills: Taylor Ingraham 14 (8 reb, 1 blk), Emily Cole 7 (4 reb, 2 ast, 1 blk), Jillian Brown 4 (12 reb, 2 blk), Arielle Bowers 4 (2 reb, 1 ast, 1 stl), Haley Forsberg 3 (8 reb, 1 stl, 1 blk), Kaitlin McLucas (3 reb, 2 ast), Kyle Cristini (4 reb, 1 ast, 1 stl), Ja'Ana Diamond (2 reb, 2 ast).

Mount Miguel's Danielle Miller. (Frank Price photo, youatplay.com) VIEW/PURCHASE ADDITIONAL PHOTOS HERE

© East County Sports.com
SPRING VALLEY (3-2-11) — Mount Miguel senior guard MYISHIA WATKINS saved the Mount Miguel Matadors in Tuesday night’s (Mar. 1) San Diego CIF Division III semifinal against visiting Mission Bay (21-9).

Things were looking bleak for the Matadors after the Buccaneers built a 62-52 cushion with 5:46 remaining.

Enter the 5-foot-4 Watkins, who has a scholarship to Grand Canyon University in hand. The Mount Miguel sparkplug fired in 15 of her game-best 26 points during the final period as the Matadors rallied for a 69-65 victory over the Bucs to earn their 10th consecutive berth in the SDCIF finals.

Mount Miguel (22-7) will face Cathedral Catholic (18-12), which stunned top-seeded Our Lady of Peace in Tuesday’s semifinals, on Saturday (Mar. 5) in the Division III championship game at the University of San Diego ’s Jenny Craig Pavilion. Tipoff is 1 p.m.

“The crowd was so intense... I have the worst headache right now,” said UNLV-bound senior DANIELLE MILLER, who pitched in with 24 points, 10 rebounds, 6 steals and 4 assists. “We just had to settle down and play defense, finish layups and make free throws.”

The Matadors fell short in some of those areas when the game was on the line.

Watkins scored the final 10 points for Mount Miguel. It was her short jumper that gave the Matadors the lead 67-65 with 55 seconds remaining. Mount Miguel had several chances to widen the margin but failed to connect. Fact is the Matadors missed 4 free throws in the final minute before Watkins landed two shots from the charity stripe with 1.5 seconds left to secure the victory.

“For a long time I think they thought they had us,” said Watkins. “They were doing a lot of trash talking. But we don’t let trash talking get to us, we just play our game.”

Mount Miguel coach ROBBIE SANDOVAL had nothing but praise for Watkins.

“That fourth quarter is probably the best Myisha has ever played for us,” he said. Sandoval had a point. Watkins was 5 for 6 from the field – including one 3-pointer – and 4-for-4 from the free throw line.

“Even when we were down 10 I knew we had to get up,” Watkins said. “I never thought we were going to lose. I wanted the ball – I wanted to make it happen.”

Despite turning the ball over 25 times and surrendering 17 offensive rebounds, Sandoval was pleased with his team’s ability to save the come-from-behind victory.

“Going into the game we talked about not turning the ball over and not giving up offensive rebounds,” Sandoval said. “But we got killed in both areas.”

So how did Mount Miguel come out on top?

“I’m proud of my kids who have been here before (Watkins, Miller and SHAY YOUNG),” Sandoval said. “With about five minutes to go when we were down by 10 they sucked it up and played “D” and made some big plays down the stretch. I’m very proud of their effort.”

Mount Miguel outscored Mission Bay 23-16 in the final period.

Young finished with 17 points and 13 rebounds for the Matadors. She provided Mount Miguel with its physical presence in a game where players were knocked on the floor all night long.

Mission Bay was called for 4 charging fouls and the Buccaneers coaches complained every time.

“I think our girls did a good job taking charges, didn’t shy away at all,” Sandoval noted.

The physical action and overall intensity kept fans from both sides of the packed house screaming at fever pitch.

“The fans were in the game,” said Young. “Our fans really supported us. It feels good to be able to entertain all those people.”

Watkins knocked down 7 of 11 shots from the field including a pair of 3s. She was even more effective from the free throw line where she connected on 10 of 12 attempts and also dished 7 assists.

“I guess you could say this was our biggest win of the year so far, but we want to have a bigger one Saturday,” said Watkins.

Mount Miguel: Myishia Watkins 26 (6 reb, 7 ast), Danielle Miller 24 (10 reb, 4 ast, 6 stl), Shay Young 17 (13 reb, 1 ast, 2 stl), Dejanay Pope (7 reb, 2 ast), Chantel Yell (5 reb, 1 ast, 1 stl), Deijah Blanks (1 reb).

© East County Sports.com
SPRING VALLEY (2-26-11) — On the court, the victory was expected over an opponent they had already defeated comfortably. However, in a historic sense, the decision carried considerably more significance.

For the first time in a quarter century, Monte Vista High will make a Final Four appearance in girls basketball after the Monarchs eliminated former league rival Helix, 52-39, in Friday's (Feb. 25) San Diego CIF Division II quarterfinals at Monte Vista.

"We like to run, but we haven't been able to do so recently," said Bembry. "It was sloppy at times, but we felt comfortable anyway despite too many turnovers. We were playing our game."

Monte Vista's Shamonique Boyd (Chris Stone photo, Patch.com)

Center SHAMONIQUE BOYD posted a double-double with 10 points and 11 rebounds for the Monarchs, while forward DIONNA MERCER added 7 points and 8 boards.

For the Scotties, senior guard KIMBERLY SCOTT registered 18 points and 6 rebounds, but thanks to Monte Vista's defense, the remaining Helix starters mustered only a composite 14 points. Helix also suffered it own ball-handling problems with 33 turnovers.

"We were able to hit the boards and get a lot of second chances to score," noted Boyd. "We never under-estimate anyone, but once we got going, we just went for it all."

Helix displayed some strong moments on defense, too.

Paced by five blocks by senior center JACKIE SMITH, the Scotties saw six players contribute to 10 total blocks, while RUDY LEASAU took a charge to force one of 39 turnovers by the Monarchs.

“Our defense was a whole lot better than the first time we played them (a 68-62 loss),” said Helix coach DEAN BRUNSON. “In this game, I was disappointed by our offensive organization. We were not performing as a unit.”

Monte Vista, seeded third, advances to Tuesday's (Mar. 1) section semifinals, traveling to Rancho Penasquitos to meet second-seeded Westview. The Wolverines (22-7) downed Westview, 47-44, in their round-of-8 ballgame.

The Monarchs gained their lone title game appearance in 1986, but fell to a Point Loma side many consider San Diego County's greatest team of the 20th Century (three SDCIF section and state titles, 1985-87).

Brunson, in his first year at the Highlanders’ helm, couldn’t complain about Helix’ finish.

“With all the adversity we’ve had – teams canceling games and injury problems the second half of the season – I’m thrilled to death that we had a winning season,” Brunson said.

Monte Vista: Deanna Bembry 14 (8 reb, 3 stl, 3 blk, 2 ast), Shamonique Boyd 10 (11 reb, 4 stl, 2 ast, 1 blk), Alex Ross 7 (5 reb, 2 stl, 1 ast), Dionna Mercer 7 (8 reb, 1 blk, 1 stl, 1 ast), Stefanie Banks 4 (2 reb, 1 stl), Tasha Brown 4 (6 reb, 2 stl, 1 blk), Abigail Vargas 4 (2 ast, 2 stl, 2 reb), Felicia Porter 2 (1 stl, 1 ast, 1 reb), Shantee Woods (2 reb, 1 stl).

Helix: Kimberly Scott 18 (6 reb, 4 stl, 2 ast), Jackie Smith 7 (12 reb, 5 blk, 2 stl), Jasmine Hunn 5 (8 reb, 1 stl, 1 ast), Rudy Leasau 4 (2 reb, 1 blk, 1 stl, 1 charge), Kristina Scott 3 (3 stl, 2 reb, 1 blk), Kai Penn 2 (1 stl, 1 reb), Chanelle Ward 1 (4 reb, 1 stl), Iesha Murray 1 (5 reb, 2 stl, 1 blk), Sarah Meredith (1 ast, 1 blk, 1 reb).

© East County Sports.com
SANTEE (2-26-11) — So horrid was West Hills shooting in Friday’s (Feb. 25) San Diego CIF Division II quarterfinal against visiting Serra, Wolf Pack coach RYAN KINSER probably wanted to bury his face in his hands.

All night… well, maybe all but the last play of the game.

Kinser had to like what he saw then as HALEY FORSBERG picked off a defensive rebound and made a swift outlet pass to EMILY COLE, who turned it into a game-winning layup with a split second left.

That was enough to provide West Hills (19-9) with its only lead of the night and a 37-36 victory over the Conquistadors (16-14). By winning, the Wolf Pack earned a trip to North County where they will take on top-seeded Mt. Carmel (22-7) in Tuesday’s (Mar. 1) semifinal.

En route to her winning shot Cole admitted she had to debate on the fly: to pull up and shoot a 15-footer or to take it to the basket. She chose the latter.

“I looked up and saw there were 3 seconds left and said to myself, “Gotta go, gotta go,” Cole said. “We were down by one and I thought if I go to the basket I may get fouled.”

But nary a Serra defender was in sight. It was all about Cole, the ball, and the basket.

“I thought she was going to pull up and shoot it,” Kinser said. “I didn’t quite look at the clock – she had a better angle than I did and I’m staring at her.”

All the while that Kinser was evaluating the game with media after the nail-biting victory, a crowd of West Hills students waited outside the locker room chanting “We want Kinser! (clap, clap, clap-clap-clap), We want Kinser! …”

Not one to relish such treatment, Kinser did oblige the Wolf Pack faithful by High 5-ing his way back into the gym.

As exuberant as the crowd was, Kinser realized his team was fortunate to get away with a win.

“We got by with defense and just made a play at the end,” he said. “It was the worst shooting night of the season for us.”

West Hills shooting numbers validated Kinser’s view.

As a team West Hills made only 11 of 51 shots from the floor, which is less than 22 percent. The Wolf Pack wasn’t a whole lot better from the free throw line, converting only 13 of 25 chances.

Although this was a forgettable night in terms of overall offensive production, Cole came up with another key shot as she ended the third quarter by landing a 3-pointer from halfcourt at the buzzer to pull the Pack to within 33-31 with 8 minutes remaining.

“Ohmigosh… there was like 2 seconds left, I think, and I just threw it up, hoping it would go in,” Cole explained. “It just went ‘swish’ and I said to myself ‘OK, that's cool.’”

Both teams struggled desperately over the final quarter where West Hills gained a 6-3 scoring advantage. The Conquistadors were 1-for-9 from the field while West Hills was 2-for-14.

One place where West Hills did gain an edge was on the boards. Forsberg, who led the Pack with 11 points, was a force on the glass with a game-high 17 rebounds.

Despite her hearty efforts, Serra gained a 42-39 edge on the glass. The Conquistadors also recorded 21 steals as West Hills turned the ball over 29 times.

Senior Thameena Azziz paced Serra with 15 points, 11 rebounds and 8 steals.

West Hills trailed 22-16 at the end of the first half and fell 8 back early in the third period.

The Conquistadors were sitting on a 31-24 advantage when West Hills embarked on a 9-2 scoring run to knot the count at 33-all with 7 minutes remaining in the game. TAYLOR INGRAHAM led the charge with 5 points, Forsberg added 2 and a bucket by KYLIE CRISTINI pulled the Pack even.

The teams traded baskets early in the fourth period to leave it at 35-35.

West Hills' Haley Forsberg powers for the layin against Serra's Lady Q's. (Nathan Price photo, youatplay.com) VIEW/PURCHASE ADDITIONAL PHOTOS HERE

By Andrew Smith
© Special to East County Sports.com
SPRING VALLEY (2-26-11) — With a trip to the CIF Division III semifinals on the line Friday (Feb. 25) night, Santana High proved to be no match for second-seeded Mount Miguel after the Matadors dominated the Sultans with an easy 62-27 victory.

CIF Division III Semifinals Tue., Mar. 1

Mission Bay at Mount Miguel, 7 p.m.

"Having already beat them twice this season we had to get our mind set on the game and play hard to push us through to the next round," Matadors forward SHAY YOUNG stated. Young did exactly that and led by example on the court scoring a game-high 27 points.

Young along with guard DANIELLE MILLER scored all of the Matadors first-half points as they outscored the Sultans by themselves to build a 17-point halftime lead. Midway through the second quarter Santana went on a 7-0 run behind HALEY BURTON and KIM GROSS to cut the lead to 21-15 with 3:13 left, but after a 30-second timeout, the Matadors closed out the half on an 11-0 run and would never look back.

Mount Miguel came out with a vengeance in the third quarter and put the Sultans in their rear-view mirror as they completely dominated Santana in every facet of the game. Miller and Young would score 16 combined, but chipping in with 10 points and 6 assists in the third period was Matadors point guard MYISHIA WATKINS.

"She does a great job of getting them the ball in the spots they need to get it in so they can score easy," head coach ROBBIE SANDOVAL said of Watkins as she would go on to finish the game with a double-double scoring 10 points and handing out 11 delicious dimes.

By the end of the third the game was out of hand for the Sultans as they trailed by 38 points and with a fourth quarter running clock the Matadors would go on to beat Santana for the third time this season to set up a semifinal game on their homecourt this coming Tuesday (Mar. 1).

"We just have to stay focused and understand that every time someone steps on the court to play Mount Miguel they play their toughest," Miller stated after the game as she also collected 10 steals on the night. "We don't underestimate anyone and just play our own game."

Coach Sandoval agreed, "We just try to get prepared for each round so we can just keep on advancing."

Santana: Sammy White 8 (8 reb, 1 stl), Haley Burton 8 (5 reb, 1 ast, 2 blk), Kim Gross 5 (3 reb, 2 ast, 1 stl), Marjie Panknin 2 (5 reb, 3 ast), Lena Moss 2, Kelsey Conley 2, Amanda Grable (2 reb, 1 ast), Taylor Berry (1 ast), Sydney Blackburn (1 stl).

Mount Miguel: Shay Young 27 (8 reb, 1 ast, 2 stl, 2 blk), Danielle Miller 25 (7 reb, 4 ast, 11 stl, 2 blk), Myishia Watkins 10 (3 reb, 11 ast, 3 stl), Dejanay Pope (3 reb, 1 stl), Dejiah Blanks (1 reb, 2 ast, 2 blk), Chantel Yell (1 reb, 2 stl).

QUARTERFINALS

GIRLS / Fri., Feb. 25

DIVISION I (1) La Costa Canyon 60, San Pasqual 26 Escondido 45, (4) Mission Hills 35 (3) Poway 56, Carlsbad 36 (2) San Diego HS 75, Torrey Pines 55

DIVISION II (1) Mt. Carmel 54, Ramona 40 (4) West Hills 37, Serra 36 (3) Monte Vista 52, Helix 39 (2) Westview 47, Scripps Ranch 44

DIVISION III (1) Our Lady of Peace 58, Olympian 38 (4) Cathedral Cath. 60, Montgomery 44 (3) Mission Bay 61, Univeristy City 41 (2) Mount Miguel 62, Santana 27

DIVISION IV (1) La Jolla Country Day 74, Christian 19 (played Saturday) Del Norte 42, (4) Imperial 37 (3) Mater Dei 59, Coronado 35 (2) The Bishop's 56, Francis Parker 19

DIVISION V (1) Horizon 87, Calvin Christian 29 (4) Tri-City Chr. 48, Ocean View Chr. 36 (3) Vincent Memorial 52, Escondido Adventist 39 (played Thursday) (2) Christian Life 50, Lutheran 32

DIVISION IV
No. 1 Torreys eliminate Christian

© East County Sports.com
LA JOLLA (2-27-11) — Top-ranked and top-seeded La Jolla Country Day jumped out to a 29-5 lead over the visiting Christian Patriots in Saturday’s (Feb. 26) San Diego CIF Division IV quarterfinal and never looked back.

By the end of the third quarter the Torreys led 67-15 before settling on a final verdict of 74-19.

Christian: Alesia Lowery 11, Chayan Lowery 4, Monique Elliott 2, Jillian Sexton 2. No further information provided.

West Hills guard Kaitlin McLucas. (Frank Price photo, youatplay.com) VIEW/PURCHASE ADDITIONAL PHOTOS HERE

Andrew Smith
© Special to EastCountySports.com
LA MESA (2-23-11) — Helix High’s KIMBERLY SCOTT picked a nice night to produce her finest game of the season.

The 5-foot-2, senior guard erupted for a career-high 27 points as the host Highlanders clobbered Kearny, 78-42, in Tuesday’s (Feb. 22) opening round of the San Diego CIF Division II playoffs.

Using a swarming defense and a dominating second half performance, the Highlanders (14-10) turned a 9-point halftime lead into a rout. It was the fourth straight win for Helix, which travels to Monte Vista for Friday’s (Feb. 25) quarterfinals.

"This feels awesome to win like this," Scott said.

From the opening tip the Highlanders came out pressuring Kearny with a full court trap, that would eventually lead to the easy victory. Kearny 's junior center Kiana Lee tried to keep the Komets close all night scoring 22 points.

Scott was on fire in this one, as she was a perfect 6 for 6 behind the arc. Overall Scott missed only one of 11 shots from the floor.

After halftime, along with the help of her twin sister KRISTINA, the Scott girls took over the game. Kearny would score 11 in the quarter, but the Scott sisters combined for 5 steals, 4 assists and 18 points as the Scotties outscored the Komets 30-11 in the period.

"Our gameplan was basically just come out and defend our position," Kristina said. They did exactly that while the two combined for 12 steals on the night.

Senior forward IESHA MURRAY came into this season knowing the ABC's of pressure defense, but had never applied them so beautifully than when she made a gorgeous steal and raced down-court for an easy deuce, pushing the Helix lead to 47-29 with 4:13 left in the third.

Kearny would call timeout but never recover from that point on. The Scott sisters nailed 3 triples after the T.O. and before you knew it the Helix girls season high-point total of 66 would be in serious jeopardy as they led 64-36 after three.

In the fourth Helix put its game in neutral and coasted to the easy victory. The Highlanders outscored Kearny 44-17 in the second half while playing solid defensive basketball. SARAH MEREDITH and senior JASMINE HUNN dominated the boards for the Scotties all night, combining for 28 boards between them. Hunn also pitched in with 6 steals on the night.

"It feels really good to win this game," Hunn said afterwards. "This is the first playoff game we've won in two years."

Helix: Kimberly Scott 27 (1 reb, 4 ast, 4 stl), Kristina Scott 11 (2 reb, 4 ast, 8 stl), Jasmine Hunn 8 (16 reb, 1 ast, 6 stl), Sarah Meredith 8 (12 reb, 1 ast), Iesha Murray 6 (1 stl, 1 blk), Kai Penn 6 (1 reb, 2 stl), Jacqueline Smith 5, Chanelle Ward 4 (3 reb, 4 ast, 1 blk), Hayley Singer 2 (3 reb), Rudy Leasau 1 (3 reb, 1 stl), Grace Osoimalo (1 reb).