SQUEEZE PLAY: Huntington Beach's Noelani Viloria, center, tries to hold on to the ball as Breanna Todd and Julie Walton, right, of Woodbridge apply some defensive pressure during Thursday night's game. Woodbridge won in overtime, 57-52. ROSE PALMISANO, THE ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER |
Woodbridge stuns No. 8 Huntington Beach in OT
The Warriors recover from blowing a 10-point lead to pull out a 57-52 victory.
This was the kind of victory Woodbridge’s young team needed.
After letting a 10-point lead slip away in the second half, the Warriors rallied in overtime to knock off No. 8 Huntington Beach, 57-52, in a Sea View League girls basketball game Thursday night at Woodbridge High.
“It’s one of those games every once in a while where you beat somebody as good or better than you and your young kids, hopefully, learn from it,” Woodbridge coach Eric Bangs said. “Hopefully, that’s what tonight was.”
Reserves Sara McCutchan and Breanna Todd were huge off the bench for the Warriors. McCutchan led all scorers with 25 points and she grabbed eight rebounds. Todd scored five points and played some excellent defense, especially, in overtime.
Woodbridge had contained Huntington Beach point guard Noelani Viloria for most of three quarters and made Cal State Northridge-bound center Jasmine Erving work hard for every point she got.
It looked like the Warriors were in control with a 10-point lead with 1:38 left in the third quarter, but Viloria got five quick points to end the quarter and cut the deficit to 36-31 heading into the fourth quarter.
The Oilers (16-5, 3-1) kept chipping away at the Warriors’ lead, and Viloria sent the game into overtime when she rebounded her own miss and made a short jumper at the buzzer.
Erving made the first basket in overtime to give the Oilers the lead, then the Warriors (17-3, 3-1) scored seven consecutive points to take the victory.
Viloria missed a long off-balance three-point attempt with Todd’s hand in her face with 12 seconds left that would have tied it. Woodbridge’s Erin Beadle missed two free throws that would have sealed the victory, so Viloria got one more shot at a three-pointer. But Todd swatted it away with less than 3 seconds left. McCutchan added two more free throws to clinch it.
“They looked like they got shell-shocked for a little bit, but then they snapped out of it,” Bangs said of his players.
In the Trinity League:
No. 9 JSerra 38, Orange Lutheran 29: Jasmyn Reed scored seven points and had 11 of the Lions’ 31 rebounds to help JSerra (17-6, 2-2) knock off the host Lancers (13-5, 2-2).
No. 4 Mater Dei 49, Rosary 37: Freshman center Alexyz Vaioletama had 16 points and 16 boards for the host Monarchs (17-3, 2-2).
In the South Coast League:
No. 7 San Clemente 64, Dana Hills 28: Kristen Riley had 19 points, 10 rebounds and seven steals, and Cassie Harberts and Jacqui Marshall each had double-doubles for the host Tritons (15-4, 5-0).
In the San Joaquin League:
Liberty Christian 40, Saddleback Valley Christian 35: Britannie Seitz-Armendariz scored 15 points and hauled in 14 rebounds to lift the Minutemen (16-2, 4-0) over the host Warriors (10-3, 1-1). SVC is ranked No. 12 in Division IV-AA; Liberty Christian is No. 13.
In nonleague:
No. 10 Troy 68, Brentwood 23: Amanda Sims’ 21 points, 10 rebounds and four assists propelled the Warriors (13-4) past the host Eagles (6-10).
Contact the writer: carias@ocregister.com
