Fountain Valley gets needed spark from bench
FOUNTAIN VALLEY - Fountain Valley's girls basketball team struggled early but found its stride in the second quarter en route to an 80-33 victory over El Modena in the Fountain Valley Hoops Challenge on Wednesday night at Fountain Valley.
Jasmine Matar led Fountain Valley (2-0) with 15 points, including eight in the opening quarter. Her strong was a big help to the Barons, who made just 29 percent of their shots from the field to start the game.
The Vanguards didn’t fare much better in the first quarter. They shot 27 percent, but still ended the period within striking distance, 14-9.
The Barons turned to their bench and applied a full-court press with success to start the second quarter. That second unit, led by Ashley Masuda, forced turnovers which led to easy transition baskets that broke open a close contest.
Masuda (11 point, four steals) began that quarter by drilling a 3-pointer from the top of the key and later forced an El Mo timeout after her steal and layup gave the Barons a 15-point advantage with 4:46 left in the half.
Fountain Valley took a 43-18 lead at the intermission.
The Fountain Valley bench outscored their Vanguards counterparts, 42-3, as Ari Jacobsen scored 12 points and Emily Krause chipped in with 12.
Jazmine Langford had a team-high 13 points to pace the Vanguards (2-5).
The Barons will face Orange Lutheran in the tournament semifinals on Friday at 7:30 p.m.
The Lancers beat La Salle, 53-28, earlier Wednesday night in a pool-play game.
