El Dorado romps in playoff opener

PLACENTIA – When the El Dorado and La Quinta girls basketball teams met earlier this season, the Golden Hawks won by 60 points.

On Tuesday, the margin of victory wasn’t 60, but for El Dorado it was good enough.

Led by Brooke Salas, who scored 20 points and dished out seven assists, the Golden Hawks defeated La Quinta, 81-24, in the first round of the CIF-SS Division 3AAA playoffs.

El Dorado (23-4) led from the very start, jumping out to a 17-0 lead before La Quinta made its first shot.

For Salas and her team, it was important to attack the Aztecs right at the tip.

“It was big.” Salas said. “In any game, anyone can beat any team. So we had to set the tone.”

La Quinta (9-14), who only scored 14 points in the previous game, scored 20 points in the first half of this, but still found itself down by 24.

Lauren Le, the Aztecs’ leading scorer for the season, paced her team with five points.  When she had the opportunity, Kathy Luu pushed the tempo for El Dorado and finished the game with two assists.

Jaylin Jones recorded a double-double for the Golden Hawks as she scored 17 points and helped patrol the boards by securing 10 rebounds. Deanna Fink’s 12 points also played a large role in the dominant victory.

“We played really well together as a team, we rebounded well and it was a good one,” Salas said after the game.

La Quinta had reached the 24-point mark midway through the third quarter, but was held scoreless by the stifling El Dorado defense for the remainder of the game.

In the two matchups this season, the Aztecs scored a total of 38 points against the Golden Hawks.

El Dorado will advance to take on the winner of the first-round game between Beverly Hills and Santa Maria.