Skip to content
La Habra's Amy WiIlbourn, top, gets fouled going for the layup by Laguna Hills Saturday at La Habra High School.
La Habra’s Amy WiIlbourn, top, gets fouled going for the layup by Laguna Hills Saturday at La Habra High School.
Author

The last thing the Sunny Hills girls basketball team could afford against Lynwood was an awful start.

Unfortunately, that was the only thing in store for the Lancers on Saturday night.

The Knights led by 19 after one and 38 at the half as it defeated Sunny Hills, 69-26, at Lynwood High in the first round of the CIF-SS 2AA playoffs.

“Lynwood is just a great defensive team. They’re so long and fast that we just had a really tough time getting into any offensive set whatsoever,” Lancers coach Craig Weinreich said.

Even though Sunny Hills (14-14) was facing an uphill climb, Madison Cruse still put forth a gutsy performance. Cruse and her 14 points accounted for more than half of her team’s total. Justis Simpson scored seven points for the Lancers.

Nijala Johnson was the rock of the Lynwood defense as she had three steals, which led to easy transition buckets for the Knights. Jazmine Johnson led the offense with 22 points.

The season may have ended with a resounding thud, but Weinreich stayed positive after the game.

“This was a fun season, it was a great group of girls. They worked hard and I’m just hoping they learned a lot from this,” he said.

ANTONIO MORALES

For the Register

Los Alamitos 54, M.L. King of Riverside 50: The Griffins have been relying on two freshman to provide a large part of its scoring this season, and nothing changed for the Griffins in their first-round victory over the Wolves in CIF-SS Division 1AA.

One freshman, Neah Odom, led the way with 15 points and nine rebounds, while fellow freshman Dani Iwami also finished with 15 points, including a pair of key free throws.

Los Al coach Matt Sargeant said that he no longer views Odom and Iwami as freshman.

“They’ve been playing so much for us this year, they’re more like sophomores,” he said. “I told them before the game that this was just like any other game; just go out there and play basketball.”

DEVIN UGLAND

For the Register

Westminster 43, Lakewood 34: A bruising physicality and disjointed tempo kept the host Lions from settling into any kind of rhythm for three quarters in their CIF-SS Division 1A first-round playoff game against Lakewood.

But once the Lions strung together a couple successful possessions with frustrating pressure defense to start the fourth quarter they rode the swell of momentum.

Westminster’s Maggie Dumphy led the way with a double-double, scoring 13 points while grabbing 10 rebounds.

“She was unbelievable,” Westminster coach Dick Katz said. “(Dumphy) grabbed everything in sight.”

Chyann Pendergrass was also in double digits with 11 points while Selena Iriarte scored eight and both Trina Vargas and Vicki Vo each added four points for the Lions. Kalana Peterson’s 12 points led the Lancers (13-11).

JOHN WILKINSON

For the Register