BUENA PARK – Bella Harmon talked about “unfinished business.”
Harmon and her Buena Park girls basketball teammates got to a CIF Southern Section championship game last season. The Coyotes lost to Rialto by two points.
Buena Park took a big step toward finishing that business Wednesday. The Coyotes overcame a great performance by Fairmont Prep’s Adrya Rajan to beat the Huskies 62-56 in a CIF-SS Division 2AA quarterfinal playoff game at Buena Park High.
Buena Park (22-9) will play Moreno Valley (27-3) in the semifinals Saturday at Moreno Valley High. Moreno Valley beat Rancho Christian 76-53 in the quarterfinals Wednesday.
Fairmont Prep finished the season 22-9.
Rajan, a sophomore guard, scored 33 points and made eight 3-pointers, most of those from a few feet beyond the arc.
Buena Park had a 58-51 lead late in the fourth quarter. Rajan made back-to-back 3s to make it 58-56.
The Huskies would not score again after that.
The Coyotes’ Mya Barnes made a free throw with 45 seconds left to make it 59-56, her teammate Gloria Barrera made a layup for a 61-56 lead and Harmon made a free throw with four seconds left to complete the scoring.
Barnes, a junior forward, scored 15 points with six rebounds. Freshman Riley Higgins scored 12 points. Harmon, a sophomore whose father Ike Harmon was an All-Orange County player at Santa Ana Valley in the 1990s, scored 10 points with nine rebounds. Sophomore Alana White contributed 11 points and seven rebounds.
Sophomore forward Sarah Aldeguer scored 14 points for Fairmont Prep.
Postgame with Buena Park sophomore Bella Harmon after the Coyotes beat Fairmont Prep 62-56 in a @CIFSS 2AA quarterfinal. Adyra Rajan scored 33 points for Fairmont in the game that had many lead changes … pic.twitter.com/0nFTqjTIN6
— Steve Fryer (@SteveFryer) February 15, 2024
Buena Park coach DeAnthony Wiley said the Coyotes tried various methods to slow down Rajan.
“We mixed up the defense pretty much, as much as we could, to try to throw her off a little bit,” Wiley said.. “But she was hot. She was hitting from pretty deep.”
It was a close game for much of the evening. Leads changed possession frequently.
Fairmont Prep had a 16-15 lead at the end of the first quarter. Buena Park was ahead 32-17 at halftime and 45-43 going into the fourth quarter.
“We got pressured at times,” Harmon said, “but we were able to get it back together.”
Fairmont Prep, which finished second to Orangewood Academy in the San Joaquin League, advanced to the quarterfinals by beating Beaumont 81-54 in the first round and Rialto 68-45 in the second round.
Buena Park, which went 10-0 in the Freeway League, defeated Riverside Poly 79-41 in the first round and Los Osos 71-58 in the second round.
