Girls basketball ousted in first round of CCS

The girls basketball team’s CCS run was cut short as the 16th ranked Eagles’ season ended with a 55-25 loss to 9th ranked Aragon High School.

Despite arriving to the gym two hours ahead of game time, the Eagles struggled out of the gate and built themselves a hole they were unable to climb back out of.

After co-captain senior Paige Logan’s basket in the first minute of the game, the Eagles would endure a drought for the rest of the quarter due to Aragon’s stifling defense, and would fall behind 16-2 by the end of the first.

“Offensively we had too many turnovers and our shots weren’t dropping at all,” co-captain senior Katherine Portelli said.

Along with the turnovers, Aragon had a significant height advantage that allowed the team to dominate the key and rebound battle. Aragon’s success continued into the second quarter, although Paige’s jump shot finally scored the Eagles’ second basket after two minutes had passed in the second.

“We haven’t really faced a team with two solid centers,” Paige said. “Usually we rebound a lot better and I think part of that was we didn’t really know how to handle them that well.”

With 2 minutes and 30 seconds left in the half, Aragon held a comfortable 26-4 lead, but in the final minutes the Eagles offense emerged. Co-captain senior Kacy Tachibana’s three-pointer, along with two blocked shots by Paige, ignited a 7-0 run to end the half, and provided momentum heading into halftime with the score 26-11.

In the third, the Eagles continued their offensive success, but so did Aragon. Their use of the fast-break outpaced the Eagles, who would score two three-pointers and make inside baskets by junior Jordan Hamel and Paige, who led the team with 9 points. The Eagles trailed 39-21 heading into the final quarter.

As the starters for both teams sat for a majority of the fourth, the Dons would utilize a bevy of threes that put the game out of reach.

Despite the poor offensive performance, the Eagles said they remained happy not only with what they achieved this year, but what it represented for the girls basketball at LAHS.

“We got 25 points and usually we average around 50,” Katherine said. “A 9-3 regular season is really good and our goal was to get into CCS and we did it. This is our second year in a row. … We’ve definitely made a huge leap for the girls basketball program.”