Providence girls’ basketball suffers early exit in state playoffs
There was no sugarcoating the fact the the Providence High girls’ basketball team faced a tough matchup in the first round of the CIF State Division IV playoffs.
The No. 14 seed Pioneers, who play in CIF Southern Section Division IV-A, took on host No. 3 Chula Vista Eastlake, which plays in Division I in the San Diego Section.
Providence was never in the game Wednesday evening, as the Titans built a sizable lead early and romped to a 75-36 victory against the Pioneers.
“In all honesty, they were a good solid team, but I think we made them look better than they were,” Providence coach Andrew Bencze said. “For the most part, this year’s team is built on grit and determination and we just didn’t seem to have the energy that we really needed to compete wth them.
“Whatever it was, the long trip or whatever, you could give a lot of excuses. I just feel that unfortunately we didn’t play our best basketball and that’s frustrating.”
The win ended a successful season for the Pioneers (22-9). Providence captured the championship in its final season in the Liberty League and advanced to the CIF Southern Section Division IV-A semifinals ahead of the program’s third state appearance.
Against Eastlake (22-7), which advanced the San Diego Section Division I semifinals, the Pioneers received 10 points and four rebounds from freshman Melissa Zozulenko. Keara Garcia added seven points and Ariel Gordillo had six points, three rebounds, three assists and three steals.
Following a long road trip, Providence got out to a rough start, falling behind, 33-11, to the Titans after one quarter.
“Usually the thing that we kind of hang our hat on with our program is our defense, and we just couldn’t put it together defensively against this group,” Bencze said. “But let’s be honest, they had some good talented players and we just didn’t do a good job at containing them and bringing that enthusiasm and that energy that we normally bring.”
The teams played more evenly in the second quarter, with Eastlake outscoring Providence, 15-10, to take a 48-21 lead into halftime.
The Titans increased their advantage to 71-31 after three quarters. The Pioneers won the fourth quarter, 5-4.
It was the first time since 2013 that Providence qualified for the state playoffs.
“It’s tough to end when you don’t play your best basketball, but you also don’t want to judge a season on the one game you didn’t play well,” Bencze said. “There were only two other Providence teams to ever make it to the semifinals and made it to state, so they are one of the three and they can be proud of that.”
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