Turnovers key Bellarmine-Jefferson High girls’ basketball’s rout of Providence
Bell-Jeff High girls’ basketball player Claire Borot, left, moves the ball up court versus Providence High at the Providence Pioneer Showcase in Burbank on Saturday.
Two seasons ago, the Bellarmine-Jefferson High girls’ basketball team opened the 2014-15 campaign with a 48-point defeat at the hands of host Providence in the Pioneer Shootout.
Times have certainly changed.
While the Guards lost a close affair last season, they exacted revenge in dominant fashion as they forced 41 turnovers in a 54-22 victory Saturday evening at Providence in the Pioneer Showcase.
Providence’s point total was the fewest for the Pioneers since a 76-21 loss to Agoura on Dec. 22, 2008.
Bell-Jeff’s victory came despite 21 turnovers for the Guards (11-3), who also battled foul trouble.
“In the beginning, we opened something like zero for 10 and I think that’s because we were so amped for this game,” Bell-Jeff Coach Claudia Villa said. “I mean, we’re in Burbank and we’re playing another local team and we want to win. It’s not like a heated rivalry, but we want to beat Providence because we’ve lost here twice before.”
The Guards opened up the contest in the second quarter thanks in part to All-Showcase selection Dalila Rincan, who finished with a game-high 17 points, nine rebounds, four assists and three steals.
Bell-Jeff led, 13-7, after one quarter and kicked off the second by scoring 16 straight points in what was part of an overall 19-0 run that began in the first quarter.
Cosette Balmy finished with 12 points, 10 rebounds, four steals and three assists for Bell-Jeff in limited action after the junior guard picked up her fourth foul at the four-minute mark in the second quarter. Balmy did not return until the start of the fourth quarter. Junior forward Claire Borot added 10 points, six rebounds, five steals and four blocks for Bell-Jeff.
Senior Christa Kurkjian paced the Pioneers with seven points, while Pioneers junior guard Giselle Camonayan was named an All-Pioneer Showcase player.
Rincan drained two three-pointers and hit a jumper to commence the second quarter, while Bell-Jeff’s run was capped on a steal and layup from Rincan with 5:10 left to put the Guards up, 29-7.
“The secret for us this year was not to look at it as some big rivalry game, but to treat it as any other game,” Rincan said. “We relied on our press and it was great and we needed it early on.”
While Bell-Jeff was scoring, Providence (7-8) was having difficulty bringing the ball upcourt against the Guards’ press defense.
Providence committed nine straight turnovers in the second quarter before attempting a shot — a converted six-foot jumper from Christa Kurkjian off an assist from Ariel Gordillo — with 4:26 remaining, which brought Providence within 29-9.
When the Pioneers shot, they were actually pretty successful. Providence connected on three of five field goals in the second quarter, but committed 15 turnovers to lose the frame, 19-6.
“I think the pressure that Bell-Jeff brought, they did that very well and forced us into some bad errors,” Pioneers Coach Andrew Bencze said. “But honestly, it was a combination of them playing defense well and us not doing a good job of simply bringing the ball upcourt. Tonight, I just thought we were very undisciplined.”
Bell-Jeff took a 32-13 lead into halftime after forcing 28 first-half turnovers and cruised the rest of the game, much to the delight of Villa
“We’ve been working really hard defensively because that was a negative part of our game that we really didn’t focus on last year,” Villa said. “Coming into this year, we’ve figured out that we had the weapons to play defense on any team and we recently just started our press. The girls are excited about it and you can see that by their effort.”
Bell-Jeff won the third quarter, 10-5, and the final frame, 12-4, to close out an impressive 22-point victory.
