Los Alamitos takes outright league title with win at Huntington Beach
The Huntington Beach High girls’ basketball team shared the Sunset League title with Los Alamitos last season.
Both teams came back with younger rosters, and in the second half of league the teams showed what the next several years of the Sunset League could look like.
Los Alamitos defeated host Huntington Beach 54-50, as the Griffins won their fourth straight league championship on Monday night.
Sophomore guards Asia Avinger and Sydney Gandy starred for the Griffins (21-5, 9-0 in league). Avinger had 17 points, six steals, five assists and five rebounds. Gandy scored a game-high 18 points with four steals.
“It’s good for the girls,” Griffins coach Rich Alvarez said of his team winning its third outright league title in four seasons. “They worked hard for it. A lot of people looked past them after last season. They played with a chip on their shoulder, and they’ve proven a lot of people wrong.”
It was a game of runs. Huntington Beach (16-9, 6-3) opened the contest by scoring the first 10 points.
Los Alamitos responded by taking out three starters, and the high-energy reserves sped up the Oilers with a full-court press. In the last four minutes of the first quarter, the Griffins had flipped the score, taking a 22-12 lead at the end of the period.
Gandy had 10 points in the opening quarter, but her three-pointer would be the only score in the second quarter for the Griffins.
Huntington Beach outscored Los Alamitos 16-3 in the period. A buzzer-beating three-pointer by sophomore guard Marisa Tanga sent the Oilers into halftime with a 28-25 advantage.
During the break, Gandy shot one three-pointer after another trying to get her shot back. The Griffins looked in her direction on the first possession of the second half, and 21 seconds into the third, Los Alamitos was back even on a corner three by Gandy.
More baskets meant that Los Alamitos could press more, and it allowed the Griffins to turn the game into a track meet. Avinger put her head down and blew by defenders to get to the rim. Her layup at the 2:45 mark of the third completed an 18-5 run, giving Los Alamitos a 43-33 lead.
“Asia gives them something that we probably don’t have, which is a great athlete,” McClurg said, adding that Avinger is a tough matchup for most players. “She’s so athletic, and she is good on defense.”
One Oiler who has shown flashes of the same type of game is Meghan McIntyre (10 points, four steals). The freshman shooting guard got to the rim with regularity to cue the Oilers’ opening run.
“She has that potential,” McClurg said of McIntyre’s athleticism. “The thing with Meghan is that she is the kind of player where she’ll go full-throttle and then she’ll pull way back.
“Meghan’s potential is great. She is going to be a very good player for us in the future. We really needed her in this game, and she got four fouls.”
The Oilers were led by Tanga’s 16 points. Freshman point guard Alyssa Real had eight points and three assists, and junior center Daniella Benabou had seven points and six rebounds.
Tanga hit buzzer-beating shots to close the last three quarters, including three-pointers at the end of each half.
“Tonight was one of those go-for-it games,” Tanga said of her sharpshooting against the first-place Griffins. “The target’s on their back. We’re the dark horse, and you just have to go after it.”
Twitter: @ProfessorTurner
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