Girls basketball:Narbonne halfway home, but a surge is coming

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Narbonne is halfway home to a huge upset. The Gauchos are living on the free-throw line, and Poly hasn’t dominated the boards like one would have expected. Narbonne is up, 25-17, at halftime. Not exactly a scintillating offensive performance.

One of the reasons is that Poly’s Jasmine Dixon is out of the game. She picked up her first foul 38 seconds in, and her third foul with 3:28 left in the half. At the time it was 16-13.

Narbonne is 13 of 16 from the free-throw line, Poly four of eight. Narbonne’s Gabrielle Clark is six of seven, accounting for all of her scoring; Reiko Thomas is five of seven, and has a team-high nine points.

Poly has been whistled for 13 fouls to Narbonne’s seven, and rebounding is almost even. Poly has 22 rebounds, Narbonne 19. Those are the kinds of numbers that Narbonne needs to maintain.

When the teams aren’t shooting from the free-throw line, Poly is six of 30; Narbonne is six of 22.

By no means is Narbonne out of the woods. I suspect that the third quarter will be pivotal. That really is when Poly begins to establish itself, and I’d be surprised if the lead is still eight points (or more). When Poly turns it up a notch, and it will, this game should tighten up -- all it has to do is convert its layups.
-- Martin Henderson