Girls’ basketball: Harvard-Westlake pulls off the win against Bell-Jeff

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Nicole Hung had 29 points and 15 rebounds to give Harvard-Westlake a 66-62 victory over Bell-Jeff Tuesday night.

After trailing by six points at the end of the third quarter, Harvard-Westlake outscored Bell-Jeff, 19-9, in the fourth and held Bell-Jeff scoreless in the last 2:22 of the game.

Skylar Tsutsui’s defense was key to the Wolverines’ win. She prevented Margeaux Gupilan from scoring during the first half, and held Layana White to five points in the second.

Harvard-Westlake coach Melissa Hearlihy said free throws determined the outcome of the game. Bell-Jeff was one-for-four from the free-throw line in the fourth quarter, while Harvard-Westlake made seven-of-nine.

‘Everything they needed to do, they did,’ Hearlihy said of Bell-Jeff. ‘They just missed some free throws down the stretch.’

White led Bell-Jeff with 20 points, scoring 17 in the first half. Rishonda Napier contributed 17.

This was the second time the teams have played this season. The Guards had lost to Harvard-Westlake by 22 points during the Gray Division semifinals at the Nike Tournament of Champions in Phoenix on Dec. 21.

‘We took a nice beating the first game,’ said Bell-Jeff coach Bryan Camacho. ‘But [the girls] showed a lot of character coming back and playing the way they did.’

--Melissa Rohlin