ORANGE COUNTY GIRLS’ BASKETBALL : Los Alamitos Deals Esperanza First League Loss

Esperanza High School fell from its perch as the only undefeated team in the Empire League as Los Alamitos defeated the Aztecs in overtime, 35-34, Tuesday at Los Alamitos. The Griffins’ victory puts them in a first-place tie with Esperanza at 8-1.

The Aztecs big fall came with 30 seconds remaining in overtime, and Esperanza’s Sharon Warmus at the free throw line.

Los Alamitos (8-1, 15-4) led at that point, 34-32. Warmus, an 80% free throw shooter, prepared to shoot the front end of a one-and-one opportunity, but the Aztecs’ Dana DeFillipo jumped into the key early. Warmus made the shot, but it was nullified by DeFellipo’s early arrival under the basket.

“It’s just one of those things,” Esperanza Coach Marc Hill said. “If the first shot would have counted, then there’s a pretty good chance Sharon makes the second shot to tie the score. But hey, these things are going to happen. You can’t blame anyone.”

Los Alamitos converted a free throw with 11 seconds left, and Warmus made a concession basket with four seconds remaining for the final points.

Los Alamitos did not lead in regulation. Esperanza (8-1, 15-4) jumped to a 13-2 lead after the first quarter and led, 22-12, at the half.

Both teams played sluggishly at times in the first half, which is exactly what Los Alamitos Coach Robin Farrington wanted. The Griffins played a box-and-one defense that stuck a defender on Warmus wherever she went.

The strategy was simple. Keep the ball away from Warmus, Esperanza’s leading scorer, and in the hands of the Aztecs’ relatively weak ballhandling guards. The strategy didn’t work terribly well in the first half because Esperanza managed to get its fast-break offense going enough to keep Los Alamitos from setting up its defense.

But in the second half, Farrington installed a press and put her players in a triangle-and-two defense that not only shaded Warmus, but point guard Jane Marques as well.

“They beat us last time by pressing us, so I thought I’d use it this time,” Farrington said. “They are an extremely weak in regards to ballhandling. I thought we could take them out of their offense by exploiting the weakness.”

Los Alamitos outscored Esperanza, 13-6, in the third quarter, to pull within three at 28-25. Warmus made the first shot of the fourth quarter to put the Aztecs up, 30-25, but Esperanza would not score for another five minutes. In the meantime, the Griffins were pulling closer, in large part because of the play of guard Kelli Moore, who had 15 points. It was Moore who stole an inbound pass, dribbled the length and made a layup to tie the score at 32-32. That was the final score of regulation.

In other Empire League action:

Katella 53, El Dorado 51--Becky Wayland scored 16 points and Kelli Johnson added 14 points to lead the Knights past the Golden Hawks at El Dorado High. Katella (6-3 in league) moves into a third-place tie with El Dorado, which was led by Jill Matyuch (21 points) and Kathy Newvine (18 points).

Cypress 72, Kennedy 38--Colleen Kelly scored 16 points and Diane Pohl had 15 as the Centurions rolled to an easy win over the Irish at Kennedy High. Cypress improves to 4-5 in league and 10-9 overall.

Loara 40, Pacifica 25--Carolyn Osato scored 13 points to help the Saxons (3-6, 4-12) defeat the Mariners (0-9, 1-14) at Pacifica High.