El Toro Fights Off Valencia, 47-32 : Fast-Starting Chargers Will Meet Palos Verdes in the Semifinals

The tone of El Toro High School’s 47-32 victory over Valencia in the quarterfinal round of the Southern Section 3-A girls’ basketball playoffs Saturday night was set on the opening tap.

El Toro controlled the tip and Karie Yoshioka drove to the basket. Nobody from Valencia moved from their jump-ball positions as Yoshioka scored an easy layup.

That got the Chargers started on the way to an 18-7 lead at the end of the first quarter. Though Valencia scrapped and never gave up, El Toro kept a double-digit lead throughout and won easily.

The biggest margin was 16 points with six minutes left in the game.

El Toro (24-5) advances to play Palos Verdes, a 59-47 winner over Rowland, in Tuesday’s semifinal round.

Valencia missed its first eight shots before Erica McCabe made a follow shot with 23 seconds left in the quarter. The Tigers, who finished their season 19-7, did make 5 of 6 free throws.

After the disastrous first quarter, Valencia managed to play El Toro even the other three quarters. The deficit, however, proved to be too much for Valencia.

Once behind, the Tigers were forced to scramble to try to catch up. That forced some sloppy play on the part of both teams.

Valencia had 22 turnovers and El Toro 17.

“It was an ugly affair,” El Toro Coach Greg Yeck said. “Valencia will do that to you. They take you out of your game. They’re scrappy.

“I tell you, I’m not real happy with the way we played, but at this point I’ll take it. I don’t care if it was 2-1.”

Elaine Youngs, in only her second game back from a badly sprained ankle, scored a game-high 15 points and Kristen Bevis added 12 for El Toro.

Youngs, a 6-foot senior center, had seven points and Bevis, a 5-8 junior guard, four in the fourth quarter when Valencia made one last run at El Toro.

The closest Valencia could get was 39-30 with 2:11 left on a jump shot by Lauren Rich, a 5-7 senior forward. It was Valencia’s first basket of the quarter. The Tigers had made 6 of 9 free throws before Rich’s basket.

El Toro called timeout with 1:54 to play. Youngs, who also had 10 rebounds, hit a short jumper moments later. Bevis made two free throws with 1:16 left and the Chargers had pushed their lead to a more comfortable 43-30.

“We knew Youngs and Bevis were their big scorers,” Valencia Coach Debi Woekle said. We tried to deny them the ball and make the others pick up the (scoring) slack.

“I don’t feel bad about the way our kids played. They’ll never die. We had to play Brea-Olinda (the top-seeded 3-A team before it lost Saturday night) three times. Our kids know what it’s like to play from behind.”

Of Valencia’s early shooting troubles, Woekle said: “It wasn’t their defense shutting our players down. We just couldn’t make our shots. We’ve never had that much trouble.”

Rich led Valencia with 11 points and 9 rebounds. She was the only Valencia player to score in double figures.