Forgettable 1st Quarter Costs Alemany, 43-26

Whatever Alemany High was doing in the first quarter of a 43-26 loss to Brea in the third-place game of the Bell-Jeff summer girls’ basketball tournament Friday night, it wasn’t playing basketball.

And Coach Melissa Melton and the Indians would love to forget about it, erase the quarter from the book and from everyone’s memory.

Alemany players threw 10 shots at the basket. The basket threw all 10 back and Brea led, 14-0.

Merely discounting the quarter as bad luck isn’t enough--Alemany would like to give it away and throw in a free set of Ginsu knives.

Because the Indians believe they are a better team than that. And they had a better tournament than that, winning three games before losing their final two.

“We had good shots outside, they just didn’t fall,” Melton said. “I’m pleased defensively with what we did, we just need to work on offense.”

So, the Indians aren’t half bad. Just a quarter bad.

“We were getting good shots, they just weren’t falling,” Melton said. “What are you going to do?”

Alemany received its biggest cheer of the night when, with 3:36 remaining in the six-minute second quarter, Andrea Hoffman hit a turn-around jumper in the key.

Brea 15, Alemany 2.

Hoffman, who finished with eight points and eight rebounds, converted two more jumpers in the lane to cut Brea’s lead to 15-6, but the Indians could get no closer. Brea led, 21-6, at the half and 30-15 at the end of the third quarter.

Which was probably about the time Alemany players and coaches started thinking about earlier games in the tournament.

Victories over Burbank, Channel Islands and Palos Verdes gave Melton and the team reason to celebrate.

Alemany is a young team, with only two returning starters--Hoffman and Sylvia Castaneda, who led Alemany with 10 points--and more underclassmen than seniors. Sophomore Nicole Miller scored four points and grabbed six rebounds, and junior Lara Bridi pulled down seven rebounds.

“Nicole had a great tournament. She is going to be a major influence on our team,” Melton said.

But the three victories--and even some stretches during Alemany’s loss to Brea and Thursday’s loss to Katella--has given the defending San Fernando Valley League champions reason to be optimistic. Even after a game in which they were held scoreless until the second quarter.

“It was tough but we came back. We came right back and didn’t fold,” Melton said.