Girls’ Basketball : Jalewalia Scores 45 Points as La Quinta Wins Easily Again

The La Quinta High School girls’ basketball team swept past its second big Garden Grove League rival this week with a 66-28 victory over Kennedy on Friday at Kennedy.

La Quinta had beaten Rancho Alamitos, the other challenger for the league championship, 67-48, Wednesday.

And for that the Aztecs can thank Amy Jalewalia, their 6-foot 1-inch do-everything junior.

Jalewalia, who primarily plays center but occasionally plays guard and forward, had 45 points, 21 rebounds and 14 steals against Kennedy.

She was only 3 points short of tying the school record of 48 points she set against El Modena earlier this season.

Wednesday against Rancho Alamitos, Jalewalia scored a game-high 25 points.

Friday night again provided Jalewalia ample opportunity to show off her considerable athletic skills. She showed a soft touch on her outside shots, making long jumpers. She also worked free for easy shots close in.

Most of all, though, she led the way on the Aztecs’ swarming full-court press. And that led to a number of easy layups for her and teammate Tanya Krill, who had 14 points and 9 rebounds.

“I expect 20 to 30 points out of (Jalewalia), but not 40,” said Kevin Kiernan, La Quinta coach. Jalewalia came into the game averaging 26.5 points a game.

“All we really wanted this week was a split,” Kiernan said.

Instead, La Quinta improved its record to 9-3 overall and 2-0 in league play. Kennedy is 2-6, 1-1.

La Quinta let Kennedy stay close for a few moments early in the game but broke the game open with a 19-2 run that gave the Aztecs a 25-6 lead with 4:54 left in the half.

By halftime, La Quinta a 35-14 lead and Jalewalia had 23 points.

Valerie Ruiz had 10 points for Kennedy.