LA QUINTA GIRLS’ BASKETBALL TOURNAMENT : Jalewalia Most Impressive as La Quinta Beats Esperanza

Amy Jalewalia had 30 points to lead La Quinta High School to a 63-46 victory over Esperanza in the championship game of the La Quinta girls’ basketball tournament Friday.

That Jalewalia led La Quinta in scoring was no surprise. The question before the game was how many she would score.

On Thursday, Jalewalia had 51 points against Santa Ana Valley. On Wednesday, she had 44 points in a victory over Magnolia. Three games, 125 points. That she was named most valuable player of the tournament was even less of a surprise.

Jalewalia had nine points in the first quarter as La Quinta (6-1) took a 20-9 lead.

The score would have been 20-6, but Esperanza’s Jennifer Harney sank a three-pointer just before the buzzer. Harney ended the game with 18 points and was named to the all-tournament team.

Harney’s basket did not seem to inspire Esperanza as much as a defensive strategy that put pressure on La Quinta’s guards and limited their ability to get the ball to Jalewalia.

“(Jalewalia) hates me,” La Quinta Coach Kevin Kiernan said. “She’ll play guard for UCLA next year, she plays guard for club teams in the summer, and I force her to play center where she doesn’t always get the ball.”

Esperanza (8-3) switched to a 3-2 zone in the second quarter, and the resulting turnovers and poor shot selection by La Quinta helped the Aztecs close the gap to 28-26 at halftime.

Esperanza tied the score, 32-32, with five minutes left in the third quarter, but Jalewalia got open enough to lead an 18-6 run in the next four minutes to give La Quinta a 48-36 advantage at the end of the third quarter.

Jalewalia had nine points in that run.

In other La Quinta tournament games:

Savanna 62, Santa Ana Valley 48--Carrie Frederick had 31 points and Jackie Boxley had 10 to lead Savanna in the third-place game.

Los Amigos 53, Santiago 46--Carrie Elsaesser had 21 points to lead Los Amigos (5-4) over Santiago (3-5) in the consolation championship game.

Orange 56, Magnolia 26--In the seventh-place game, Nicole Champion had 23 points and 12 rebounds to lead Orange (5-4).