WOMEN’S BASKETBALL PLAYOFFS : Aggressive Valley Rolls to Win Over Pasadena

The Valley College gym was unusually quiet during the Lady Monarchs’ first-round state basketball playoff game against Pasadena City College on Wednesday night.

But the Valley women made a lot of noise on the court in routing Pasadena, 85-69, at Valley.

“We were aggressive on defense and were able to cause turnovers,” Valley Coach Doug Michelson said. “As a result, we were able to get high-percentage shots.

“We played hard and ran our offense well.”

And executed in a dominating fashion from the opening tip-off.

Valley, the No. 2-seeded team in the Southern California regional, sealed Pasadena’s fate in the first half, racing to a 16-point lead with eight minutes left.

The lead grew to 44-24 by the intermission.

Freshman guard Sylvia Casteneda led Valley with 16 points, 12 in the first half. She also had five steals and five assists.

Sophomore forward Sandrine Rocher pulled down 14 rebounds.

“We were kind of sluggish at the beginning,” said Angela Smith, a sophomore from Reseda High who registered career-high totals of 13 points and 13 rebounds. “But we played great defense and came out with a lot more intensity in the second half.”

And while Valley was warming up, Pasadena was cooling down.

Valley (28-5), the Western State Conference co-champion, went on a 9-0 blitz to expand its lead to 59-29 with 14 minutes 32 seconds to play, and then coasted.

Pasadena made a brief run, scoring 10 unanswered points in a four-minute span to pull within 59-39, but never threatened again.

Cameron Inouye and Cara Vergo each scored 19 points for Pasadena (17-11), which placed fourth in the South Coast Conference.

“We weren’t surprised to win,” Michelson said, “when you’re the second seed, playing the No. 15 seed, you expect to win.”

Valley, the state runner-up last season, will meet Mt. San Antonio, a 61-48 winner over Southwestern, on Saturday.