FREEWAY LEAGUE GIRLS’ BASKETBALL ROUNDUP : Troy Rallies, Halts La Habra’s League Winning Streak at 77

La Habra High’s 77-game Freeway League winning streak in girls’ basketball was snapped Thursday night, as league co-leader Troy toppled the Highlanders, 43-37, at La Habra.

For La Habra, the loss was only its fourth in its last 135 league games, dating back 14 years.

As the Warriors (16-3, 5-0) slapped high fives all around and hooted and celebrated across the court, Troy Coach Brad Sand wore a look of relief.

“It feels great,” he said. “It’s an honor to be able to beat a team with 77 wins in a row. We feel privileged.”

On the flip side, the Highlanders (9-9, 4-1) weren’t hanging their collective heads over the loss.

“Some of our girls are friends with some of their team,” said La Habra Coach John Koehler. “And (Troy) was saying early in the season that they were going to beat us by 30 points. So I guess we didn’t do half bad.”

As far as the streak goes, Koehler was ready to start anew.

“Fullerton broke it at 66 and they got us at 77. They’re fun to have, so I guess we just have to start over.”

Troy started the game strong, and finished in similar fashion. The Warriors jumped to a 12-6 lead in the first quarter, paced by 6-for-7 free-throw shooting, only to watch La Habra rally and outscore them, 18-5, for a 24-17 halftime lead.

Martha Hernandez opened the third quarter with a three pointer to put the Highlanders up, 27-17.

But then the Warriors reignited their attack.

With a significant height advantage, Troy started to rebound more and shut down La Habra’s offense with its trap defense.

Troy narrowed the scored to 34-29 after three quarters, and after La Habra scored to open the fourth, the Warriors went on a 14-1 run. A layup by Jill Katsis off a perfect pass from Dinah Shah evened the score at 36-36.

Stephanie Bloomingdale’s steal and layup put Troy ahead, 42-36, with 1:54 to play, and the Highlanders never recovered.

In other Freeway League games:

Fullerton 41, Sunny Hills 36--Nadia Hoerner scored 19 points and grabbed 18 rebounds for Fullerton (7-10, 3-2). Marla Roque led Sunny Hills (6-11, 2-3) with 14 points.

Sonora 34, Buena Park 31 (OT)--Sonora’s Jodie Fister made a free throw with three seconds left in regulation to send the game into overtime, and Chris Nonis made seven free throws during overtime to lead Sonora (6-11, 1-4) to the victory.