EMPIRE LEAGUE GIRLS’ BASKETBALL : It’s Pretty Crowded Atop the Standings

If you’re going to win a league championship, you’ve got to play king of the mountain.

Tuesday night at El Dorado High School, that time arrived for the Katella Knights, who stumbled.

El Dorado won, 55-51, creating a four-way tie for first place in the Empire League.

El Dorado (18-2, 5-2 in league) has the edge. Katella (16-4, 5-2) plays host to two-time defending champion Cypress on Thursday as El Dorado plays at Los Alamitos. Each has a 5-2 league record.

“Since (their last loss to) Los Alamitos, we haven’t played a bad quarter,” said El Dorado Coach Gary Raya. “We’ve been very consistent.”

Nicole deBruijn, Jody Caruso and Shanna Renken scored 12 points each Tuesday. Angie Conley added nine.

Katella opened a nine-point lead in the first quarter, 15-6, but a 15-4 run helped El Dorado take a 21-19 lead with 2 minutes 53 seconds left in the half.

Katella led at the break, 25-22, but after seven ties or lead changes, the Golden Hawks went on a 14-2 run, taking advantage of eight fourth-quarter turnovers by the Knights. Four players scored and Angie Conley had five points during the stretch. Nicole deBruijn’s layup gave El Dorado its largest lead at 52-41.

Chris Carrillo scored 20 and Rachel Davis had 15 for Katella.

“I would give almost anything (for a decent free-throw performance),” Katella Coach Shelly Noble said. “We shoot almost 70% from the line. It’s all mental from the line. We’re damn good from the line, and tonight it didn’t show.”

In other league games:

Cypress 65, Loara 27--Jessica Eggleston scored 34 points and grabbed 22 rebounds to lead Cypress (14-7, 5-2), which outscored Loara by 31 points in the first half.