SOUTHERN SECTION GIRLS’ BASKETBALL PLAYOFFS : San Bernardino’s Kindle Too Hot for La Habra to Handle

A bolt of electricity with a quick wrist and a keen eye zapped La Habra in the second round of the Division II-A girls’ basketball playoffs Wednesday night.

San Bernardino’s La Tonya Kindle left La Habra smoldering as she scored a game-high 38 points, including nine three-pointers, to lead San Bernardino in an 88-65 victory at La Habra.

“I’ve never seen anyone shoot like that,” said La Habra Coach John Koehler. “Eventually, you think it will stop. But it didn’t.”

Not for a second. Kindle, a sophomore guard, rebounded from 5-of-20 shooting in the first half, scored 24 points in the second half and came close to knocking the Highlanders out of the playoffs by herself.

“I don’t know what happened,” said La Habra Martha Hernandez, a four-year starter who ended her high school career with a team-high 22 points. “She just got hot, and we had some girls in foul trouble.”

La Habra starters Lara Fuentes and Amy Lien each got their fourth foul in the third quarter, and Koehler sent in freshmen Erin Allard and Jamie Edinger for them during much of the second half.

But Kindle was the Highlanders’ biggest problem, and La Habra had no damage control when it came to her.

San Bernardino Coach Moses Jones, who already has Kindle pegged for the college ranks, wasn’t worried with her first-half performance.

“I just told her to keep shooting,” said Jones. “You have to give your shooter a chance. I don’t care if she was 1 for 20, you have to let her shoot.”

But in the first half, La Habra (14-11) was doing all the shooting. The Highlanders missed only four of their field goal attempts in the first half as they jumped to a 38-32 halftime lead.

“We played a great first half,” said Koehler. “(Kindle) just got that stroke going. We were in foul trouble. We had our two leading rebounders and second and third leading scorers out. What are you doing to do?”

Hernandez, who finished with three of her own three-pointers, scored 10 points in the first half and teammates Fuentes and Beth Plogg contributed eight and six. Fuentes finished with 12 points. San Bernardino’s 6-5 center Celeste Gude scored 16 points.

To play catch up, San Bernardino switched to a man-to-man defense and double teamed Hernandez.

“We wanted to disrupt their rhythm,” said Jones. “So we went to the man defense and keyed in on Martha. We had to make those adjustments so we could take advantage of our height and our speed.”

San Bernardino (21-4), plays Norco, a 76-59 winner over North Torrance, in Saturday’s quarterfinals.