Haneef Stands Tall in Middle

Amid the chaos and the hot and cold streaks, Laguna Hills senior Tayyiba Haneef anchored the Hawks’ first championship charge Saturday.

Sure, point guard Tamara Inoue sparked the team’s third-quarter scoring binge and teammates Whitney Houser and Mary Tims made the big shots.

But Haneef’s imposing presence in the middle also helped to shift the momentum in Laguna Hills’ 54-40 victory over Cerritos Gahr in the Southern Section Division II-AA finals at the Pyramid.

Haneef, a 6-foot-6 center, dominated the middle defensively and finished with seven blocked shots and three steals. She constantly made Gahr’s players alter their shots and the Gladiators’ attack suffered.

Gahr shot 23% from the field. Leading scorer Monet Sykes scored 10 points, five below her average, making only four of 17 from the field.

And that was the good news.

The team’s second-leading scorer, Tammie Johnson, went 0 for 10 from the field and finished with only one point. Forward Stephanie Pascucci made only one of six shots from the field.

“I think our kids were intimidated,” Gahr Coach Tom Pryor said. “If you haven’t gone up against someone that big, you don’t know how to attack them, how to use your body to protect the ball.

“Trying to shoot over the top of someone who’s 6-6, that’s pretty tough.”

Haneef also made an impact offensively. She scored 17 points, making seven of 10 field goals. She also had nine rebounds and only one turnover.

But Haneef touched the ball only three times on offense in the second quarter, when the Hawks were outscored, 13-3, and went 0 for 12 from the field.

“I think the whole team got frustrated in the second quarter,” said Haneef. “We just had to stick it out and play our game.”

Laguna Hills stayed with its game plan and it paid off with a 20-point third quarter.

“Gahr was collapsing on Tayyiba,” Laguna Hills Coach Lynn Taylor said. “But once we hit a few outside shots in the third quarter, we were able to go right back inside to Tayyiba.

“You can see teams get intimidated just when they see Tayyiba walk on the court. And having her back there on our press, the kids knew they could gamble a little more and that helped us turn it around.”