Stephenson Sparks Late Rally for Wolverines

Erin Stephenson came off the bench to score 10 of her 12 points in the fourth quarter, helping Harvard-Westlake High rally for a 64-56 victory over Westchester in the first round of the Ayala girls’ basketball tournament Tuesday night.

The Wolverines (9-2) led, 31-23, at halftime, but Westchester tied the score, 47-47, early in the fourth quarter before Stephenson sparked a 17-9 finishing run.

Karina Siam scored 15 points, Shantel Kazay had 14 points, nine rebounds and five blocks, and Lyndsey Medders had eight assists and five steals for Harvard-Westlake.

In other Ayala tournament openers:

Oak Park 59, Nogales 48--Michelle Bregar scored 13 of her 24 points in the first quarter to help Oak Park (6-3) to a strong start.

Bregar made 11 of 21 shots for the Eagles, who outscored Nogales, 23-12, in the third quarter.

Newbury Park 65, Don Lugo 50--Center Cassandra Harris scored 17 points and guard Nancy Padon had 14 points and five steals for Newbury Park (6-5).

Rachel Hever had 12 points with five steals, and Emily Cameron added eight points for the Panthers, who led, 34-22, at halftime.

In other girls’ games:

Camarillo 72, Crescenta Valley 44--Rachel Young had 14 points and 11 rebounds for Camarillo in a first-round game of the Thousand Oaks tournament.

Gillian Lillich added 17 points for the Scorpions (10-2).

Grant 57, Westlake 31--Krystal Clay had 19 points and five assists, and the Lancers outscored Westlake, 38-8, in the first half of a Thousand Oaks tournament game.

Alexis Weatherspoon had 14 points, seven assists and four steals for Grant (4-6).

La Canada 67, El Segundo 58--Erin McCoy scored 18 points to lead La Canada (5-6), who outscored El Segundo, 20-8, in the third quarter of a pool-play game in the Bell-Jeff tournament.

La Canada made 10 of 11 free throw attempts.

Hoover 47, San Gabriel 26--Arsineh Eskandari scored 17 points to lead the Tornadoes, who outscored San Gabriel, 19-2, in the second quarter of a Bell-Jeff tournament game.

Bell-Jeff 62, Immaculate Heart 38--Jennae Peoples had 23 points and six steals for the Guards (5-5), who outscored Immaculate Heart, 16-2, in the first quarter of a Bell-Jeff tournament game. A running clock was used in the fourth quarter.

Glendale 42, Marlborough 41--Shaina Zaidi of Marlborough missed two free throws with one minute to play and the Dynamiters held on in the Bell-Jeff tournament. Arpi Babakhanian led Glendale 10 points.

Quartz Hill 74, Barstow 47--Sharonne Herbert had 33 points and six assists for the Rebels (8-2), who outscored Barstow, 27-6, in the third quarter of a Serrano tournament first-round game.

Alemany 51, Colony (Alaska) 41--Tiffany Hawthorne scored 12 points for the Indians (5-6) in a first-round victory in the Huntington Beach Marina tournament.

Montclair Prep 59, Carpinteria 47--Eshaya Murphy scored 27 points and Jasmine Wesley added 18 for the Mounties (6-0) in a first-round victory in the Marymount tournament.

BOYS

Poly 65, University 55--Mike Mgdesyan had 29 points, nine rebounds and five steals for the Parrots (4-7) in a first-round victory in the Eagle Rock tournament.

Joe Hampel had 18 points, 10 rebounds, six assists and five steals for Poly.