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Crescenta Valley Slips Back Into Bad Habits and Falls to Oxnard

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SPECIAL TO THE TIMES

Crescenta Valley High had to be confident before a Southern Section Division I-AA girls’ basketball playoff game Saturday night.

The Falcons played their best game of the season two nights earlier in a first-round victory over perennial Golden League power Palmdale and were riding a five-game winning streak.

But the inconsistency that had plagued Crescenta Valley for much of the year resurfaced in the second half of a 57-42 second-round loss to eighth-seeded Oxnard at Oxnard High.

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The Yellow Jackets (22-6), ranked No. 6 in The Times’ regional poll, outscored Crescenta Valley, 33-15, in the second half when their defensive pressure forced 17 turnovers.

“They kept the pressure on us,” Coach Allen Freemon of Crescenta Valley said. “We lost our rhythm on offense in the second half.”

Forward Sinnamonn Garrett of Crescenta Valley had 21 points and six assists, but made just two of 12 shots in the fourth quarter.

“We made a lot of adjustments in the second half as far as how we were guarding Garrett,” Coach Ryle Lynch-Cole of Oxnard said. “And offensively, we started hitting our shots and posting up more. The playoffs are a lot more intense and we just didn’t come out ready to play.”

Crescenta Valley (17-10) took a 7-0 lead and built a 21-11 advantage early in the second quarter.

Oxnard was its own worst enemy, committing 12 first-half turnovers and got caught upcourt numerous times, allowing the Falcons to score half of their points on uncontested layups.

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The Yellow Jackets made only eight of 26 shots and were fortunate to trail, 27-24, at halftime.

Senior forward Sara Wilkins had 19 points and 13 rebounds for the Yellowjackets.

Wilkins tied the game with a short jumper, then teammate Alicia Nichols hit a three-pointer to give Oxnard its first lead, 35-32, with 1:56 left in the third quarter.

“We are a defensive team and we haven’t given up 42 points in a long time,” Lynch-Cole said. “We look for Sara [Wilkins] to get us going because she’s been here before. She’s my only player left from the team that won [a Southern Section] championship in 1997.”

Center Memory Rhone added 11 points and nine rebounds for Oxnard, which won for the 14th time in 15 games.

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