Grechko’s Best Helps Irvine Carve Out Piece of History

For the first time in school history, Irvine High is going to the Southern Section semifinals in girls’ basketball.

To get there, the Vaqueros beat a team that many didn’t expect to get to the playoffs.

Ali Grechko made eight of 11 shots from the field, scored 19 points and grabbed seven rebounds to lift third-seeded Irvine to a 55-30 victory over El Toro in a Southern Section Division I-AA quarterfinal.

Irvine (22-6) will play Murrieta Valley, a 64-53 winner over Chino Don Lugo, on Tuesday. El Toro finished 20-7.

Grechko provided the long-range attack for Irvine’s offense with what she described as her best offensive performance of the season. She has scored as many as 22, but never as many in an important game, or against a quality opponent.

“She’s the key to our team,” said Irvine Coach Dennis Hurley. “Our posts [Kristin Thawley and Jody Carlson] are going to get their points--you’re not going to shut down both of them. But if Ali is lighting it up, what are you going to do?”

As El Toro found out, you’re going to play catch-up.

Grechko made her first five field-goal attempts, including two three-point baskets, as Irvine built a 33-16 halftime lead. Thawley finished with 16 points, and Carlson had five points and 12 rebounds. They also sandwiched El Toro’s 6-foot-3 Carrie Twaddell in various zones as the Vaqueros zeroed in on the Chargers’ primary offensive and defensive presence.

“Jody’s an excellent defender, and Kristin’s a good one,” Hurley said. “We had them pinching against [Twaddell].”

Twaddell had 11 rebounds and blocked six shots, and the 10 points she scored were twice the total of any of her teammates.

“We weren’t taking them lightly,” Hurley said. “If we didn’t play our game, they could beat us. [But] we knew what we wanted to do, and we executed.”

Irvine played well in almost every phase of the game. It made eight of 10 free throws, five of 11 three-point shots and limited El Toro to 29.5% shooting from the field (13 of 44).

After Twaddell got her third foul 20 seconds into the second quarter, Irvine went after her. And as defenders helped, that opened the perimeter for Grechko.

“We knew they were good,” Twaddell said. “We were just going to play our hardest and hope for the best.”

“When you know you’re not going to match up, you have to give up something,” said Greg Yeck, who coached El Toro this season after several years away from the varsity program. “We tried to take away the inside and have them beat us from the outside.”

Irvine held a 7-5 advantage when Nikki Kamada drilled a three-pointer, igniting a 13-0 run. After Twaddell’s third foul, she left the game--for 2 1/2 minutes. When she returned, Grechko took over, scoring the final nine points of the half.

“We weren’t even supposed to be here,” Yeck said. “Everyone wrote us off at the beginning of the season. . . . This doesn’t diminish what we accomplished.”