Troy Hits Boards to Win

It boiled down to rebounding and Fullerton Troy beat Redondo at its own game.

Behind the play of its only senior starter, 6-foot-1 forward Amanda Livingston, top-seeded Troy defeated the fourth-seeded Sea Hawks, 58-46, Thursday in a Southern California Regional Division II semifinal at Troy.

Livingston, who has signed with UCLA, had 21 points and six rebounds, matching the combined efforts of Redondo’s two 6-3 forwards -- Azusa Pacific-bound Chloe Grimm and Hawaii-bound Brittany Grice, who each had eight points and three rebounds.

Troy (29-2), smaller and quicker, held a 34-27 rebounding advantage and limited Redondo to eight offensive rebounds.

The score was tied or the lead was exchanged 13 times in the first half, with Troy holding a 24-21 lead at halftime.

The Warriors scored five unanswered points to trigger a 13-4 run at the start of the second half. Combined with Grice’s fourth foul, Troy was on its way.

The Warriors, who missed all six three-point shots in the first half, had Meghan McGuire, Lauren Sims and Sunshine Atuatasi each make one during the second-half run for a 37-26 lead.

“I’m calling it right now, they’re going to bring home the state title this year,” said Coach Marcelo Enriquez of Redondo, which beat Troy in last year’s regional final, 53-39.

McGuire finished with nine points and seven rebounds, Nicole Hayman had 10 points and five assists and Sara Yee had four points and six assists.

Troy will play Santa Ana Mater Dei at Long Beach Arena in the regional final on Saturday.

Dominique Harris led Redondo, which had 17 turnovers, with 10 points and Krisztina Fuleki added nine.

Martin Henderson

*

Harbor City Narbonne 53, San Clemente 52 -- The Tritons tied the score at the end of regulation on Lacey Burns’ fastbreak layup, but Jamie Funn scored off an offensive rebound for the Gauchos with 54 seconds left in overtime for the victory in a Division I semifinal at Narbonne.

Narbonne (24-6) had possession of the ball and a one-point lead with 25 seconds left in overtime and 21 seconds left on the shot clock when the Gauchos called timeout.

San Clemente (28-4), which had missed a chance to take the lead on a baseline jumper by Burns on its previous possession, elected not to foul Camille LeNoir after she caught the inbounds pass.

LeNoir, who held onto the ball until the shot clock had run down to the final second, let go of a high-arching three-point shot with four seconds to play. The shot missed, but teammate Sherriel Boyd grabbed the rebound to seal the victory.

Narbonne Coach James Anderson was surprised the Tritons did not foul LeNoir early in the final possession.

“The way we were shooting free throws, we probably would have missed them anyway,” Anderson said.

Lindsey Pluimer had 27 points and 12 rebounds to lead the Tritons.

Funn had 13 points to lead Narbonne, which plays Lynwood in the regional final at Long Beach Arena on Saturday.

Dan Arritt

*

Lynwood 51, Long Beach Poly 44 -- Sade Wiley-Gatewood scored seven of her 18 points in the fourth quarter when the Knights (30-1) outscored the Jackrabbits, 18-11, to secure the Division I semifinal victory.

Judith Smith scored 22 points for Long Beach Poly (29-4), which lost to the Knights, 69-63, in the section final.

Los Angeles Marlborough 54, Santa Fe Springs St. Paul 35 -- After taking an early five-point lead, several droughts cost the Swordsmen a chance to avenge their loss in last week’s Southern Section Division IV-AA championship game.

St. Paul was outscored 11-0 during a 3:35 span of the first quarter and 7-0 to start both the second and fourth quarters in a Division IV semifinal at Brentwood School.

The Swordsmen (22-11) were held to 10 baskets, seven in the first half, three in the third quarter and none in the fourth.

Junior forward Alex Chen had 18 for the Mustangs (28-4) before fouling out with 2:08 left. Freshman guard Desiree Davis, sophomore forward Emily Tay and UCLA-signee Shaina Zaidi each added 10.

Marlborough will play La Jolla Country Day in the regional final at Cal State Fullerton on Saturday.

Notre Dame-bound Crystal Erwin had 19 for St. Paul.

-- Steven Herbert