Guards stumble in own tourney

Jim Riggio

It was Bellarmine-Jefferson High’s home court and its own

tournament, but you would have never known that when the Guards took

on La Canada.

The visiting Spartans took it to the Guards from the opening tip

Monday and rolled to a 55-43 victory in the third-place game of the

Bell-Jeff Christmas Classic.

The Spartans (10-4) started to get their engine rolling when Robin

Toyota hit a three-pointer from beyond half court to end the first

quarter and give La Canada a 14-6 lead.

The momentum carried over into the second quarter, as the Spartans

hit their first five shots, three from Toyota -- including two more

three-pointers -- and a basket each from Kim Gilmour and Lindsay

Sherman.

La Canada went up, 26-6, before Bell-Jeff was able to slow the

Spartans.

After missing its first four shots of the second quarter,

Bell-Jeff hit three in a row, as baskets by Julie Van Dyke, Jennae

Peoples and Kelly Hobbs helped cut the deficit to 27-14.

But whenever Bell-Jeff (9-2) mounted a comeback, La Canada seemed

to have an answer.

Early in the fourth quarter it looked like the Guards were finally

going to come back. Julie Van Dyke’s basket with 6:54 left made it

38-32.

But Megan McCoy answered with a three-pointer for the Spartans.

Peoples, who led the Guards with 14 points, countered by

completing a three-point play to cut the deficit to six again. But

Gilmour hit yet another three-pointer to counter Bell-Jeff’s

attempted comeback.

“We just ran out of gas. It looked like we didn’t have any legs.

Our intensity level was down,” Bell-Jeff said Coach Bryan Camacho.

“La Canada just shot the lights out in the first half.”

Louisville 53, Burbank 45: In the fifth-place championship of the

Bell-Jeff Christmas Classic Monday, Louisville had to fight off the

Bulldogs for the win.

The Bulldogs rallied to tie the score at 45 in the fourth quarter,

but were outscored, 8-0, to end the contest.

Christine Kepenekian led Burbank (9-5) with 26 points and Roxy

Quintero added nine.

BOX SCORE

La Canada 14 20 4

17 -- 55

Bell-Jeff 6 14 9

14 -- 43

LA CANADA

Gilmour 19, 8 rebounds and 5 assists, Toyota 13 and 8

rebounds, Leyda 6 and 9 rebounds, Futalan 6, McCoy 5, Sherman 2,

Beattie 2, Hurlbutt 1, Arboleda 1.

* Three-pointers: Gilmour 4, Toyota 3, McCoy.

BELL-JEFF

Peoples 14 and 10 rebounds, I. Reyes 6, Hobbs 6, J. Van

Dyke 4, Morgan 4, Napolitano 3, T. Reyes 3, K. Van Dyke 3.

* Three-pointers: I. Reyes, T. Reyes.