Shooting woes slow down upset bid for Providence High girls’ basketball
Providence’s Sophia Jimenez drives to the basket against Oxford Academy’s Austyn Masuno.
A cold-shooting fourth quarter from both the free-throw line and the field doomed the Providence High girls’ basketball team Wednesday evening.
The host Pioneers were within four points in the fourth quarter, but could not pull any closer and missed on an upset bid of No. 2 Oxford Academy in a 40-31 defeat in the quarterfinals of the CIF Southern Section Division V-AA playoffs.
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The victory thrusts the Academy League champion Patriots (24-3) into Saturday’s semifinal round, while the Liberty League co-champion Pioneers capped their season with an 18-11 record.
Senior forward Jasmine Ramirez paced the Pioneers with 15 points, 10 rebounds and seven steals, while senior guard Rachel Camonayan added nine points and eight rebounds.
Despite those solid efforts, the talk afterward focused on free-throwing shooting.
Providence finished one for eight in the fourth quarter and four for 15 in the game.
“We fought really hard to get back into it and got ourselves into the bonus and just didn’t convert when we needed to,” Providence Coach Andrew Bencze said. “When you don’t make free throws, then you have empty trips that end up killing you.”
Freshman 6-foot center Austyn Masuno led the Patriots with 24 points, 13 rebounds and three blocks and shot six for 11 from the free-throw line in the fourth.
Down, 28-17, after an inside bucket from Masuno with 2:45 left in the third quarter, Providence scored the last six points of the period to pull within 28-23 after a four-footer from Ramirez before the quarter’s close.
While Oxford immediately opened the fourth with a basket from Jocelyn Lopez off an assist from Masuno, Providence fought back.
Ramirez scored from four feet thanks to an assist from Giselle Camonayan as Providence again climbed to within a five-point deficit at 30-25 with 7:20 left in the game.
Ramirez’ field goal was the last for her team, though, for nearly five minutes.
Even so, Providence quickly went into the foul bonus and was sent to the free-throw line on four occasions over the next three minutes.
While Oxford was cold offensively early in the fourth, Providence didn’t help its cause by shooting one for seven and only closing within 30-26.
Finally, Oxford broke out of its funk behind Masuno, who scored seven straight points to give Oxford a 37-26 lead with 3:03 left.
Providence countered with an inside bucket from Christy Hoffman to pull within 37-28 with 2:44 left, but the Pioneers didn’t score another field goal until a buzzer-beating basket ended the game at 40-31 in favor of Oxford Academy.
“I think the pressure of shooting those free throws late got to us,” Rachel Camonayan said. “We just didn’t make them.”
Free-throwing shooting seemed the least of Providence’s worries early on, as Oxford’s hounding defense forced 17 turnovers - all steals - in the first half as the Patriots took an 18-12 lead into the break.
“It’s a trapping zone that really depends on each girl doing her job,” Oxford Coach Dave Clifton said. “If one girl doesn’t do her job, then it breaks down. Honestly, this may have been the best we’ve run it all year.”
In only the third quarter did the Pioneers score more than 10 points (11), which made a rally all the more difficult.
“I think it was the little things today,” Ramirez said. “We didn’t pass well, we didn’t make the right choices, we panicked. We let the situation get the best of us.”
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Andrew J. Campa, andrew.campa@latimes.com
Twitter: @campadresports
