Glendale college women’s basketball holds off East L.A. in playoff opener
GLENDALE — It was a great start to the California Community College Athletic Assn. women’s basketball Southern California Regionals for the Glendale Community College women’s basketball team in its playoff opener against East L.A. College
The defense for the No. 4-seeded Vaqueros shut down the No. 13 Huskies in the opening quarter to take a 10-point lead over the visitors at the start of the second-round contest Saturday.
However, a lengthy scoring run from the Huskies turned the game around, as the teams fought back-and-forth for the lead for the remainder of the contest.
East L.A. held a one-point lead at the start of the fourth quarter, but scoring from sophomores Tess Oakley-Stinson and Penelopi Trieu down the stretch lifted Glendale to a 63-58 victory over East L.A. for its second straight trip to the third round of the Southern California regionals.
“When you get to the playoffs, every team is good,” Glendale coach Joel Weiss said. “That is a really talented team and they’re well-coached, so we knew it was going to be a big challenge either way it went.
“That’s playoff basketball with its intensity at its finest point. We had enough in the tank in the fourth quarter to pull it out and I thought our crowd was terrific on both sides.”
The Vaqueros (26-3), the two-time defending Western State Conference South champions, will host No. 5 Palomar College in the third round of the regionals March 7. Last season, Glendale reached the same stage and fell to top-seed Moorpark in a 79-66 road loss.
In Saturday’s win, the Vaqueros were forced to regroup.
An 11-4 run at the start of the second half gave the Huskies a 39-38 lead with 3:46 left in the third quarter for their first lead, 39-38, since midway in the second.
Free throws from Oakley-Stilson briefly gave the Glendale a three-point lead, but the visitors finished the third quarter with a 45-44 advantage.
“You trust players who are entering their 60th college basketball game,” said Weiss, who was named WSC Coach of the Year. “They’ve been all-conference players and they work every day. It’s just a matter of letting them make plays. I’ve seen them make [those] shots a million times in practice and you just trust them.”
After the teams tied the score for a third time at 49 with 6:51 left, the Huskies (16-13) took a three-point lead, 53-50, with 4:22 left courtesy of a basket from freshman Jaidin Lacount.
A three-pointer from Trieu, a first-team all-conference honoree, sparked a 7-0 run aided by a pair of baskets from Oakley-Stilson to take a 57-53 advantage with 1:11 remaining.
“I think we finally started playing like ourselves again,” said Trieu, who scored six points in the first and final quarters. “We played like ourselves in the first quarter, and then there was a little bit of substituting that threw the matchups off, and I think it’s hard to come off the bench and play defense like that right off the bat. Everyone was warmed up and it threw us off a little bit.
“Once our defense dropped, our offense dropped significantly with a bunch of turnovers in a row. That’s what allowed them to catch up and continue to stay ahead of us. In the end, we sort of rallied together. That seems to be the common theme.”
The Vaqueros hung on down the stretch with baskets from Trieu and sophomore Zoe Rouse before a pair of free throws from Oakley-Stilson sealed the game for the hosts.
“We just had to be poised,” said Oakley-Stilson, a La Cañada graduate a recent CCCWBCA all-state third-team honoree. “Even when it was getting and we couldn’t hit as much, we just looked for the easiest baskets to get us back into rhythm. It was just trying to make good passes and easy baskets.”
Oakley-Stilson scored 18 points in the second half on her way to 26 points and six rebounds, while Trieu recorded 12 points and five assists.
“I just think that really good players make really big plays and Penelopi and Tess are two of the best,” Weiss said.
Additional scoring came from Rouse, a first-team all-conference selection, who made four straight three-pointers in the second quarter and finished with 14 points and seven assists. Vaqueros freshman Vicky Oganyan also contributed with 10 rebounds and four steals.
The Huskies were led by sophomore Citlaly Davalos with 18 points and six rebounds. Forward Maya Clark added 10 points and seven rebounds.
Behind six points from Oakley-Stilson, Glendale scored 16 straight points early in the opening quater to take a 14-point lead, 16-2, after the Huskies’ opening basket at 9:06.
Davalos scored the Huskies first field goal after nearly an eight-minute drought in the first and closed the opening quarter with four points to cut the Vaqueros lead to 16-6.
Davalos continued to do damage at the start of the second, sparking a 19-0 run for a 21-16 lead at 6:01.
With 3:23 left, a three-pointer from Rouse put the Vaqueros within 25-23 before Jada Aldana tied it up at 25 moments later with a jumper.
Rouse finished the half with four straight threes as the Vaqueros climbed back in the quarter and went into halftime leading, 34-28.
The Huskies had six player score in the second quarter to take its largest lead, 25-18, after a 23-2 run with 4:31left.