Crescenta Valley girls' basketball falls to St. Anthony in first round

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Crescenta Valley’s Caity Bouchard drives to the basket and is fouled by Saint Anthony’s Semaj Smith on the way by in a CIF Southern Section Division I-AA first-round playoff girls’ basketball game at Crescenta Valley High School on Thursday, February 16, 2017. (Tim Berger / Staff Photographer)

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Crescenta Valley’s Michelle Boghozian attempts to block Saint Anthony’s Lauryn Morris as she shoots in a CIF Southern Section Division I-AA first-round playoff girls’ basketball game at Crescenta Valley High School on Thursday, February 16, 2017. (Tim Berger / Staff Photographer)

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Crescenta Valley’s Rachel Dayag brings the ball up court against Saint Anthony’s Kali Murrell in a CIF Southern Section Division I-AA first-round playoff girls’ basketball game at Crescenta Valley High School on Thursday, February 16, 2017. (Tim Berger / Staff Photographer)

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Crescenta Valley’s Kaitlyn Jabourian gets airborne to shoot against St. Anthony in a CIF Southern Section Division I-AA first-round playoff girls’ basketball game at Crescenta Valley High School on Thursday, February 16, 2017. (Tim Berger / Staff Photographer)

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Crescenta Valley’s Rachel Dayag, with defense in back of her by Saint Anthony’s Candice Evans and Juliana Louis, and scoops the ball to shoot and score in a CIF Southern Section Division I-AA first-round playoff girls’ basketball game at Crescenta Valley High School on Thursday, February 16, 2017. (Tim Berger / Staff Photographer)

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Crescenta Valley’s Denise Dayag falls back to the ground after Saint Anthony’s Juliana Louis charges into her then shoots, with no foul called, in a CIF Southern Section Division I-AA first-round playoff girls’ basketball game at Crescenta Valley High School on Thursday, February 16, 2017. (Tim Berger / Staff Photographer)

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Crescenta Valley’s head coach Jason Perez talks with his team during a timeout in the first half of the game against St. Anthony in a CIF Southern Section Division I-AA first-round playoff girls’ basketball game at Crescenta Valley High School on Thursday, February 16, 2017. (Tim Berger / Staff Photographer)

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Crescenta Valley’s Polin Megerdichian takes a end-of-quarter shot against Saint Anthony’s Lauryn Morris in a CIF Southern Section Division I-AA first-round playoff girls’ basketball game at Crescenta Valley High School on Thursday, February 16, 2017. (Tim Berger / Staff Photographer)

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Crescenta Valley’s Denise Dayag drives to the basket to shoot against Saint Anthony’s Lauryn Morris in a CIF Southern Section Division I-AA first-round playoff girls’ basketball game at Crescenta Valley High School on Thursday, February 16, 2017. (Tim Berger / Staff Photographer)

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Crescenta Valley’s Caity Bouchard, in a crowd of St. Anthony defenders, shoots in the paint in a CIF Southern Section Division I-AA first-round playoff girls’ basketball game at Crescenta Valley High School on Thursday, February 16, 2017. (Tim Berger / Staff Photographer)

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Crescenta Valley’s Michelle Boghozian drives to the basket, bringing the ball up low, and it is taken away from her by Saint Anthony’s Kali Murrell in a CIF Southern Section Division I-AA first-round playoff girls’ basketball game at Crescenta Valley High School on Thursday, February 16, 2017. (Tim Berger / Staff Photographer)

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Crescenta Valley’s Polin Megerdichian holds Saint Anthony’s Lauryn Morris to a three-point attempt in a CIF Southern Section Division I-AA first-round playoff girls’ basketball game at Crescenta Valley High School on Thursday, February 16, 2017. (Tim Berger / Staff Photographer)

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Crescenta Valley’s Polin Megerdichian scoops a shot and is fouled by Saint Anthony’s Unique Staples in a CIF Southern Section Division I-AA first-round playoff girls’ basketball game at Crescenta Valley High School on Thursday, February 16, 2017. (Tim Berger / Staff Photographer)

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Saint Anthony’s Semaj Smith and Crescenta Valley’s Mary Baun jump for a rebound in a CIF Southern Section Division I-AA first-round playoff girls’ basketball game at Crescenta Valley High School on Thursday, February 16, 2017. (Tim Berger / Staff Photographer)

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Crescenta Valley’s Caity Bouchard jumps and comes down to foul Saint Anthony’s Semaj Smith in a CIF Southern Section Division I-AA first-round playoff girls’ basketball game at Crescenta Valley High School on Thursday, February 16, 2017. (Tim Berger / Staff Photographer)

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Crescenta Valley’s Michelle Gee brings the ball up court against the tenacious defense of Saint Anthony’s Kaila Murrell in a CIF Southern Section Division I-AA first-round playoff girls’ basketball game at Crescenta Valley High School on Thursday, February 16, 2017. (Tim Berger / Staff Photographer)

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Saint Anthony’s Semaj Smith, who is quite tall, turns and shoots with Crescenta Valley’s Mary Baun and Caity Bouchard defending in a CIF Southern Section Division I-AA first-round playoff girls’ basketball game at Crescenta Valley High School on Thursday, February 16, 2017. (Tim Berger / Staff Photographer)

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Crescenta Valley’s Caity Bouchard brings the ball across half court defended by Saint Anthony’s Kali Murrell in a CIF Southern Section Division I-AA first-round playoff girls’ basketball game at Crescenta Valley High School on Thursday, February 16, 2017. (Tim Berger / Staff Photographer)

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Crescenta Valley’s Sarah Perez falls through a few St. Anthony defenders to draw a foul in a CIF Southern Section Division I-AA first-round playoff girls’ basketball game at Crescenta Valley High School on Thursday, February 16, 2017. (Tim Berger / Staff Photographer)

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Crescenta Valley’s Rachel Dayag wrestles the ball away from a St. Anthony opponent in a CIF Southern Section Division I-AA first-round playoff girls’ basketball game at Crescenta Valley High School on Thursday, February 16, 2017. (Tim Berger / Staff Photographer)

By Charles Rich

Feb. 16, 2017 10:42 PM PT

La Crescenta —

After the CIF Southern Section office underwent major division realignment changes prior to the start of the season, the Crescenta Valley High girls’ basketball team wasn’t afforded the luxury of defending its Division I-A title.

Crescenta Valley moved up to Division I-AA and got its first taste of competing at that level in a first-round playoff home game against St. Anthony on Thursday.

Unfortunately for Crescenta Valley, its postseason run was cut short following a 64-38 defeat to talented St. Anthony.

Crescenta Valley (18-8) had difficulty trying to break through the impressive defensive effort displayed by St. Anthony (15-13).

“That’s what happens when you win CIF and you lose a couple of key players to graduation,” said Crescenta Valley Coach Jason Perez, whose team won the Pacific League championship for the first time since 2004. “We’re small and young and St. Anthony is tall and experienced.

“We won league and we gave it our all. We’ll have a lot of players back next year and we’ll keep working at it to get better.”

After a close first quarter, which saw St. Anthony hold a 15-8 lead, Crescenta Valley began to struggle at both ends of the court in the second quarter. It paved the way for the Saints, who took second in the Del Rey League, as they stormed out to a 38-19 halftime advantage.

“A lot of things happened and we couldn’t really get anything going,” said Perez, who took over the program in 2006. “I wish we could have played better. It’s all about learning.”

Crescenta Valley was led by nine points from Rachel Dayag and got eight points each from Denise Dayag and Polin Megerdichian, five from Mary Baun and four from Sarah Perez.

St. Anthony, which will play a second-round game at Mark Keppel on Saturday, received 15 points and 14 rebounds from Semaj Smith and 14 points from Drew Sharp. Smith finished with seven offensive rebounds.

The Saints also got eight points and three steals from Lauryn Morris to win their fifth game in a row.

Crescenta Valley pulled to within 49-23 on a three-pointer from Rachel Dayag with 2:40 left in the third quarter. She had all seven points in the third quarter for the Falcons, who entered Thursday having won six of their last seven games.

“We had a feeling that when we won CIF we’d be moved up,” Dayag said. “It’s an interesting experience to move up and you see new teams and the pace of the game is kind of faster.

“We tried our best, but it’s something we can definitely learn from moving into next year. We went up against a team that’s got a lot of good players.”

Crescenta Valley girls’ basketball falls to St. Anthony in first round