Los Alamitos Gets Defensive for Playoff Victory in Girls Basketball

Los Alamitos High's girls basketball team turned up the heat on its full-court press Thursday night, which helped to generate plenty of offense from its defense and resulted in the program's first playoff victory since 2003.

The Griffins' press helped force 18 turnovers in a 54-42 victory over Walnut in the first round of the CIF Southern Section Division 1A playoffs at Walnut High

“If you can get offense off your defense, it’s found money, basically,” said Chris Vlasic, Los Alamitos' first-year coach. “So when we got a couple easy ones, everything loosened up. It became an easier game.”

Los Alamitos (16-11), is an at-large team from the Sunset League after finishing fourth with a record of 3-7. The Griffins will play third-seeded Woodbridge (21-2), champion of the Pacific Coast League, in a second-round game at Woodbridge High Saturday at 7 p.m.

"We struggled in league, so it was nice to validate what we’ve done," Vlasic said. "The girls deserve it; they worked extra hard. Woodbridge is big, real skilled. We’ll absolutely have our hands full.”

After the Griffins saw their lead cut to 40-38 after Angela Aie made two free throws, they finished the game on a 14-4 run.

Alyssa Tayenaka came off the bench to hit a clutch three-pointer for a 45-38 lead, but Walnut guard Tricia Choy drove the lane and hit a basket to make it 45-40.

With 1:26 left, Aie missed her shot after driving the lane, and Alissa Okui of Los Alamitos hit both ends of a one-and-one, upping the lead to 47-40.

Walnut forward Nnenna Abaeze threw a pass over Aie for a turnover, then the Mustangs (17-10) had to foul the rest of the way in order to stop the clock.

With 35 seconds left and Walnut trailing, 47-42, center Amy McDill made her first free throw but missed the second. Aie missed a three-pointer with 17 seconds left, which would have cut Los Alamitos’ lead to 47-45. The Griffins hit seven of their last eight free throws to seal the victory.

McDill finished with 15 points, 10 in the first half.

Walnut started the game on a 20-9 run and led at halftime, 27-19. But in the second half, the Mustangs were called for traveling, carryovers and jump balls forced by hustling Griffin defenders.

Los Alamitos guard Keiko Nomura, whose two three-pointers in the first half kept her team in the game, hit another key three with 1:32 left in the third quarter that cut Walnut’s lead to 33-32. Margerita Viena made a basket on an inside power move to give Los Al its first lead of the game, 34-33, near the end of the third quarter.

“We were pretty spot-on tonight,” said Nomura, who scored a team-high 15 points and hit all four of her free throws. “We have a lot of good shooters and when we’re on, we’re tough to beat. Our defense helped us a lot in the end.”

Add the fact that Walnut finished only seven-of-19 from the free-throw line – missing all nine of its attempts in the first half – and there were plenty of missed opportunities left on the floor.

“We came out really strong,” McDill said. “It’s frustrating that we lost focus and we started to panic. They put a lot of pressure on us. The first half was definitely great. Ee played the way we know we can. If we would’ve played that way the whole game, we would’ve won.”

That full-court defense at one point forced four turnovers in a row, which led to six straight points, including four off lay-ups by Lynne Higashigawa, who scored 10 of her 12 points in the second half. Higashigawa’s layups gave Los Alamitos a 40-35 lead, and forced Walnut to play catch-up the rest of the way.

“I thought [Lauren] Yamada and Keiko did a great job,” Vlasic said. “Margerita played the game of her life. She was our catalyst in the third quarter.”