Griffins win 18-15; Eagles miss championship
The International girls junior varsity basketball team edged Christian Learning 18-15 in their home gym Tuesday afternoon to preserve the Griffins undisputed possession of first place in the now-completed regular season.
The International girls junior varsity basketball team edged Christian Learning 18-15 in their home gym Tuesday afternoon to preserve the Griffins undisputed possession of first place in the now-completed regular season.
The Griffins (5-1) will now face Cooperative (4-2) in the junior varsity championship tentatively scheduled for April 14 at a location to be determined. ______________
NO EXIT -- Eagle Rebekah Kienzle (24) is triple-teamed by Griffins
Jonatan Muñoz, International
If the Eagles had won Tuesday's game, then International, Christian Learning, and Cooperative would have been tied with 4-2 records, and the participants in the champiuonship would have been determined on the basis of which two teams had the fewest points scored against then, a reckoning that seemed to favor International and Christian Learning.
In Tuesday's clash, the Griffins and Eagles battled evenly through the first quarter, which ended with the Griffins leading by one point, 6-5. The Griffins widened their lead by scoring four unanswered points in the second quarter, and led 10-5 at the half.
The Eagle girls stormed back in the third quarter, outscoring the Griffins 10-4, and taking the lead at 13-12 and 15-14.
Both teams seemed to be suffering from fatigue as the game went into the fourth quarter, and there was no score during the first four or five minutes. The Eagles seemed to have the advantage in shots taken, and there were a lot of shots taken, but neither team could get the ball to fall through the net.
Finally Griffin Carolina Baldivieso got loose with the ball all alone at midcourt and dribbled in to score a lay-up that put the Griffins back in the lead 16-15.
The last few minutes became a confusing maelstrom of time-outs and foul shots, as Christian Learning went over the foul limit and every foul became a shooting foul.
The Griffins made two of their eight opportunities at the foul line, widening their advantage to the final margin of three, 18-15.
For the Griffins, Baldivieso finished with six points. Angela Gagliardi and Irene Vergara and Fabiana Zelada each had four points.
For Christian Lerning, Jenny Zimmerman tallied five points, Rebekah Kienzle had four, while Jessica Smith, Elisa Oh, and Haven Lee each had two.
Supercharged Jaguars beat Knights, 63-4
The Cooperative girls junior varsity basketball team coasted to an easy 63-4 victory over Cambridge at the Knights' gym Tuesday.
The Jaguars, who had started the season with a pair of lopsided losses and looked nothing like a championship contender, now find themselves in the championship game against International. Indeed, the Jaguars probably deserve to be the favored team after having beaten International decisively in their second meeting of the season.
Cambridge finishes at 0-6 in a season during which the Little Knights clearly opted to build for the future, giving ample playing time to previously inexperienced fifth and sixth graders.
The Jaguars main problem had been geeting its best players on the court at the same time, which proved difficult early in the season due to injury and other reasons.
Everyone was present for duty Tuesday, however, and the Jaguars put on an awesome offensive display. Giovanna Varalta had 22 points (including Cooperative's last 12 points). Tania Landivar was right behind her with 20. Maria Fernand Villegas had six. Jessica Maureira and Estefania Sauto had four each. Ximena Fagan and Megumi Kamiya both had two points, and Karla Aguilera had one.
For Cambridge, Nicole Fermin and Amaya Yañez had two points each.
