Girls’ Basketball Playoffs : La Reina Rallies to Advance to 2-A Division Semifinals

Teri Fasching, Amy Alarian and Heather Freeman combined for 26 points in the final period as La Reina High overcame a four-point deficit to beat Twentynine Palms, 61-50, in a Southern Section 2-A Division quarterfinal game at La Reina on Thursday night.

Stymied for three quarters by the Wildcats’ zone defense, La Reina scored 31 points in the fourth quarter after Twentynine Palms switched to man-to-man defense.

“The last four teams have played us man-to-man all game and we just honed that to perfection,” La Reina Coach James Roach said.

The Regents were anything but perfect in the first half, however, making just four of 26 free throws. La Reina (20-5) made 14 of 29 free throws in the second half.

Alarian paced the Regents with 19 points and 18 rebounds. Freeman scored 16 and Fasching added 13.

La Reina will play Santa Clara on Saturday at 7:30 p.m. at a site to be determined.

In other Southern Section playoff games:

4-AA DIVISION

Anaheim Canyon 47, Westlake 38--Melissa Gische scored with 3:48 to play to cut the deficit to 38-36, but Westlake was unable to finish off the comeback in a 4-AA Division quarterfinal at Canyon.

Westlake (18-9), which never led, made 18 of 73 field-goal attempts.

3-A DIVISION

St. Joseph 58, Alemany 52--Despite 16 points from senior guard Sylvia Castaneda, Alemany fell in a close game at St. John Bosco High in Bellflower.

St. Joseph led, 56-52, with 42 seconds left. Alemany recovered the ball and streaked downcourt on a fast break, but Anne Sasadeusz was called for traveling as she scored on a layup.

St. Joseph guard Lisa Fernandez--who finished with a game-high 22 points--made a pair of free throws to ice the game seconds later.

Dana Montoya carried St. Joseph in the first half, scoring 14 of her 16 points. Andrea Hoffman was limited to nine points for Alemany (18-6).

Fernandez scored 10 of St. Joseph’s 16 points in the third quarter.