Girls basketball: Estancia holds on against Uni

Joseph Boo

IRVINE - University High didn’t provide a scoreboard for Estancia

to watch, so Estancia Coach Paul Kirby did the next best thing. He sent

two assistant coaches armed with a cell phone to Corona del Mar for the

CdM-Costa Mesa game.

While Charlene Quon’s miracle three-pointer kept CdM in first and

Estancia from the Pacific Coast League title, Estancia held off a

tenacious Uni comeback to win, 47-41, giving the Eagles seven wins in a

row and second place in the PCL.

“We couldn’t do anything about that,” Kirby said of CdM’s win. “But we

took care of business here.”

Although it led for the entire game, Estancia let Uni get very, very

close. The Eagles (15-9, 6-2 in league) squandered a 14 point lead, and

the Trojans (10-15, 2-5) evaporated their deficit to two points in the

fourth.

With 1:28 left in the game, and down 43-41, Uni’s Peggy Wu stole a pass

and went in for an uncontested layup that would’ve tied the game. But she

missed. Uni had another chance to tie the game with 26 seconds, but

Estancia’s Lauren Cassity stole a Uni pass. Zuyin Barrera then hit two

clutch free throws with 15 seconds left to give Estancia a 45-41 lead.

Before Uni’s comeback, Estancia built up a 27-13 lead in the second

quarter with defense. The Eagles caused 31 turnovers, 16 in the first

half. Cassity scored nine of her 11 points in the first half. But it was

Becky Lenhart who nearly buried the Trojans with two three-pointers, her

second one giving her team a 14 point margin. She led Estancia with 13

points.

After that, Uni clawed itself back in. Reagan Anders got six steals in

the second half to trigger the Trojans’ rally, Thankfully for Estancia,

Lisa Hirata, who had seven steals, and the rest of the defense forced 15

more Uni turnovers in the half to just hold the Trojans off.

“We turned the ball over too much in the second half,” Kirby said. “We

let them back in the game, but we’re happy with the outcome. We have to

be doing something right to win seven games in a row.”

Estancia will head into the CIF Southern Section Division III playoffs

next week.

“We wanted to win league,” Kirby said, “but things don’t always work out

that way. We just have to get to work and get ready for CIF.”PACIFIC

COAST LEAGUE

Estancia 47, University 41

Score by Quarters

Estancia 10 17 10 10 - 47

University 7 10 13 11 - 41

Estancia - Lenhart 13, Cassity 11, Barrera 11, Avalos 4, Hirata 0,

Byfield 0, Orellana 0, Matsufuji 6, Rodriguez 2, Ollila 0, Vasquez 0,

Villa 0.

3-pt. goals - Lenhart 3, Barrera 1, Cassity 1.

Fouled out - None.

Technicals - None.

Uni - Anders 14, von Tungeln 11, Wu 6, Yeo 3, Stomegna 2, Janda 4, Atiba

0, Ariazand 0, Gee 0, Farrell 0.

3-pt. goals - Anders 1.

Fouled out - None.

Technicals - None.