Girls basketball: Estancia too much for Artists

Joseph Boo

LAGUNA BEACH - Estancia had three goals coming into Tuesday night’s

Pacific Coast League against host Laguna Beach. Hold the Artists under 25

points, mission accomplished. Make sure everybody scores, check, sort of.

Hold them to a scoreless quarter... well two out of three ain’t bad.

The closest the Eagles got to the scoreless quarter was holding Laguna

Beach to three points in the fourth, but that was the only thing Estancia

(9-7, 1-1 in league) failed to do in a 74-23 rout of the winless Artists.

“We lost five of our last six games before this one,” Estancia Coach Paul

Kirby said. “So it was good to get a win like this.”

The victory was guaranteed in about the same time it takes to cook a Pop

Tart. That’s because Laguna Beach’s best player, Lascl Schmalzried,

picked up her second foul just one minute into the game, with the Artists

leading 3-2, forcing her out of the game.

After that, as the cliche goes, it was all Eagles. Estancia outscored

Laguna Beach, 20-8, in the first quarter, with nine points from Lauren

Cassity.

Schmalzried then picked up her third foul on Estancia’s first possession

in the second quarter forcing her out for the rest of the half, and the

Eagles led, 43-12, at halftime.

With Estancia up, 54-16, halfway into the third quarter, the starters

came out and played one more minute to spell the bench.

One negative for Estancia was Xochitl Byfield, who sprained her ankle

1:35 in the first quarter. She didn’t return to the game.

“She’s doing alright,” Kirby said. “I think she’ll be ready for Corona

del Mar.”

She was the only Estancia player who didn’t score, but since she only

played 1:35, it didn’t factor into Estancia’s goal.

Cassity led Estancia with 15 points in the game, along with nine rebounds

and eight steals. Becky Lenhart was second among starters with 11. Off

the bench, Zuyin Barrera scored 12, and Jennifer Ollila 10. They led

Estancia’s bench unit that scored 35 points in the game.

PACIFIC COAST LEAGUE

Estancia 74, Laguna Beach 23

Score by Quarters

Estancia 20 23 18 13 - 74

Laguna Beach 8 4 8 3 - 23

Estancia - Cassity 15, Lenhart 11, Matsufuji 9, Hirata 4, Byfield 0,

Barrera 12, Villa 6, Orellana 2, Ollila 10, Rodriguez 2, Avalos 3.

3-pt. goals - Lenhart 2, Hirata 1, Villa 1.

Fouled out - None.

Technicals - None.

Laguna Beach - Maloney 4, Offield 4, Schmalzried 3, Ouimette 2, Shany 0,

Maya 6, Dick 4, Duffy 0.

3-pt. goals - None.

Fouled out - None.

Technicals - Team 1.