Girls basketball: Eagles stumble against South Torrance

Tony Altobelli

HUNTINGTON BEACH - The Estancia High girls basketball team had

another opponent besides South Torrance Wednesday morning at the Marina

Holiday Classic. They had to battle themselves, as well as the Spartans.

In the end, that was one too many opponents as the Eagles fell, 57-55,

at Marina High.

“We’re still making way too many mistakes out there and we’re killing

ourselves,” Estancia Coach Paul Kirby said. “We have to regroup and try

to limit our mistakes.”

The Eagles (7-6) committed 21 turnovers. Some by way of errant passes

and some by the quick hands of South Torrance guard Jamie Hagiya.

Hagiya had 10 steals to go along with her game-high 19 points.

Six-foot center Ree Brown used her height well and added 11 points for

the Spartans.

Despite the miscues, the Eagles still hung tough, thanks to Xochitl

Byfield’s 16 points and Zuyin Barrera’s 12 points on four three-pointers.

“They were playing in a zone defense so we had opportunities to score

from three-point range,” Kirby said. “We had some open looks out there

and we were able to capitalize on those chances.”

After falling behind in the first quarter, Estancia regrouped and

played well in the second quarter, taking a four-point lead.

But with two minutes remaining in the quarter, South Torrance went on

a 10-2 run, including a 6-0 spurt in the final 46 seconds on three Hagiya

steals.

The Spartans’ lead expanded to 41-32 before Tory Matsufuji’s

three-pointer closed the margin to six after three quarters.

The lead remained at six before a Byfield three-pointer and a Trisha

Wase two-pointer cut the lead to one with 2:28 remaining.

But from there, a couple of costly turnovers helped the Spartans score

six straight points in 57 seconds.

Wase, who finished with nine points, hit a clutch three-pointer for

Estancia, and after a Spartans’ basket stretched the lead back to six,

the Eagles scored five straight points to trail only by one with seven

seconds left.

The Spartans, however, were able to avoid the attempted fouls from

Estancia and burned off five valuable seconds off the clock.

South Torrance made a free throw for a two-point lead, but with only

two seconds on the clock, a desperation half-court shot at the buzzer was

all Estancia could muster.

The Eagles will play again today at 10:30 a.m. against the

Pacifica-Dana Hills loser at Marina High.

MARINA HOLIDAY CLASSIC

Consolation

South Torrance 57, Estancia 55

Estancia 9 10 16 20 - 55

South Torrance 13 10 18 16 - 57

Estancia - Byfield 16, Barrera 12, Hirata 9, Wase 9, Gray 4, Matsufuji

3, Orellana 2, Rodriguez 0, Cassity 0.

3 pt. goals - Barrera 4, Wase 1, Hirata 1, Byfield 1.

Fouled out - none.

South Torrance - Hagiya 19, Brown 11, Yamamoto 7, Yamada 6, Browne 6,

More 6, Salter 2.

3 pt. goals - Hagiya 2.

Fouled out - none.