Girls basketball: Making something from nothing

Barry Faulkner

MISSION VIEJO - At the end of eight frustrating minutes in the

pool-play opener of the Jim Hill Memorial Tournament Monday at Mission

Viejo High, the girls basketball teams from Estancia and Newport Harbor

high schools were faced with an identical challenge: Make something out

of nothing.

That was because there were no points on the scoreboard heading into

the second quarter, after the Eagles missed their 12 first-quarter field-goal attempts and the Sailors misfired on their first 15.

The Eagles (2-4), who went on to record a 41-21 victory, ended their

drought with a Reyna Garcia layin 18 seconds into the second quarter.

The lid on the Newport Harbor basket, however, in effect on field-goal

attempts anyway, was not lifted until Evita Castillo converted a Lindsey

Woller assist for a layup with 6:43 left in the third quarter.

That’s 17:17 without rippling the net from the field, during which

time the Sailors took 26 field-goal attempts.

Two free throws apiece by Athena Vasquez and Jillianne Whitfield

helped the Tars (1-7) avert a first-half shutout and the Sailors went on

to record nearly half of their points (10) from the foul line.

Estancia, meanwhile, bounced back from its inaccurate first period --

during which three starters did not play, as Coach Paul Kirby disciplined

them for missing practice last week -- to connect on 5 of 10 field-goal

attempts in the second period.

A 15-4 halftime lead was the result.

Newport Harbor sank 3 of 6 from the field in the third quarter and

Estancia netted 6 of 11 field-goal tries in the final eight minutes to

help disprove the theory there may have been something wrong with the

hardware attached to each glass backboard.

“We don’t shoot that poorly at our gym, only everyone else’s,”

first-year Newport Harbor Coach Jen Thompson said.

Kirby said Estancia’s initial box-and-one defense, with Newport senior

All-Newport-Mesa District performer Evita Castilla the target, was a

leading contributor to the Sailors’ early offensive struggles.

And the absence of key weapons Trisha Wase, Tisha Gray and Crystal

Mino, who combined to finish with 16 points, had an obvious effect on the

Estancia offense in the opening period.

“We’re obviously a different team with those three in there,” Kirby

said.

“When the first string came in, it was a different game,” said

Estancia junior Xochitl Byfield, who led all scorers with nine points.

“The first quarter, we played hard, but we had our second string in.”

Estancia’s defensive pressure had plenty to do with the Newport

shooting woes, while Newport also displayed tenacity on the defensive

end.

The latter helped produce 21 Estancia turnovers, while Newport

finished with 17.

Shooting, however, wasn’t the only aspect of the game with which

Thompson took issue with her squad, which ended a 19-game losing streak

Friday with a 63-14 home hammering of winless Centennial of Compton.

“We had a very poor shooting percentage (5 of 40 for 12.5%), but we

also got outhustled,” Thompson said. “Their small girls outrebounded our

big girls.”

Estancia earned a 46-30 rebounding advantage, as Byfield (10),

sophomore Nancy Castro (nine) and Garcia (eight) did most of the damage.

The Eagles, who defeated the Sailors, 49-30, in a Dec. 6 tournament

clash at University High, shot nearly 47% the final three periods (15 for

32) to finish at a respectable 34.1% for the game.

Wase netted half her six field-goal attempts en route to seven points,

while Castro and Gray added six points apiece. Mino, who played last year

as a freshman at Newport Harbor, and Gray each had three steals, while

freshman Imelda Pena chipped in three points, three assists and two

steals for the winners.

Castillo, who was shaken up early in the fourth quarter in a collision

and did not return, collected eight rebounds to lead the Sailors. She

added a 10-foot jumper just before exiting to become the only Harbor

player with more than one field goal.

Estancia put together runs of 8-0 and 7-0 in the first half, then

posted surges of 5-0 and 9-0 after intermission.

“We did some good things,” Kirby said. “We don’t have a senior, so

we’re still working on consistency. But it’s a 20-point win and we’ll

take it.”

Estancia and Newport Harbor will have a good opportunity to wash

Monday’s futile first quarter from their memory. It was the first of six

games this week for the Eagles, who are at Cathedral City today at 5:30

p.m.

Newport, after slipping in a practice today, will close the week with

four games in four days, including three more in the tournament.

Estancia resumes pool play Wednesday, when it will meet El Toro at 6

p.m. El Toro defeated the Eagles, 50-42, earlier this season.

Newport will play University in pool-play action Wednesday at 7 p.m.,

also at Mission Viejo.

“Playing five games this week should be a big challenge for us,”

Thompson said.

JIM HILL MEMORIAL TOURNAMENT

Pool play

Estancia 41, Newport Harbor 21

Score by Quarters

Estancia 0 15 11 15 - 41

Newport Harbor 0 4 12 5 - 21

Estancia - Castro 6, Pena 3, Byfield 9, Garcia 5, Maldonado 2, Wase 7,

Gray 6, Mino 3.

3-pt. goals - Byfield 1, Pena 1.

Fouled out - none.

Technicals - none.

Newport Harbor - Campbell 2, Castillo 4, Woller 0, Vasquez 6,

Whitfield 6, Rangel 3, Swigart 0, Fulce 0, Kerns 0.

3-pt. goals - Whitfield 1.

Fouled out - none.

Technicals - none.