Girls basketball: Eagles ring the bell

Steve Virgen

COSTA MESA - Most would think Estancia High Coach Paul Kirby

delivered an inspirational halftime speech after his Eagles’ girls

basketball team broke away from a 21-18 lead and outscored Costa Mesa,

16-3, in the third quarter to coast to a 50-33 win in the Mustangs’ gym

Thursday.

The Eagles (14-10, 7-1 in the PCL) left the locker room with 15

seconds left in the break and ran to their spots, but Kirby said he

didn’t say anything special. He didn’t have to.

Players like Trisha Wase and Xochitl Byfield took it upon themselves

to take their small halftime lead personal. Wase, in particular, realized

this was a game she could take over. The Eagles sophomore point guard

answered the call in grand fashion, scoring a career-high and game-high

26 points. Wase, affectionately known as, “Tita,” grabbed a game-high 15

rebounds and dished out six assists. She nailed 5 of 9 (56%) from behind

the three-point line and scored 16 in the second half. She dropped in

eight points in the Eagles’ 16-point third quarter and handed out two

assists that were converted into four more points.

“It feels great to have the bell for a second-straight year,” Wase

said of the Eagles’ possession of the perpetual Lady Bell trophy, which

was awarded to Estancia at the game’s conclusion. “Hopefully we can keep

all the way through my senior year.”

Byfield, like Wase, attended Costa Mesa Intermediate before playing

for Estancia. The 5-foot-8 junior forward, who grabbed 10 rebounds and

scored six points, reminded her teammates at halftime the importance of

victory in regard to the PCL.

“We were not playing Eagle basketball,” Byfield said of the first

half. “We had the thought of the PCL (title) and if we wanted it, we had

to want it bad. We had to show it. We came out with more intensity and

our defense stepped it up.”

Throughout the first half, the Mustangs (9-15, 3-5) hung with the

Eagles, ranked No. 10 in CIF Southern Section in Division III-A. Junior

Rhondi Naff, who led the Mustangs with 10 points, guided Mesa to match

Estancia in the second quarter, as both squads produced 14 points.

But then Costa Mesa shot 1 of 10 from the field in the third and

committed three turnovers, as Estancia took advantage to record its fifth

straight win over the Mustangs to increase the longest winning streak

over its intracity rivals.

The Eagles defeated Mesa, 51-20, Jan. 15.

“First half, we played great. We worked really hard,” Costa Mesa Coach

Jim Weeks said. “In the second half, (Wase) hit those two three-pointers

to start the second half. It seemed that turned the momentum around.

She’s a great player and she was making plays.”

Wase hit back-to-back three-point bombs in a 30-second span to put

Estancia up, 27-18 with 6:30 left in the third quarter. Mesa did not hit

a field goal until 2:23 remaining in the third, when Naff drove, stopped

and popped for an 8-footer.

The Eagles’ featured Big Three of Wase, Byfield and junior Tisha Gray

was on display in the fourth quarter and served up the knockout with 6:13

left. Byfield pulled down an offensive rebound, made a crisp pass to

Gray, who found Wase wide open in the corner. Wase swished in her fifth

three-pointer for a 43-25 lead.

“She had a big game,” Kirby said of Wase. “Her shot was on and we kept

calling plays for her. She played well the previous game (21 points in

44-43 win over CdM). She has had a good week.”

The PCL action continues next week, as Estancia is on pace to vie for

a share of the league title and Costa Mesa attempts to make the playoffs.