Eagles handle La Quinta, 71-16

Steve Virgen

Estancia Coach Tamette Rappa displayed a no-nonsense,

down-to-business attitude before and after her debut, in which her

Eagles’ girls basketball team defeated visiting La Quinta, 71-16,

Tuesday night.

After the game, Rappa was allegedly assaulted by a fan and rather

than ignore the incident she called the Costa Mesa Police Department,

filled out a report and asked that she be arrested (See story page

A1).

During the game, Rappa continued to shout instructions even though

her team was leading 54-16 with five minutes left. Before a La Quinta

free-throw attempt, she yelled, “Put your hands up. This is not a

break time.”

In addition, she used full-court pressure defense throughout the

fourth quarter.

“This team hasn’t relied on defense a lot and because of that I

have to make them realize,” Rappa said. “Overall, I was impressed.

But, I thought when we stole the ball we would sometimes get

flustered. We have to stop doing that.”

Estancia senior Xochitl Byfield recorded six steals, four in the

first half, when the Eagles built a 38-12 advantage. Byfield finished

with 14 points, all coming in the second half, while senior forward

Tisha Gray scored a game-high 22 points and grabbed 13 rebounds.

Junior point guard Trisha Wase recorded three steals and dished out

five assists, mostly playing in the first half. Everyone who played

for the Eagles scored.

Byfield scored Estancia’s first six points, and then later made a

lay-up to cap the Eagles’ 18-point first quarter, while the Aztecs

scored six.

Estancia opened the second quarter with a 10-0 run, taking advantage of the Aztecs’ ineffective ball handling. The Eagles

started the third quarter with a 12-0 run, and in the fourth,

Estancia shut out La Quinta, 19-0. Estancia junior Nancy Castro

scored eight points, four in each half, and she also grabbed six

rebounds and blocked a shot.

“We’re going to be a second-half team,” Byfield said. “(Rappa is)

a really good workout coach. She makes us run like no other. It’s

good. We have really improved big time.”

NONLEAGUE

Estancia 71, La Quinta 16

Score by Quarters

La Quinta 6 6 4

0 -- 16

Estancia 18 20 14

19 -- 71

La Quinta -- M. Le 2, Manibusan 0, Duran 0, Ly 8, Lim 4,

Benitez 2.

3-pt. goals -- none.

Technicals -- none.

Fouled out -- none.

Estancia -- Castro 8, Gray 22, Byfield 14, Mino 4, Wase 4, Wilson 6, Maldonado 6, Pena 4, Garcia 2, Flores 1.

3-pt. goals -- Maldonado 1.

Technicals -- none.

Fouled out -- none.