Eagles suffer first setback

Patrick Laverty

For the first time since joining the Golden West League two years

ago, Estancia High lost a girls basketball game. What Eagles Coach

Tami Rappa wants to remind her team is that Tuesday’s loss doesn’t

mean nearly as much as the next 11 games.

“I need to let them know that this does not define our season,”

Rappa said. “We got dealt a bad egg. Hopefully, this will make us

work harder.”

Estancia went through its first season in the Golden West League

last year undefeated, claiming the league crown. But any hopes of

performing the feat again, at least the undefeated part, were crushed

in a 55-40 loss at Ocean View in the league opener for both teams.

The Eagles (3-11) showed their inconsistency throughout the game,

which has been their biggest problem all year.

An 11-4 run to close the second quarter showed what Estancia is

capable of. It cut the lead to 27-23 entering the break, but the

Seahawks (10-1) extended their advantage to 11 points with a 10-3

spurt over the first six-plus minutes of the second half.

“The first quarter [when Estancia was outscored 15-9] we were cold

and then we went cold again,” Rappa said.

The Eagles made just one of their first 10 shots in the second

half and had just five field goals in 20 attempts over the final two

quarters.

The poor shooting was magnified by Ocean View’s dominance on the

boards, which prevented the Eagles from gaining many second-chance

opportunities. The Seahawks maintained a 39-25 rebounding advantage

and no Eagle had more than five rebounds.

But Estancia stayed in the game with its defense, which forced 20

turnovers and often forced Ocean View to use the majority of the shot

clock. Unfortunately for the Eagles, too many times as the shot clock

expired, the Seahawks figured out a way to score a bucket.

That was exactly the case on Ocean View’s first possession of the

second half. Estancia, with the momentum after its run in the closing

minutes of the second quarter, played solid defense, but Erica

Williams hit an 18-foot jumper as the shot clock expired, the start

of Ocean View’s expansion of the lead.

Williams went on to hit two more shots in the first 2:30 of the

third quarter, including one three-pointer, and finished with a

game-high 21 points and nine rebounds.

At the same time, Estancia couldn’t buy a bucket. With the

exception of a Trisha Wase three-pointer less than three minutes into

the quarter, the Eagles didn’t score until Wase hit one of two free

throws with 2:19 remaining in the period.

Wase scored all six of Estancia’s points in the quarter as Ocean

View extended its lead to 40-29.

The Eagles’ hopes of a comeback were dashed when the Seahawks made

10 of 13 free throws in the fourth quarter, including five in a

two-second span that included two fouls on Estancia and a technical

foul.

Forced to foul, three Eagles fouled out of the game and with only

seven players dressed, Estancia played the final 31 seconds with just

four players on the court.

Imelda Pena and Nancy Castro led the Eagles’ second-quarter run.

Pena came off the bench to hit three shots from beyond the

three-point arc and Castro had 10 points and four rebounds in the

first half. Castro, a 5-foot-10 senior finished with 16 points and

Pena added 13.

But the work of Pena and Castro was nullified by Ocean View’s

6-foot-2 freshman D.J. Butler, who scored 10 points in the first half

herself, mostly on short turnaround jumpers in the key, and finished

with 14 points and eight rebounds.

“D.J. was a threat in the second quarter,” Rappa said. “I think we

adjusted well to her throughout the game.”

Leila Abufarie added eight points and 10 rebounds for the

Seahawks.

*--*

Golden West League

Ocean View 55, Estancia 40

Score by Quarters

Estancia 9 14 6 11 -- 40

O. View 15 12 13 15 -- 55

Estancia -- Wase 6, Mino 2, Neal 0, Maldonado

0, Castro 16, Pena 13, Flores 3. 3-pt. goals

-- Wase 1, Pena 3. Fouled out -- Mino, Pena,

Wase. Technicals -- Mino. Ocean View --

Alderfer 3, Berry 3, Abufarie 8, Williams 21,

Butler 14, Thomas 4, Potter 2. 3-pt. goals --

Alderfer 1, Berry 1, Abufarie 1, Williams 2.

Fouled out -- None. Technicals -- None.

*--*