Sage in the driver’s seat

Lightning sweep series with Warriors and are pressing toward winning the Academy League championship outright.CYPRESS -- Sage Hill School girls’ basketball coach Jim Perez was out of town on business the last time his team took on Brethren Christian -- the squad most likely to smudge the Lightning’s perfect league record.

Sage Hill won by seven in their first meeting with the Warriors, but after watching the game tape, Perez felt there was a way to widen the margin -- utilize the full-court press.

The Lightning pressed the Warriors into submission and emerged with a 51-40 victory Friday night at the Southern California Basketball Academy gymnasium.

Sage Hill tallied 10 steals and forced several turnovers with the press while giving up just a couple of easy layups.

“When I watched the tape, I wanted to run the press more,” Perez said. “I felt it would be effective against them. I knew ball pressure would make it difficult for them to come back.”

Sage Hill (17-3 overall, 7-0 in league) remains in first place, two games ahead of Brethren Christian (14-9, 5-2) with three league games left.

“This win almost guarantees us at least a share of the title,” Perez said.

Sage Hill opened the game with a 10-2 run, kicked off by senior center Haywood Wright’s 6-foot jump shot and capped by Wright’s layup after she slid between two defenders near the basket.

With Katie McKeon and Laura Schaefer pressuring the ball, Wright dominating the inside and Schaefer knocking down shots from the perimeter, the Lightning jumped out to a 32-19 lead at halftime.

Schaefer hit all three of her three-pointers in the first half, when she tallied 11 of her 16 points. Wright recorded 11 of her game-high 17 points in the first half and had 17 rebounds and three blocks overall. Junior Kaitlin Tyre added eight points for the Lightning.

“Everybody just stepped up and hit big shots and did their part,” Wright said.

Two three-pointers by Brethren Christian’s Kim Kwan helped pull the Warriors to within 43-35 with five minutes left in the game, but a put-back by Wright brought the lead back up to 10. The Lightning hit 6 of 8 free throws down the stretch to keep the Warriors at bay.

Kwan made a 40-foot three-pointer at the buzzer for Brethren Christian, but it made little difference.

Sage Hill, which shared the Academy League title with Brethren Christian last year, looks primed to win it outright this season.

“We wanted it pretty bad,” Wright said. “In the three previous years I’ve been on this team, we’ve never beat them twice.”

The Lightning, ranked No. 6 in CIF Southern Section Division IV-A, have a divisional game against No. 3-ranked JSerra on Monday before going about wrapping up the league title.

“It feels good, it’s what we’ve been working all season for,” Wright said.

Academy League

Sage Hill 51, Brethren Christian 40

Score by Quarters