Fountain Valley girls' basketball overcomes slow start to top Edison

Fountain Valley's Kat Luu, right, dribbles the ball up the court against Edison's Noelle Duffey in a Sunset Conference crossover game at home on Thursday.

By Andrew TurnerStaff Writer

Jan. 2, 2020 10:58 PM PT

Fountain Valley High girls’ basketball coach Marianne Karp said that the start of games has been an issue for her team this season.

While the Barons may have struggled out of the gates, they have still managed to maintain a degree of levity.

The Barons were in San Diego over the weekend for the SoCal Holiday Prep Classic. Fountain Valley earned a split of its four games in the tournament.

More importantly, the team grew closer, watching movies and even trading friendly pranks with the coaching staff.

Between good times on the trip and optional shootaround drills, enough good will had been built up that no one’s head went down when Fountain Valley surrendered the first 14 points of the game on Thursday night. The Barons just went to work.

Margaret Tengan had 18 points and seven rebounds, and Fountain Valley rallied for a 54-46 victory over Edison in a Sunset Conference crossover game at home.

Asked what she was thinking when the Barons (9-9) went down by a double-digit margin in the first five minutes of the game, Tengan said, “I think, ‘Pick up the defense because good defense leads to good offense.’”

Fountain Valley's Zoe Ziegler, left, takes a shot over Edison's Sarah Gray in a Sunset Conference crossover game on Thursday.

Zoe Ziegler had six points, 14 rebounds, three blocked shots and three assists for Fountain Valley. Madison Suekawa scored 10 points to go with two steals. Kat Luu chipped in with four points, eight rebounds and four assists.

The Chargers (9-9) started the game on a 14-0 run, engineered by the play of sisters Brooklyn and Bailey Chang. The sister act provided a trio of three-pointers, with each being assisted by the other.

“We started out really hot,” Chargers coach Mark Decker said. “We were moving the ball well. The girls were confident. They were playing well together, and then we just kind of stopped.

“I think we got that early lead, and I think we thought it was going to be easier.”

Fountain Valley bounced back in a major way, closing out the second quarter on a 15-4 run to cut its deficit to just 22-20 at halftime.

The Barons got contributions across the board as the comeback commenced. Six different players scored in the second quarter, led by four points from Jamie Pham.

Fountain Valley also outrebounded Edison 17-4 in the second quarter.

Tatiana Sagon gave the Barons a boost off the bench. She provided a forceful presence with six rebounds.

“I think everyone’s role is very important,” Sagon said. “It only takes one person to bring the whole team up. Right now, we’ve got to learn how to bring up our own selves. That’s it.”

Seven seconds into the third quarter, the comeback was complete, as Tengan cleaned up a miss on the offensive end and put it back to tie the score at 22-22.

The teams went on to trade the lead four more times, but the Barons went in front for good on a pair of free throws by Tengan to give Fountain Valley a 38-37 lead with 7:06 remaining.

Executing an inside-to-outside approach allowed Fountain Valley to get open looks for its shooters. Suekawa was one of the beneficiaries, scoring all 10 of her points in the second half.

“It was pretty good,” Suekawa said of seeing an offensive turnaround for herself on Thursday. “Going to shootaround in the morning, it’s optional, but it’s just to get in extra work for games like this, or moments like this, where you can come in and make a difference.”

Junior guard Noelle Duffey made an impact in her first game of eligibility for the Chargers. The Huntington Beach transfer had two steals in her first minute of action.

She went on to contribute a team-high 11 points, five rebounds and three steals.

Madison Copeland provided seven points and 12 rebounds for the Chargers. Brooklyn Chang had nine points on three three-pointers in the first half.

Gwen Ontiveros finished with seven points, and Sarah Gray had six points and eight rebounds for Edison.

The Chargers played the game without two starters in shooting guard Lainey Johnson and power forward Taylor Fullbright. Decker said that both were in Europe for a Model United Nations event.