Girls’ Basketball: Sage Hill turns it up
ORANGE — When all else fails, trust your instincts.
For the Sage Hill School girls’ basketball team, that means playing an up-tempo brand of basketball.
Mired in a three-game losing streak, the Lightning turned to their signature style of play to get back into the win column on Thursday afternoon.
Sophomore guard Heather Park scored 28 points to go with six steals, and Sage Hill rolled past Estancia, 57-22, in a pool-play game of the Lady Panther Classic at Orange High.
The Lightning (2-4) turned defense into offense, forcing a total of 29 turnovers by the Eagles (1-5). They used a 2-2-1 full-court press to bother the opposing ball-handlers.
“I think that we do a really good job of trapping once the ball gets pushed to one side or the other,” Park said. “We keep the energy up and execute.”
The game started innocently enough for Estancia, which had a 5-2 lead after baskets by Andrea Heredia and Alyssa Molina-McCool.
Sage Hill did away with that deficit quickly, as the Lightning went on a 16-3 run to close out the quarter. They had seven steals (three from Park) in the quarter to stymie the Estancia offense.
Shooting guard Kate Knollenberg had wide-spread contributions. The junior had nine points, four rebounds, four steals, and two assists.
Knollenberg isn’t shy about putting up her shots. Her 17 attempts from the field proved that. The Lightning were firmly in control, 32-14, at halftime, so there was no harm in having a high shot volume in this game.
A veteran on a young team, Knollenberg was asked how she and the other more experienced members of the roster look to shepherd along their teammates.
“They carry their own weight,” Knollenberg said. “There’s really not much for us to do. They know what they’re doing, so they made our job really easy.”
Eight of the 13 players of Sage Hill’s roster are either freshman or sophomores. Underclassmen accounted for 44 of the Lightning’s points on Thursday.
Park was joined by fellow sophomore Nadia Akbari with six points. Freshmen Trinity Cha and Joyce Jogwe had six and four points, respectively.
Sage Hill Coach Kerwin Walters wanted to put his team in tougher games this season. In playing the CdM Tip-off and the Lady Panther Classic, the Lightning have seen a variety of games so far.
They have won big, lost by double digits, and even been in an overtime contest in the early going. It’s only December, and the Lightning hope to have their complete team by the time Academy League play begins.
Jessica Yang and Kenna Knollenberg are out due to illness, and Sahar Emtiaz remains sidelined by a separated shoulder.
“The group that we have together is going to be a real exciting one to watch,” Walters said. “Once we get dialed in, there’s not a person that you’re going to lay off of and just think that you’re going to help.”
“We have five people on the court at all times that can do something on the floor.”
It’s been a tough run for Estancia in the early going. The Eagles took two major losses to their team before the season even began.
Two-time Daily Pilot Dream Team member Finley Garnett transferred to Edison, and would-be starting power forward Samantha Haynes suffered an MCL injury on a slide tackle while playing for her club soccer team in November.
Lady Panther Classic
Pool Play
Sage Hill 57, Estancia 22
SCORE BY QUARTERS
Sage Hill – 18 - 14 - 16 - 9 - 57
Estancia – 8 - 3 - 8 - 3 - 22
SH – Park 28, Ka. Knollenberg 9, Cha 6, Akbari 6, Jogwe 4, Hublitz 4.
3-pt. goals – Park 4, Ka. Knollenberg 1.
Fouled out –None.
Technicals – None.
Est – Heredia 5, Gutierrez 5, Cruz 4, Molina-McCool 4, Guyot 3, Santillan 1.
3-pt. goals – Heredia 1, Guyot 1, Molina-McCool 1.
Fouled out – None.
Technicals – None.
