With a thrilling come-from-behind 44-37 victory over Marina on January 6, the Los Alamitos junior varsity girls basketball team got a bit of revenge for its 26-39 loss to Marina a week earlier in the championship game of the Ocean View Seahawks Winter Classic tournament.
In the Griffins’ rematch victory, the home-team Vikings struck first hitting two quick threes and a two, to take an early 8-0 lead, but behind a vigorous defense, the Griffins held Marina to only 1 more point in the quarter, which ended in a 9-9 tie. Although the Griffins eventually won every quarter after that, there were many lead changes and ties along the way.
At the start of the fourth quarter, the Griffins led 31-26, but Marina made a run and grabbed a 34-32 advantage. Los Alamitos freshman point guard Remy Hoang hit a three pointer from the left wing with less than 5 minutes to play to regain a narrow 35-34 lead, and behind a full court press the Griffins never lost that lead and outscored Marina 9-3 the rest of the way.
Hoang led the scoring with 10 points, including 6 in the fourth quarter, followed by junior post players Mikayla Aguayo and Catherine Kolster with 9 points each, and junior guard Karla Buenrostro with 8 points to go along with her 7 steals, 4 rebounds, and 3 assists.
The Griffins out rebounded Marina 41-33, with Kolster getting 10 rebounds followed by Aguayo with 9 rebounds and junior Kat Contreras with 7 rebounds.
In the Dec. 30 championship game loss, the short-handed Griffins, who had only 6 active players in the second half, were led by the all-around play of Buenrostro who had 9 points, 7 rebounds, 5 steals and 1 assist and freshman guard Madi Real who had 8 points, 7 steals, 5 rebounds and 1 assist. Kolster grabbed 15 rebounds and Aguayo had 9 rebounds, 2 steals and a blocked shot.
To reach the championship game, the Griffins defeated Estancia 50-24, Royal 56-14, and Pacifica 49-21.Â
For the four games, the Griffins were led by Buenrostro who averaged 10 points and 3 steals, freshman point guard Remy Hoang who averaged 8 points and 4.3 steals, Aguayo who averaged 7 points and 9 rebounds, and Kolster who missed the second game with illness but in the three games she played averaged a whopping 16 rebounds a game including a Griffins’ season high 21 rebounds against Estancia.
