With a resounding 54-22 victory over Corona del Mar, the Los Alamitos girls basketball team completed a dominating first-round sweep of their three Surf League rivals, winning the games by an average of 41 points each.
Both the Griffins (19-5) and the Sea Kings (11-11) came into the January 16 game with 2-0 league records, and the first half was competitive. The Griffins raced out to a 9-0 lead, but the home team Sea Kings battled back, and with 5:20 left in the second quarter the Griffins’ lead was down to 15-14.
The score stayed the same until, with about 4 minutes left in the half, the Griffins went on a 10-0 run prompted by a spinning bank shot in the paint by Griffin senior center Kassidy Beach and a three-pointer from the top of the circle by sophomore guard Tam Yoshida. The first half ended with the Griffins up 25-14.
Los Alamitos dominated the second half 29-8 behind an aggressive full-court press that overall led to 27 Sea Kings’ turnovers compared to only 12 for the Griffins.
Coming into the game, the Griffins had already soundly defeated league rivals Fountain Valley, 74-32 on January 9, and Edison, 90-41 on January 11. With a 3-0 league record, the Griffins hold the advantage and will play each of those three teams once more to finalize league standings.
Last season, the Griffins and Corona del Mar were co-champions of the Surf League with identical 5-1 league records, but having lost the first game to the Sea Kings, the Griffins had to win a dramatic final game matchup to grab a share of the championship.
“This is a really big win for us,” said coach Maya De Anda, “It’s good to win the first one, and it puts us in a good position to reach our goal of winning another Surf League championship.”
In the victory over Corona del Mar, seven Griffin players scored, led by Beach with 16 points, and Yoshida with 10 points.
The Griffins outrebounded the Sea Kings 32 to 29, led by junior forward Bryn Pagett with 9 rebounds, Beach with 6 rebounds, and freshman Denvur Ramirez with 5 rebounds.
In the first three league games combined, the leading Griffin scorers were Beach with an average of 14.7 points per game, senior point guard Kayli Liew with 13.7 points per game, and Yoshida with 12 points per game.
The Griffins have now won 7 games in a row and resume Surf League play on Friday, January 26, with a road game against Fountain Valley (13-11).
