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By Loren Kopff • @LorenKopff on X
LA HABRA-The Valley Christian High girls basketball team capped off a disappointing 10-16 season with a come from behind 43-41 victory over Whittier Christian High this past Tuesday inside the Leon Davis Event Center. However, the victory was somewhat bittersweet as the result was a case of what could have been for the Defenders.
V.C. ended the season with a 2-6 mark in Olympic League action, but the Defenders lost to Whittier Christian on Jan. 14, then to Heritage Christian High a week later, both games at home and by identical 49-46 scores. Add a seven-point loss to Maranatha High on the road, a team it had defeated to begin league play, and it’s easy to see how close V.C. was to a 4-4, or even a 5-3 league mark. Why is that important? V.C. finished one game behind Maranatha and Whittier Christian for third place and two games behind Heritage Christian for second place.
The Defenders watched the Heralds reel off five straight points over the final 1:31 of the third quarter to lead by 11 points, the largest lead of the night. But the fourth quarter would see V.C. display one of its best quarters of the season. The only points Whittier Christian would score came from Analise Quintero in succession in a span of 22 seconds, making it 41-34 with 4:42 left in the game. After that, the hosts would miss on their last nine shots of the game while V.C. went five of seven from the field.
“Obviously, it’s really easy when you’re going into a game and you don’t have anything to play for as far as the postseason,” said V.C. head coach Dan Leffler. “But our goal was to continue to get better and the girls have gotten a ton better. We put them to work and made a commitment [that] we were going there to win a basketball game, and they did that.”
The game began with three ties, two lead changes and neither team leading by more than two points until Ayanna Gray scored consecutive baskets to make it 10-6 with half a minute remaining in the stanza. However, the Heralds missed their first seven shots of the game despite getting a slew of offensive rebounds. Meanwhile, V.C. got just five rebounds, three steals and were four of 12 from the field.
“It was obviously one of my points of emphasis for the game-no second chances,” said Leffler. “I think we’ve been in so many games where they get three or four chances, and the gap widens, and we can’t catch up. I was a little sterner talking to them at halftime [telling them] it’s got to be one and done.”
Sophomore sensation Hannah Burgoyne missed her only two shots she took while freshman Molly Douglas, who had a say in the victory, was held scoreless and didn’t take a shot. That would change in the second quarter when she accounted for seven of V.C.’s nine points with the other two points coming off free throws. The Defenders stayed within striking range but were down 23-17 at the half.
That lead would reach 10 points three times in the third quarter but each time, the Defenders managed to trim it down to seven points, then eight points and finally six points when senior Chayse Chambers scored on her putback to make it 32-26 with 1:49 left in the stanza. Still, Burgoyne was having a tough time in the scoring department, adding a free throw to her point total while Douglas scored once, bringing her game total to nine points.
“Every team we’ve played in the second half [of league play], their goal is the same; hey, we’re doubling Hannah, we’re taking her out of the game,” said Leffler. “So I’ve challenged our team every game. Somebody else has to step up and score because you’re going to be open. If they have two people guarding Hannah, somebody is open. Molly, I think, is just a competitor. She has a really short memory; if she does something wrong or makes a bad pass, she doesn’t get frustrated by that. She goes down and plays hard, and she stepped up huge.”
Burgoyne began the fourth quarter with her first field goal of the game before Douglas scored five straight points. After Quintero’s two baskets. Douglas scored with three and half minutes left to trim the deficit to five points. Just over a minute later, Burgoyne scored off a pass from Chambers and following a Whittier Christian timeout, junior Aniyah Peoples scored back to back baskets, the second with 28.9 seconds remaining to give V.C. the lead for good. It would mark only the third lead of the game for the maroon and gold.
Whittier Christian called a timeout with 21.5 seconds left and coming out of the timeout as it was setting up a play, Douglas had a steal and Burgoyne was fouled with 8.1 seconds remaining, making the second free throw for the final point of the game. After a V.C. timeout, Andrea Padilla raced down the far sideline, drove to the basket only to see her lay-up miss the mark as time expired.
“I think they really realized that they could play with them if we can get the ball out of [Padilla’s] hands and let somebody else shoot it,” said Leffler. “They committed to playing hard defense and it’s something that we’ve spent more time on this year than anything.”
Padilla scored four of her team-high 15 points in the second half, none in the fourth quarter while Quintero added 10 points. Douglas scored a career-high 16 points, had five rebounds and four steals while Burgoyne ended with nine rebounds, eight points and four steals. Her eight points is tied for her third lowest point total of the season and fourth of her young high school career. Peoples also scored eight points, Chambers added seven rebounds and freshman Jaiya Lee another six boards as the Defenders are set up nice for next season as they graduate just two players.
“Obviously, we’re super young, so we’re taking our lumps now and trying to figure put how to close out games,” said Leffler. “I think it’s great that we get to do it with freshmen kids who are on the floor and get them game experience. I have great expectations for next year for us to be competitive.”
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