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By Loren Kopff
Sports Editor | Follow X
November 20, 2025
A pair of area teams who haven’t faced each other much and are yearning to get back to the CIF-Southern Section playoffs, met this past Tuesday in a game that was close for the first 30 minutes. But a clutch three-pointer from Valley Christian High senior Gracie Verhoef with 1:42 remaining in the contest gave the hosts their biggest lead of the night over Norwalk High.
Freshman Ariel Martinez added an insurance basket 14 seconds later as the Defenders won their season opener, 43-34. It was just the third meeting between the two teams in the past five seasons with the Defenders winning 54-40 in 2023 and the Lancers earning a 42-30 victory in 2021.
The first quarter saw a pair of ties and one lead change with neither team owning more than a three-point advantage. Both teams had problems shooting as they combined to go six for 25 from the field. But one constant in the V.C. lineup continued to feed off her stellar first two seasons with the team as junior Hannah Burgoyne, who celebrated her 17th birthday, scored the first five points of the second quarter to put the Defenders up 14-8. However, the Lancers, who were clipped by Bolsa Grande High 44-43 the night before, regained the lead for the second time when sophomore Aleeah Lopez scored the second of her two baskets as part of an 8-0 run to put her team up 16-14 with 3:41 left in the first half.
“Obviously, I have a lot of girls who have been with me for a couple of years, so we were anticipating this,” said V.C. head coach Dan Leffler. “I think we were a little nervous in the first half; we didn’t play really comfortable and took brick shots. I expect that from Hannah because she’s going to get the bulk of our shots. But it really throws us off if we can’t get into a groove and get comfortable playing. That’s credit to Norwalk; I think we were a little flustered in the beginning. But it’s always good to start with a win and go from there.”
“We were doing alright and maybe in the first half and third quarter, and then we just kind of broke down in the fourth quarter,” said Norwalk head coach Ashley Baclaan. “We’re not doing too bad in terms of our team, I feel. We just need to work on the little things.”
But Burgoyne and sophomore Molly Douglas ended the final 83 seconds of the half with consecutive baskets. Burgoyne had a dozen first half points while Lopez (nine points) and sophomore Connie Esquival (seven points, eight rebounds) were pacing Norwalk.
V.C. opened a five-point lead twice in the third quarter until the Lancers went on a 6-0 run to take a 25-24 lead after senior Carolina Gonzalez scored her lone basket of the game, and the only bench points from Norwalk, with 1:54 remaining in the stanza. But with 5:13 left in the game, Douglas sparked a 6-0 run for the Defenders and then with 3:10 remaining, she began a 7-2 run to end the game.
“I think we got antsy; we shied away from our gameplan,” said Baclaan of the fourth quarter. “Our execution started to break down and defensively, we were lagging on rotations.”
Lopez led Norwalk with 14 points and had three steals while Esquival added a dozen points and 17 rebounds while the Burgoyne had a game-high 21 points, including five three-pointers, six rebounds and three steals. Martinez added eight points while senior Aniyah Peoples grabbed 10 rebounds. Douglas came off the bench to score all nine points from the non-starters, had four rebounds and a pair of steals.
“Molly has the experience, so when she came on the floor, she was already knowing what was anticipated in the moment,” said Leffler. “She hasn’t had a lot of practice, so I wasn’t sure what was going to happen, to be honest. Coming off volleyball, she had a bad back injury where she was down. She just got cleared two days ago to play.”
“Aleeah hit a couple of big shots for us today, so that was good,” said Baclaan. “She’s pretty set and in rhythm when doing it; I don’t mind that. Connie defensively, she’ll always be a presence. I’m looking forward to seeing them grow and expand their game.”
Norwalk will host Artesia High on Friday, travel to Montebello High on Monday and entertain Segerstrom High on Tuesday while V.C. welcomed Santa Ana High on Nov. 20 and will face Marymount High on Saturday in the Crown Classic Showcase hosted by Notre Dame Academy. That will be the last action for the Defenders until Dec. 1.
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