Harvard-Westlake girls basketball too strong for Santa Margarita, advances to Division 1 quarterfinals
RANCHO SANTA MARGARITA — The Santa Margarita girls basketball team had its season come to an end Saturday at the hands of Harvard-Westlake in a 67-47 loss in the second round of the CIF-SS Division 1 playoffs at Santa Margarita High.
Harvard-Westlake (22-6) overwhelmed Santa Margarita with its dominance in the paint and with its rebounding.
The Wolverines had 38 points in the paint compared to 14 for Santa Margarita (18-11) and outrebounded the Eagles 33-21.
Thirteen of Harvard-Westlake’s rebounds were offensive rebounds and many of those led to second-chance points.
Forwards Bella Spencer and Valentina Guerrero were the catalysts for Harvard-Westlake’s success offensively. Spencer filled the stat sheet with 23 points, 12 rebounds and five assists. Four of her five assists were to Guerrero who had 20 points.
“Val stepped up really big for us,” Spencer said. “She’s coming off an injury and it’s good to see her getting her confidence back. It was big for me to get the ball moving, get them rotating to open up the lanes for us to drive. It was a great night for us.”
Harvard-Westlake’s defense forced 20 turnovers from Santa Margarita due to a combination of physical defense and unforced errors from the Eagles.
“In all honesty, we created a lot of those turnovers ourselves,” Santa Margarita coach Seyram Bell said. “We knew they capitalize on turnovers and they would push it in transition. We wanted to put ourselves in a position to be successful and turning the ball over did not do that.”
Harvard-Westlake will play Mission League rival Chaminade in the quarterfinals Wednesday. The Wolverines beat Chaminade twice in the regular season, both times by a double-digit margin of victory.
Harvard-Westlake went on an 8-0 run near the end of the first half to give the Wolverines a nine-point lead. Guerrero scored 12 points in the second quarter and Spencer had six points and four rebounds.
Guerrero picked up where she left off in the third quarter and had eight points during an 11-0 run.
Santa Margarita responded with a 7-point run of its own to keep the game within reach. Madi Lam had eight of her 18 points in the third quarter and Gwen Julianel made a big 3-pointer.
The Eagles cut the lead to six in the fourth quarter, but did not score a field goal in the frame and Harvard-Westlake went on a 14-1 run to finish the game.
Deana Thompson had 15 points for the Wolverines and Spencer had 11 points in the fourth.
Lam’s 18 points were a team-high for Santa Margarita and Ella Palmer had 14 points. Palmer, a freshman, made 4 of 5 3-point attempts.
“I don’t think too many people outside our circle thought we would get to this point,” Bell said. “I told the girls the last time we were in Division 1, they were in elementary school. The fact that we are freshman and sophomore led and made Division 1 is impressive. We showed a lot of grit.”