CdM comeback falls short
Woodbridge High girls’ basketball Coach Eric Bangs called Corona del Mar the most talented team in the Pacific Coast League — after beating the Sea Kings on their home floor.
Bangs, in his 28th year at the helm, has guided the Warriors to 19 league titles. He knows something about talent.
But it was the scrappy nature of his squad that enabled it to escape with a 40-37 win Tuesday night and stay unbeaten in league.
Woodbridge (11-5, 2-0 in league) survived a late rally by CdM (11-6, 1-1) to stay tied for first in league with Beckman. Bangs’ team somehow did it, even with having no available players over 5-foot-11 to contend with CdM post players Natalia Bruening and Krista Anderson, who stand 6-4 and 6-2, respectively.
“We used our guards to help out, until they hit a couple of shots outside at the end of the game,” Bangs said. “We’ll live with that, and not let Anderson and Bruening hurt us inside. It’s a total team effort. We took about a half hour, 40 minutes to go over that [Monday], and the kids did a good job. Pete Belanto, my assistant, is the defensive guy. We said the first one to 40 will win, and what was the final? We don’t have a lights-out offense.”
CdM, ranked No. 4 in CIF Southern Section Division 3AA, is trying to win its first league title in ninth-year Coach Mark Decker’s tenure. The Sea Kings trailed Woodbridge, ranked No. 12 in Division 2AA, for much of the contest, but were within striking distance until the fourth quarter.
Woodbridge started to separate itself. Bruening, who led CdM with 12 points and nine rebounds, was called for a charge and subsequent technical foul with 5:48 left in the game. Woodbridge freshman Anjali Ghadiyaram, who led all players with 16 points, made both free throws on the technical foul.
Just more than a minute later, Bruening fouled out on Lauren Baffo’s inside move with 4:27 remaining in the game. Baffo made both free throws, giving the visitors a 35-27 advantage.
Decker said he didn’t get any explanation why Bruening earned the costly technical foul.
“I can’t explain it,” Decker said. “I didn’t see anything that she did. They had trouble with the post game, the refs. The bottom line is that we need to be a little bit tougher, we need to finish a little better and not worry about the refs. We have to take care of the opportunities we have, and we didn’t fully do that. In a game that’s the two best teams in the league, you’ve got to make those plays if you want to win.”
Even without Bruening, CdM still nearly made enough plays at the end to steal the game. A short jumper by senior forward Maria King brought CdM within four points, at 38-34, with 2:01 to go. After a Woodbridge turnover, junior guard Kelly Tam scored on an up-and-under move to bring the Sea Kings within a basket with 50 seconds left.
A steal by senior guard Brianna Westrup eventually led to two free throw attempts by King, who made one of them with 40 seconds left. King then stole the ball, as Woodbridge turned it over yet again.
But a potential go-ahead shot by CdM rimmed out, and the Sea Kings were forced to foul Ghadiyaram with nine seconds left. She made both free throws in the one-and-one situation.
“They started trapping and getting tips, and we didn’t take care of the ball very well,” Bangs said. “Hopefully we build a little character on that one. I can’t say enough about [Ghadiyaram] hitting her two free throws.”
CdM called timeout with four seconds to go. But a potential game-tying three-point attempt never materialized. Instead, the CdM player hesitated shooting it and was called for traveling with less than a second left.
Anderson had eight rebounds and four blocked shots for CdM, and Westrup had seven points and five steals. But the Sea Kings shot just 12 of 40 from the field, including one three-point make in seven attempts.
“They had three girls surrounding [Bruening and Anderson] at all times,” Decker said. “We had some open looks [from the outside], but we didn’t make them ... We’ve got to score more than 37 points. There’s no reason we shouldn’t.”
Senior forward Annika Walker had 11 points and nine rebounds for Woodbridge, despite battling early foul trouble.
The Sea Kings will have to rebound from the tough loss quickly, as they play host to defending league champion University on Friday night.
“They’ve got a tradition of winning titles over the last 20 years,” Decker said of Woodbridge. “We’re close, but obviously we’re not over the hurdle to get to that. We have to beat a team like that to be able to prove that. Until we do, we’re close, but that’s not good enough.”
*
Pacific Coast League
Woodbridge 40, Corona del Mar 37
SCORE BY QUARTERS
Wood 10 – 7 – 12 – 11 — 40
CdM 9 – 7 – 10 – 11 — 37
Wood – Ghadiyaram 16, Walker 11, Vaglica 6, Baffo 5, Seelan 2.
3-pt. goals – Ghadiyaram 2.
Fouled out – None.
Technicals – None.
CdM – Bruening 12, Westrup 7, Tam 7, King 5, Yoo 3, Anderson 2, Hess 1.
3-pt. goals – Yoo 1.
Fouled out – Bruening.
Technicals – Bruening.
