Girls’ Basketball: CdM hangs tough over Estancia

As the fouls mounted, Corona del Mar High girls’ basketball coach Mark Decker and Estancia coach Judd Fryslie both got a bit on edge.

Saturday’s nonleague game between the Sea Kings and Eagles featured 40 fouls and 55 free-throw attempts.

“There was like 12 straight possessions at one point where the whistle blew,” Decker said. “I told [the referees] that at least they were consistent. They called every single wind blowing.”

Decker wasn’t in as much of a joking mood during the game, when three of his starters — junior post players Natalia Bruening and Krista Anderson, as well as junior guard Kelly Tam — each picked up three fouls in the first half.

None of the three ended up fouling out. The Sea Kings showed off their depth, getting good extended minutes from senior forward Alexa Pridemore and junior forward Kat Hess.

“I think we adjusted well in the second half,” Decker said after CdM claimed a 56-33 victory over the Eagles at Estancia High in a game that was closer than the final score might suggest.

Bruening had 20 points, 11 rebounds and three blocks for CdM (14-7), ranked No. 7 in CIF Southern Section Division 3AA. Anderson also had a strong game with 14 points and eight rebounds, while senior guard Brianna Westrup contributed 10 points and five steals and senior forward Maria King scored nine.

Decker said that Anderson, who was battling shin splits earlier in the season, has come on strong this week for the Sea Kings.

“I think when she gets going, that’s going to open things up offensively for us even more,” Decker said. “I think that’s a big key for us.”

Westrup also contributed with her defense on crafty Estancia junior point guard Maya Van Den Heever, who fouled out in the fourth quarter. But the fifth foul called on Van Den Heever was one that Fryslie couldn’t believe, when she seemed to go up and pick off the ball cleanly behind a CdM player, only to hear the whistle blow.

At the time, the Eagles were down by just 10 points with 6:30 left in the game.

“She jumped straight in the air and caught the ball,” said Fryslie, who didn’t get happier as the quarter went on.

He was again incredulous when another one of his starters, senior forward Slade Garnett, fouled out with 2:52 remaining in the contest. This time, Fryslie wasn’t complaining about the foul, but about the fact that he didn’t feel the referee gave him enough time to make a substitution.

“Play by the rules,” said Fryslie to the referee, who responded by issuing him a technical foul.

By then, though, the game had pretty much been decided with CdM up by 17 points.

Freshman forward Finley Garnett had a game-high nine points for the Eagles, and senior center and co-captain Eliza Jason had a strong game with five points, 10 rebounds and three steals. Maya Van Den Heever and her twin sister, Nefertiti, scored five points each.

But Estancia (12-8), ranked No. 11 in Division 4AA, found it a struggle to score against CdM’s size inside.

The Eagles made just 11 of 49 field-goal attempts (22 percent) and also made just six of 23 free throws. Fryslie said it was his team’s second straight bad shooting night, after Estancia barely edged Godinez, 43-40, in an Orange Coast League game Thursday night.

“Unless we just had one of those really good shooting nights, it’s hard to deal with that kind of size [of CdM],” Fryslie said. “But we played pretty good defense, to be honest with you, despite the difference in size. Especially Eliza. She had a big task [to guard Bruening].”

Both teams resume league play next week, and each has dreams of a league title. Estancia appears to have a better shot to make that happen, as the Eagles are 4-0 in league as they look for their third straight outright crown.

CdM is 3-2 halfway through Pacific Coast League play, suffering close losses to league-leading Woodbridge and Beckman. But the Sea Kings believe they can reverse those results in the second half of league, Decker said.

Beating Estancia, a team that always plays hard until the end, might be a good momentum-builder for CdM.

“Last year, we lost to them in the second round of the [CdM] Tip-off Tournament,” Bruening said. “For me, this was sort of a revenge match for us, being able to show how we can actually play. It’s good to compare the two games and see how much we’ve grown.”

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Nonleague

Corona del Mar 56, Estancia 33

SCORE BY QUARTERS

CdM 11 – 15 – 10 – 20 — 56

Est 5 – 10 – 9 – 9 — 33

CdM – Bruening 20, Anderson 14, Westrup 10, King 9, Pridemore 2, Yoo 1.

3-pt. goals – King 2.

Fouled out – None.

Technicals – None.

Est – F. Garnett 9, S. Garnett 6, Jason 5, M. Van Den Heever 5, N. Van Den Heever 5, Herrera 3.

3-pt. goals – S. Garnett 2, M. Van Den Heever 1, N. Van Den Heever 1, Herrera 1.

Fouled out – M. Van Den Heever, S. Garnett.

Technicals – Coach.