By Ed Piper
On paper, it looked like La Jolla's CIF D4 semifinal basketball game at Christian Thursday, Feb. 26, might shape up as a battle between two star guards, the Vikings' Reagan Bennett against Leah Speers, a 5'2" freshman averaging 21.6 points a game.
But the Patriot defense limited Bennett's opportunities, and the host team--after some early-game miscues--played near-smothering defense to slowly build a six-point lead at the end of the first quarter and lead 16-10.
La Jolla first-year coach Nia De la Pena-Thompson's squad fought bravely, with Reagan, her twin Drew, and a third senior playing her last high school game, Elena Farrar, battling for balls but being a little out-manned by Christian's (23-4 overall, 8-0 to win the City League) superior forces.
Starting the second period, the gap started to widen, as Speers repeatedly drove for buckets and passed to teammates for others. The Patriots' lead quickly accelerated to 19 by the half, 39-20.
Sophomore Jazmyn Bugg harassed the beleaguered Viking ballhandlers. Senior guard Maepon Johnson lofted shots from distance.
Christian went on from there to expand its margin to 24 in the third quarter, reaching 30 points with 5:20 left in the game.
De la Thompson-Pena, told after the game that her team making the semis was quite an achievement, said, "We played a great season. We had a great record (21-10 overall, 6-2 in the Eastern League). We had the Player of the Year (Reagan, with 18.8 points, 4.3 rebounds, 2.0 assists, and 2.7 steals a game)," as she began to struggle with her composure.
The Bennett sisters and Farrar came out of the postgame handshake with tears in their eyes. They finished well their senior seasons to arrive at this point.
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