Photos by Ed Piper
Photos 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.
Despite their season-opening loss, 22-14, to visiting San Ysidro Tues., Feb. 25, La Jolla's softball team looks like it's going to start well in the young 2025 season.
Besides returner JC Taylor smacking a first-inning drive off the short wall in centerfield to drive in two runs, fellow sophomore Natalie Alvarez showed more command and a little maturation from last year as the game opened.
Ever since Emmy Cardenas graduated two years ago, Coach Anthony Sarain's team has kept an eye out for the "secret sauce" that includes a hurler who can repeatedly deliver in the strike zone to keep the inning going.
After two walks to open the top of the first--admittedly a small sample size, as this reporter only observed and took photos during this short stretch--Alvarez righted herself and got through the inning, giving up only three runs. That doesn't sound like much, but in the recent pass the Vikings suffered through game-after-game with pitchers who couldn't put her pitches over the plate.
Plus La Jolla's lineup is looking much more stocked: JC is a left-handed power-hitter with lots of softball experience; captain and shortstop Roxie Metcalf comes out for her senior season with three years under her belt; Savannah Putnam patrols centerfield, which gives the corner outfielders playing next to her a lot of confidence; and freshman Ella Pearl seems to be a fit at third base.
Junior Maddie Ehlert started behind the plate in Tuesday's opener. She can play there and at second base, switching with sophomore Aviv Laska, who was at the game running the scoreboard but unable to play.
The heartening thing that bodes well for the Vikings is that they scored that many runs--14--even in a losing effort. They could never score that many runs in a losing cause last year. Sarain, who was away at another event, should be looking forward to this campaign.
Photos by Ed Piper
Photos by Ed Piper
