Almaden Resident

Sports

Allen celebrates her birthday with a win

By Greg Lydon

Led by birthday girl Tina Allen, the Leigh girls basketball team followed the junior forward's lead as the Longhorns roped their first league win of the season, defeating Leland 54-45 Friday night at Leigh.

Allen scored 17 points, causing havoc on the interior with her smooth post moves. Junior point guard Beatrice Conejero matched Allen with 17 points of her own. The one-two punch gave Leigh its fifth victory of the season, improving to 5-8 overall and 1-1 in the Mt. Hamilton Division of the Blossom Valley Athletic League.

"It was Tina's birthday today, so she had a lot of energy all day," Conejero said. "Everyone was just feeding off what she brought to the game."

After a quick start from the home team, Leland got a second-quarter boost from forwards Jennifer Egelston and Samantha Wilson to pull the Chargers back into the game. Both forwards scored seven points. Junior guard Kelly Nakamura caught fire in the fourth quarter for Leland, scoring all 11 points in the fourth quarter, including three treys in a losing effort.

"Anytime you make a run, it shows your team has some fight in them," Leland coach Ana Patejdl said after the defeat. "We can't dig ourselves a big hole early and have to get out of it every game and expect to win. It's a hard climb to pull off."

After a Leland free throw put the Chargers up 1-0, Leigh jetted out to an 8-1 advantage in the opening quarter.

Longhorns' center Jennifer Torrecilas started the fun, swiping an offensive board and following strong with the putback. Allen made a pretty spin move in the key for the next Leigh bucket, followed by a razor sharp three-pointer from Conejero to give Leigh the early fast start.

Leigh took a 13-5 lead after the first quarter.

"We've been starting slow our last couple of games," Conejero said. "It was great to get out to a lead early. My shot felt good, and we got into a rhythm on offense."

A quick lay-up gave Leland a 15-5 lead to open the second quarter, but the Chargers bolted back into the game with strong interior play.

Leland point guard Ana Castillo ran the show beautifully for Leland, taking only one shot on the night but getting all her teammates involved. Egelston made a tough lay-up in traffic underneath, then Wilson dropped in a pretty baby hook in the lane slicing the Leigh advantage to 15-9 midway through the second quarter.

Megan Stahl quieted the rally from the visiting Chargers with a corner three-pointer as the Longhorns took a 25-17 lead into the half.

Allen and Conejero combined for 17 of the 25 Leigh points in the first half.

Conejero drilled a three-pointer to open the third quarter, starting off an 8-2 Leigh run that forced a Leland timeout with the score 33-19 Leigh.

Grace Tang hit the offensive glass for a late score in the third quarter for Leland, but the Chargers still trailed 40-27 going into the fourth quarter.

Leland nailed five three-pointers in the fourth quarter, including three by Nakamura. The key bench run from Leland was counted by the seven clutch points in the fourth from Leigh guard Katy Breslin helping the Longhorns earn the big win.

"We got a spark from the post in the second quarter and our shooters helped us make a run late," Patejdl said. "Kelly is a pure shooter so we expect her to hit those shots for us. We need to start games with the intention of winning the game in the first quarter. We can't wait around."

Prospect whacked Leland 48-30 earlier in the week. Wilson led the Chargers with 12 points. Egelston had six and Tang hit five, including a three-pointer.

Leland, 1-2 in league play and 2-9 overall this season, was to head to Piedmont Hills on Jan. 16 and will visit Evergreen Valley on Jan. 18, 7 p.m.