North Torrance pulls away in win
TORRANCE >> For most of the first 27 minutes, the North Torrance and Peninsula girls basketball teams battled in an opening-round CIF Southern Section Division 1 playoff game.
Points were hard to come by early Thursday and a pair of second-half runs proved to be the difference.
Guard Keimi Santiago scored a team-high 16 points to lead the Saxons to a 59-39 victory, simultaneously closing the book on one of the most storied careers in Panthers program history.
Leading 44-37 in the fourth, North closed the final 4:50 on a 15-2 run. The Saxons (19-7) advanced to Saturday's second-round contest at Rosary Academy.
North coach Lauren Kamiyama
said the defense her team prides itself on showed up.
“Then, we started sharing the ball,” Kamiyama added. “When you share the ball, shots are wide open, things tend to go in and fall.
“(Santiago) is one of our best offensive threats. She leads us, she's our point guard, and she can do it all.”
The loss not only signaled the end to Peninsula's season, but also the stellar career of senior Jadyn Lee. The Panthers' own do-it-all guard broke the program's all-time scoring and steals records this season.
Lee had the task of shouldering even more of the load on a young team snake-bitten by injuries. After a second-place finish in the Bay League last season, Peninsula (13-13) tumbled to fifth with a roster missing as many as five regulars at a time in coach Natalie Kelly's rotation for significant portions of the season.
“Our record doesn't show it, but I'm really proud of how this team has gelled,” said Lee, who finished with 11 points and 13 rebounds. “We were beat up…but I don't think we ever gave up.”
The first half was an offensive struggle for both teams. Lee was faceguarded and swarmed from the opening tip.
“We just tried to make her work for her shots,” Kamiyama said.
Taylor Yee was the beneficiary and scored 10 of Peninsula's 12 first-quarter points and the game went into the second tied. Yee finished with a game-high 19 points.
“Jadyn can only do so much,” Kelly said. “(Yee) was sick the last couple of days, so she really stepped up.”
The teams combined to make just three field goals over the next seven minutes. Tied 18-18, the Saxons got a Santiago layup, a Leila Fitzgerald putback and a Reese Noa free throw over the final 43 seconds to take a five-point lead into the break.
North then stretched the lead to 15 with a 10-0 run to open the third.
“We got a couple stops to start the third quarter,” Kamiyama said of the difference-making cushion.
Peninsula, plagued by careless turnovers, chipped away and pulled within 44-37 on Katara Chang's 3-pointer with 5:09 left but would get no closer.
A Noa layup and a pair of Leyna Miyake jump shots sparked the final Saxons push.
“We just ran out of gas,” Kelly said.
Notre Dame at Bishop Montgomery; St. Bernard at Harvard-Westlake
TODAY
CIF-SS boys basketball Games start at 7 p.m. Open Division
Rolling Hills Prep at JSerra; Brentwood at Mira Costa
Redondo at Adelanto; Walnut at Palos Verdes
Schurr at Inglewood
Leuzinger at Twentynine Palms
United Christian Academy at North Torrance
West Torrance at Vista Murrieta, 5 p.m.
Leuzinger at Irvine, 6p.m.
Division 1
Division 2A
Division 3A
Division 4A
Division 5AA
CIF-SS Girls Soccer Division 2
Division 6
Westchester at Narbonne; San Pedro at Birmingham
LACES at Gardena
Division 7
St. Mary's Academy at Oxford Academy; Samueli Academy at Animo Leadership at Edward Vincent Park, 4 p.m.
City Section Boys basketball
Games start at 7 p.m.
Open Division
Division I
Division V
Alliance Marine Innovation and Technology at Port of Los Angeles