Poly wins playoff opener with stifling defense
LONG BEACH » Poly relied on defensive intensity when it held Alemany to six points in the third quarter on the way to a 54-47 comeback win at home in the first round of the CIF Southern Section Division 1 playoffs Thursday.
Poly, the Moore League champion, improved to 23-7 and will play at Esperanza (24-4) in the second round today.
Poly trailed 13-9 at the end of the first quarter. Alemany opened the second quarter on a 7-1 run, which extended its lead to 10 points, 20-10, and forced Poly coach Carl Buggs to call time out with 5:43 left in the first half.
The Jackrabbits fought back behind the inspired play of sophomore reserve guard Nevaeh Lemons, who provided a much-needed defensive spark off the bench.
“Poly is all about defense and my number one pride is defense,” Lemons said.
“Defense turns into offense so no matter what, I'm going to bring the energy and help my team.”
Lemons, who finished with six points and two rebounds, refused to back down, which energized her team.
“She played her butt off,” Buggs said. “She's always been capable of doing that, but she had to get her endurance up and her confidence up.
“Now it's up because now she's just playing and that's all she has to do.”
The 5-foot-5 point guard's defensive tenacity helped the Jackrabbits cut into Alemany's 10-point lead to 22-21 with less than 2 minutes to go in the first half.
“We had to make some adjustments, a couple of different subs who brought the D ... and once we found that right group playing together, it started working in our favor,” Buggs said. “I'm really proud of the girls.” Poly still trailed 28-25 at halftime but went on a 15-6 run in the third quarter, securing a 40-34 lead heading into the fourth quarter.
Junior guard Jaleina Taluaili's spinning layup put Poly up 44-35 with 4:22 left in the game.
The Jackrabbits' stifling defense held Alemany to 19 points in the second half.
“Long Beach Poly has always been about defensive energy and that is what I stand on,” Lemons said. “That's my pride, so no matter what, even on a bad day when my shot is not falling like (Thursday night), I'm still going to bring that energy to help us win, so everybody else can have their flow going.”
Poly junior forward Brooklyn
Taylor finished with a gamehigh 17 points and 11 rebounds.
“I have to help my team in any way that I can,” Taylor said. “Whether that's being inside or whether that's just rebounding and kicking it out to open shooters, because I've been finding that a lot and that's freeing me up. Being double-teamed, it's hard to always be the scorer. So being able to have trust in my teammates, and then when I'm open I have to take my shots regardless of what the circumstance is. So being able to be confident in myself and penetrate, that's big.”
Taylor said she always thought of Lemons as a difference maker.
“I've always thought, from day one, she was the defensive person,” Taylor said. “She was always in people's faces. She had aggressiveness that I thought that's what I came to Poly for. Everybody was known to be aggressive and she's the definition of that and I'm glad to have somebody like her on my team.”
Poly sophomore guard Jazmyne Shamburger finished with 13 points and four rebounds off the bench, including two key 3-pointers during the Jackrabbits' 15-6 run in the third quarter.
Alemany (13-13) was led by freshman point guard Amirah Muhammad with 12 points. Senior guard Alondra Lizama added nine points and a teamhigh nine rebounds.