Key road win for Woodbridge

BY TIM BURT / Staff Writer
OC Register

Woodbridge’s girls basketball team has plenty of work to do before it can bring back the Pacific Coast League title to the school.

But the Warriors took a significant step toward that goal Tuesday night with a 40-37 PCL victory over Corona del Mar, a team that Woodbridge coach Eric Bangs called the clear favorite going into league play.

No. 10 Woodbridge (11-5, 2-0) held off a late comeback by the Sea Kings, who turned the ball over on their final possession and were unable to get a shot off in the game at CdM.

“To me, this is the most talented team in the league,” Woodbridge coach Eric Bangs said of CdM. “They (his team) did a good job to get the win. They were actually outrunning us, so if they’re a lot taller and they’re outrunning us, then we were in trouble.

“But I think what we did is we tried to play all 10 or 11 kids in the first half and then settle on seven or so in the second half. The kids that came in in the first half all did a nice job.”

Anjali Ghadiyaram led Woodbridge with 16 points. Annika Walker added 11 points for the Warriors.

Woodbridge, without a player taller than 5-foot-11, faced a significant height disadvantage trying to guard Corona del Mar’s 6-foot-4 Natalia Bruening, who had 12 points, and 6-foot-2 Krista Anderson, who was limited to 2 points.

“If you’re standing there under the basket, we have no chance,” Bangs said. “When the ball is outside, we got a chance because we can front and do some things. If we can get them to miss and get a defensive rebound, one shot and out, that would really be good.

“Let’s just say we used our guards to help out and until they (CdM) hit a couple shots outside at the end of the game, we will live with that, and not let (Krista) Anderson and (Natalia) Bruening hurt us inside. It’s a total team effort.”

Woodbridge led, 17-16, at halftime and had a 29-26 lead going into the final quarter.

The Warriors extended their lead to 8 points twice in the final quarter before CdM began forcing turnovers.

The Sea Kings cut the lead to 38-37 when Maria King made one of two free throws with 34 seconds.

Corona del Mar (11-6, 1-1) got the ball back after the missed free throw but was unable to convert. Ghadiyaram was fouled going for the rebound and sank two free throws with 9.3 seconds to clinch the victory.

“I have to hand it to Corona del Mar,” Bangs said. “They started trapping and getting tips. We didn’t take care of the ball very well, not by design. We were just hoping to cruise in for a 12-point win. Hopefully, we build a little character on that one.”

Contact the writer: tburt@ocregister.com

Woodbridge regains upper hand in PCL

BY JEREMY BALAN

STAFF WRITER

OC Register

IRVINE – Last season, University loosened Woodbridge’s stranglehold on the Pacific Coast League by snapping the Warriors’ four-year run of league titles.

After Friday’s league opener between the two teams, it appears Woodbridge has regained its grip.

The Warriors re-established themselves as the league favorite with a commanding win, 46-29, at Woodbridge High.

Woodbridge (10-5, 1-0) dominated throughout on the defensive end, limiting University’s leading scorer, Allison Piper, to a single point and held the Trojans (10-7, 0-1) to 11 second-half points as the Warriors pulled away steadily. Piper went into the game averaging 12.3 points per game.

University went 0-for-11 from the field in the fourth quarter and 1-for-22 in the second half.

“We’re going to struggle to find points,” Woodbridge coach Eric Bangs said. “We’re down kids and we didn’t have the depth I thought we’d have, but the defense is always there.”

Without their returning leading scorer from last season, Bonnie Sarchet, who is out with an ACL injury, as well as standout sophomore Jasmine Rachal, the Warriors have had to rely on balance for much of the season and Friday was another example.

Four Woodbridge players scored nine points or more, led by junior guard Alissa Niewiadomski, who had a team-high 13 points on 3-of-5 shooting from 3-point range. Fellow guard Anjali Ghadiyaram added 11 points, forward Annika Walker had 10 and Lauren Baffo came off the bench to score nine.

“Everybody is capable and that’s how you have to do it,” Bangs said. “I always say, if you can put four or five people out there who can score and contribute, you’re a pretty good girls basketball team.”

Woodbridge also controlled the offensive boards with 17 offensive rebounds, allowing the Warriors to take twice as many shots (32 to 16) as University in the first half. Woodbridge took a 28-18 lead into the break.

“Today I was upset, because I felt they outhustled us and that’s something that I never thought I’d (see) from my team,” University coach Nicole Bradshaw said. “We got killed on the offensive boards.”

As poor as the Trojans played offensively – their point total was a season low – senior forward and captain Kiara Warren did her best to keep University in the game.

Warren finished with 17 points and nine rebounds – both game highs – and scored nine of the Trojans’ 11 points in the second half.

“No matter what, even if she doesn’t have a good scoring game, she’s always 100 percent working hard,” Bradshaw said. “There is never a time in a game where I have to say, ‘Kiara, you’re out of position’ or ‘Kiara, what are you doing?’”

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