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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