Five Canyons players scored in double figures as #4 Canyons (14-7, 4-0) held off a stubborn LA Valley (12-12, 2-2) squad to come away with a 95-91 win Wednesday night in Santa Clarita.
SG Kelly O’Linn led the Cougars with 22 pts, while SF Andrea Bobic had a huge game with 19 pts (5 threes), 17 rebs and 4 asts. Ctr Charity Smith added 18 pts and 7 rebs, and PG Britney Bradley just missed a double-double with 17 pts and a game-high 9 asts.
After Valley opened a 10-5 lead in the opening minutes and led by 6 at 14-8, Canyons rallied to take a 17-16 lead on a Bobic 3-pointer just less than 8 minutes into the game. The Cougars pushed the lead to 11 at 36-25 on a 3-pointer by PF Ivory Blockman late in the half and led by as many as 15 at 42-27 before a 3-pointer by Valley SF Shawn Berina just before halftime cut the margin to 12 at 42-30. And in the second half, Canyons threatened to run away with the game, opening a 17-point lead at 50-33.
But Canyons was unable to maintain the big lead. SG Mariam Asaryan shot the Monarchs back into the game, making three straight 3-pointers to close the margin to 58-50. Lay-ups by PG La’Day Venson and PF Juanita Lewis made it a 4-point game at 58-54 moments later.
However, Valley was never quite able to pull even. The Cougars maintained at least a 4-point lead until the final minute of the game, when Valley got a FG+FT 3-point play from Berina to make it 92-89 with 14 seconds left. O’Linn made a free throw for Canyons with 12 seconds left to make it 93-89, but then Berina drew a foul and made a pair of free throws with 6 seconds remaining to make it 93-91.
At that point, Valley had no choice but to foul, however, and O’Linn made two free throws with 4 seconds left to finally clinch the win for Canyons.
All five starters scored in double figures for Valley. Berina led all scorers with 25 pts (4 threes), and also dished out 5 asts and grabbed 6 steals. Lewis had a double-double with 20 pts and 11 rebs before fouling out with 57 seconds left. Venson added 19 pts and a team-high 7 asts. Asaryan had 12 pts (all on threes) and Ctr Liseth Orrego had 11 pts and 8 rebs.
box score
Wednesday, January 23, 2008 – 5:30 pm
at the Cougar Cage, COC, Santa Clarita
WSC-South (women)
LA Valley 91:
2-Mariam Asaryan, SG – 4/19 fg, 2 reb, 1 ast, 2 pf, 12 pts
3-Shawn Berina, SF – 7/13 fg, 8/9 ft, 5 reb, 5 ast, 6 stl, 3 pf, 26 pts
5-La’Day Venson, PG – 6/13 fg, 7/7 ft, 3 reb, 7 ast, 2 stl, 4 pf, 19 pts
22-Juanita Lewis, PF – 5/12 fg, 10/12 ft, 11 reb, 3 ast, 3 stl, 5 pf, 20 pts
35-Liseth Orrego, C – 5/14 fg, 1/4 ft, 8 reb, 1 blk, 3 stl, 1 pf, 11 pts
50-Erica Shelby, C – 0/1 fg, 3 reb, 1 pf, 0 pts
34-Corie Thompson, F – 1/1 fg, 1 pf, 2 pts
1-Carla Corral, F – 0/3 fg, 1/2 ft, 1 ast, 2 pf, 1 pt
21-Sylvia Gamarra, G – 0 pts
33-Rickisha O’Neal, F – 0 pts
team rebounds: 5
Totals: 28/76 fg (.368), 27/34 ft (.794), 37 reb, 17 ast, 1 blk, 14 stl, 20 pf, 91 pts
3-pt fg (8): Berina 4, Asaryan 4
Technical Foul: Coach Seja
Turnovers (13): Venson 6, Lewis 2, Gamarra 2, Berina, Asaryan, Orrego
Canyons 95:
13-Amanda Sreden, PF – 0/1 fg, 3/4 ft, 6 reb, 2 ast, 4 pf, 3 pts
15-Andrea Bobic, SF – 7/17 fg, 17 reb, 4 ast, 1 stl, 3 pf, 19 pts
23-Kelly O’Linn, SG – 4/7 fg, 11/14 ft, 2 reb, 3 ast, 4 pf, 22 pts
35-Charity Smith, C – 6/9 fg, 6/8 ft, 7 reb, 3 blk, 4 pf, 18 pts
42-Britney Bradley, PG – 7/10 fg, 2/2 ft, 3 reb, 9 ast, 4 pf, 17 pts
33-Ashley Burch, G – 1/5 fg, 0/2 ft, 2 reb, 1 stl, 1 pf, 2 pts
5-LaTreshe Jones, C – 1/2 fg, 3 reb, 1 ast, 1 blk, 2 pts
45-Ivory Blockmon, F – 4/7 fg, 4 reb, 3 pf, 10 pts
4-Arielle White, G – 1/4 fg, 1 reb, 4 ast, 2 pf, 2 pts
25-Nikole Moffet, F – 0 pts
43-Brittany Tello, G – 2 reb, 1 ast, 0 pts
team rebounds: 1
Totals: 31/62 fg (.500), 22/30 ft (.733), 48 reb, 24 ast, 4 blk, 2 stl, 25 pf, 91 pts
3-pt fg (11): Bobic 5, O’Linn 3, Blockmon 2, Bradley
Technical Foul: O’Linn
Turnovers (25): Bradley 8, Smith 5, O’Linn 4, Sreden 2, Bobic 2, Jones 2, Blockmon 2
Halftime Score: Canyons 42, LA Valley 30
Updated Records: Canyons (#4-South, #9-Calif) 14-7, 4-0 in WSC-S; LA Valley 12-12, 2-2 in WSC-S
COC led by as many as 17 early in the 2nd half. Valley closed the margin to 4 midway through the 2nd half and to 2 at 93-91 in the final seconds but two O’Linn FTs with 4 seconds left sealed the win for Canyons.
