O’Malley sinks school record nine 3-pointers and Crean Lutheran gets past El Toro 68-56 in final non-league test

Crean Lutheran Coach Kelsi Walker gives instructions to her team during a timeout Wednesday.

Crean Lutheran junior Shannon O’Malley said shooting 3-pointers is her favorite part of playing basketball.

O’Malley had quite a time Wednesday night. She had tremendous success from the outside, breaking her own school record of eight with nine 3-pointers to lead the Saints to a 68-56 non-league victory over El Toro at Crean Lutheran.

Crean Lutheran (15-2) got a solid challenge from El Toro (15-5) in the Saints final non-league game before the start of Empire League play. Crean Lutheran, which has been ranked No. 1 in the CIF Division 4 poll all season, hosts Pacifica Friday night and Tustin on Monday.

“That was a good win for us, just to be able to get out there and have fun after the holidays,” said Crean Lutheran Coach Kelsi Walker. “It was a very good test of where we stand and it preps us for Tustin as well for league.”

Leading the way was O’Malley, who has been shooting well from outside all year.

“She’s a great shooter, she’s shooting over 40 percent from the three so she is obviously our threat from the outside and you got Taylor (Feldman) who drives so well so it makes us very diverse and it’s hard to stop,” Walker said.

O’Malley was pleased with the final results, too.

“I thought it went really well and we worked together as a team very well,” said O’Malley. “What makes us do so well is it’s not all about winning for us, it’s about playing as a team and trying to hit the open player.”

Her teammate, Feldman, also had a big night scoring 22 points, including 16 in the first half to help the Saints move out to a 41-28 halftime lead.

The Saints held an 18-point lead at one point in the second quarter but El Toro was able to finish the half strong and stay within striking distance.

Crean Lutheran led 56-42 after three quarters but El Toro (15-5) cut the lead to 65-54 on a 3-pointer by Maila Cubacub with 3:56 remaining. The Chargers got to within nine points with 2:29 left but Crean Lutheran was able to finish strong.

Cubacub scored 11 points and Samantha Lin 10 points to lead El Toro. Allison Reed added 10 points for Crean Lutheran.

-Tim Burt, OC Sports Zone; timburt@ocsportszone.com