Portola girls basketball team takes control and tops Northwood 46-29 in PCL game

Portola’s Allyson Tabayoyong brings the ball up Friday night against Northwood.

Portola’s girls basketball team improved its overall record to 9-14 with a 46-29 Pacific Coast League victory over Northwood Friday night at home.

To see the slide show, please click on the first photo

Northwood's Chloe Tak gets ready to take a shot Friday night.

Portola's Kyra Stewart goes up for a shot against Northwood.

Donia Maymoun of Portola goes up for a shot.

Northwood's Amanda Endres drives to the basket Friday night as Portola's Kyra Stewart defends.

Northwood's Chloe Tak drives to the basket against Portola.

Portola's Maddy Noh gets ready to go up for a shot Friday.

“I thought we were able to do what we were trying to do,” said Portola Coach Brian Barham. “It’s nice when the ball actually goes in so we shot a decent percentage for the night which was nice.”

The Bulldogs (3-5 in league) were led by Allyson Tabayoyong with 14 points and Lauren Shihara with 12 points.

“It was a great game for Allyson and it was a good step forward, especially rebounding after catching a beating from Uni,” Barham said.

Kara Chu scored seven points and Amanda Endres six points to lead Northwood (3-19, 0-8).

Barham believes his team has to be above .500 to reach the CIF playoffs.

“Our five losses by one possession really hurt that,” he said. “You can’t help but think about that. But we don’t have any seniors so everything we’ve learned from it, it’s not really losing.

“I love our future. Our kids are getting it and they’re understanding what it takes to be varsity ball players. You see them maturing every day. They’re coming forward.”

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