Orange Lutheran players celebrate after an early run against Woodbridge Saturday. (Photo: OC Sports Zone, Tim Burt).
Orange Lutheran High School’s girls basketball team took control early and rolled to a 58-19 victory over Woodbridge Saturday night in a CIF 2AA quarterfinal round game at Woodbridge.
Top-seeded Orange Lutheran (22-8) moves on to face fourth-seeded Crean Lutheran in the semifinals Wednesday at Crean Lutheran. Crean Lutheran defeated Sonora 48-46 Saturday at Sonora.
“We had the advantage with the bigs inside,” said Orange Lutheran Coach Lindsay Charity. “It’s a hard match-up for Woodbridge to try and defend that because the height is there.
“We stuck to the game plan and executed on the inside.”
Shea Joko scored 13 points and Ashari Cassell had 10 points to lead Orange Lutheran, which moved out to an 18-7 lead after the first quarter. The Lancers led 36-14 at halftime then extended their lead when they went on a 13-0 run to start the third quarter.
Woodbridge (23-5) won the Pacific Coast League title and captured playoff victories over West Covina and Chino Hills, scoring over 60 points in each contest. But Orange Lutheran’s defense was able to contain the Warriors. Maddie Yasui led Woodbridge with five points.
“Tonight was a tough game for us. Orange Lutheran is a very good team,” said Woodbridge Coach Keith Clarkson.”We knew coming into this game that they would have the size advantage on us and our game was try to control the tempo and rely on our outside shooting. We have many very good shooters on our team but tonight our shots just were not falling.
“I am very proud of this group of girls with all they have accomplished this year. This season has been very memorable and we had great chemistry all year. I loved our uptempo style and we were very fun to watch play. I am sad to see this season come to an end.”
Orange Lutheran will now prepare for Crean Lutheran. The Lancers captured the CIF 2AA title in 2019. Orange Lutheran was eliminated from the playoffs last season in the first round.
“It’s been a really good season for us, I think we’re peaking at the right time,” Charity said. “Trinity League prepares you for playoffs. We’re really tight as a team and that’s shown in games.
“We’re not going to overlook the other teams that are left, we’re going to celebrate tonight, then start scouting tomorrow.”
—Tim Burt, OC Sports Zone; timburt@ocsportszone.com
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