University girls basketball team ends rough week with 63-46 victory over Yorba Linda at South Coast Classic

University girls basketball coach Nicole Bradshaw meets with her team during a timeout Saturday at the South Coast Classic.

University’s girls basketball team got a much needed victory Saturday afternoon defeating Yorba Linda 63-46 in a consolation round game at the South Coast Classic.

The Trojans (7-3) suffered three tough losses during the week: 67-62 to San Clemente on Monday, 67-63 in overtime to Box Hill of Australia on Tuesday and 38-37 to Huntington Beach on Thursday.

But University was able to cap the tourney with a strong showing Saturday.

“We’ve had a rough week,” said University Coach Nicole Bradshaw. “(We lost) two at the buzzer, basically and one we should have had against San Clemente, but they’re a good team.

“When we’re playing teams of this caliber every night, it’s hard on your starters, people who play all the time. We definitely needed this. We played really well as a team today and that’s kind of what I’ve been looking for. We have some great players but we when we play all around as a team, we’re really a force.”

Bradshaw was also pleased with the Trojans rebounding Saturday.

“We haven’t been rebounding very well. We’ve been playing big teams that rebound well. And that’s been our issue; that’s the reason we lost to San Clemente.  The two we lost at the buzzer is because they got the offensive rebound and kicked it back out. By us not rebounding, it’s really hurting us.”

University was led by Malia Goldsmith who scored 17 points. Claire Kawata had 15 points, Aryn Press had 14 points and Neeyaz Cyrus scored 8 points to lead the Trojans.

Yorba Linda (0-8) was led by Audrey Lee, who had 17 points.

University pretty much decided the game in the first half moving out to a 40-22 lead at the break and was in command for the rest of the game.

Yorba Linda cut the lead to 14 points with less than two minutes left, forcing Bradshaw to bring back Goldsmith for another minute to restore order.

Bradshaw said that Goldsmith will be named to the all-tournament team.

The tournament continues with Woodbridge facing Huntington Beach in the third place game at 5 p.m.

FULL SCHEDULE FOR TODAY’S SOUTH COAST CLASSIC

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