From the sports archives: Westmoor rains 3s to stun South City in girls' basketball

Well, it would seem the Lady Rams are having none of that.

Despite having just two returning players from last season’s Central Coast Section Division II semifinal team, a new head coach and no one on roster taller than 5-7, the Rams sure looked like they plan on contending for another Peninsula Athletic League North Division title in Tuesday’s thrilling 65-57 win at home over South City.

Westmoor (2-1 in PAL North, 4-6 overall) trailed 50-46 with five minutes remaining in regulation. But then everything went wildly wrong for South City (2-1, 6-6).

In turn, the Rams rode a barrage of 3-pointers to close out the game on a 19-7 run to get back in the win column after a disheartening loss last Friday to then Peninsula Athletic League Ocean Division frontrunner Half Moon Bay.

“The girls really wanted it,” Westmoor head coach Bruce Newbeck said. “They didn’t want to fall to 1-2 (in Ocean play). They know they can play better than they did against Half Moon Bay, and they really showed it today.”

Coupled with Oceana’s 42-37 upset of Half Moon Bay Tuesday, Westmoor moves into a five-way logjam for first place in the Ocean Division. This marks a quick reprieve after the Rams shot just 15 of 42 in last Friday’s 45-29 loss to the Cougars.

It was a far different story Tuesday, as Westmoor converted 10 3-pointers in the game, including three in just over one minute’s time midway through the fourth quarter. Trailing by 4, the Rams got a blast from sophomore Daphney Fulgencio’s second trey of the quarter to close South City’s lead to 50-49.

At the other end of the court, the Warriors committed one of their 10 turnovers in the quarter, setting up senior Kasey Liang’s 3-pointer to give Westmoor a 52-50 lead. South City sophomore Valerie Avila seemed to reclaim the momentum surge 45 seconds later by burying her team’s only 3-pointer of the half, putting the Warriors back up 53-52.

But Westmoor’s hot hand proved en fuego when Fulgencio responded by drilling her fourth trey of the night to give the Rams the lead for good.

“We’re on and off (with 3-pointers), but when we know we can shoot it, we’ll take all the shots we can,” Fulgencio said. “When we keep making them, we’ll keep taking them.”

Shell-shocked South City never recovered as the 3-pointer sparked a 9-0 Westmoor run.

“I feel we had all the momentum when [Avila] hit that 3,” South City head coach Paul Carion said. “But [Westmoor] came right back and hit one of their own, and I think that kind of changed it.”

Earlier in the game, it was the Warriors who had been the comeback kids. Westmoor stuck with its signature full-court press, though advancing through it didn’t seem to be a problem for South City. Unfortunately, getting into their post-intensive half-court offense did.

“We don’t struggle breaking a press, but what we struggle with is attacking off of it,” Carion said. “We need to make teams pay for pressing us, and right now we’re not capable of doing that.”

Westmoor opened the game jumping out to a 9-1 lead. South City rallied to take the lead by the end of the first quarter at 13-11 with a pair of nice feeds into the paint, but the Rams outscored the Warriors 17-11 in the second quarter — leading by as much as 26-18 — before taking a 28-24 lead into halftime.

Then in the second half, South City’s post game woke up. Sophomore center Jerlene Miller scored zero points in the first half, but getting consistent passes from point guard Brittney Cedeno throughout the second half changed that. Miller finished with a team-high 16, including 10 in the third quarter as the Warriors again came back, outscoring Westmoor 20-12 in the quarter.

“I thought we had that strength,” Carion said. “We were dominating the post, but then it starting going against us.”

Westmoor simply started fouling Cedeno, but the tall center maintained a 6-of-9 clip from the free-throw line. Instead, it was ball control that betrayed the Warriors. They committed 10 turnovers through the first three quarters. They committed as many in the fourth.

In the closing minute, South City looked as though it might have some life left when Cedeno converted a three-point play to close Westmoor’s lead to 62-57. But it was the last points the Warriors would score.

“I felt like we still could have been in the game, but how we played after, it just went downhill from there,” Cedeno said.

Westmoor’s Liang and junior Sabrina Tan shared the game-high with 18 points apiece. Fulgencio totaled 12 points, all on 3s.

“These girls are quick, they’re feisty and they love moving fast — sometimes to a fault,” Newbeck said. “But if they keep their confidence, they are going to do well this season.”