Skyline women's basketball slugs it out with rival College of San Mateo, holds on for 75-72 win

It turned into a wild one as the rivals battled for first place in the Coast North. But with both teams enjoying their best starts in some time — certainly the best combined start the two have enjoyed in many years — Skyline (3-0 Coast North, 16-3 overall) persevered on its home court for a 75-72 victory.

“A lot of respect for San Mateo, they really battled tonight,” CSM head coach Chris Watters said. “And I’m thrilled with the way our girls were able to regain momentum and were able to hold on to win.”

CSM (2-1, 13-3) trailed by as much as 13 early in the third quarter but rallied back behind the explosive play of freshman forward Chiara Brown. The dominant post presence out of American-Fremont was forced to sit most of the second quarter due to foul trouble and finished the first half with just four points.

Brown rebounded in a big way, scoring 16 points in the third quarter en route to posting a double-double with 30 points and 10 rebounds.

“I didn’t even know that,” Brown said of her second-half exploits. “Having two fouls in the first half, and just wanting to be out there, just helped me. Any way I could get it — just making offensive rebounds or just trying to make a play for myself or trying to find a kickout to my teammates — just trying to score any way.”

Skyline, though, countered with forward Lala Lautaimi, a true freshman out of Aragon, who turned in the play of the game on defense. With the score deadlocked 69-69 with just under three minutes to play, CSM took possession and called a quick timeout. Lautaimi and Brown had both been on the bench for spell, but when Brown checked back in for the possession, so did Lautaimi.

“We were in zone, but she kept back-dooring, so we switched up to man,” Lautaimi said. “She’s still a good player.”

What transpired was an all-too familiar sight during the second half — CSM pounding the ball into the post and letting Brown steamroll her way to the hoop for either a bucket or a foul. But this time, Lautaimi put her stamp on the play — and on the game — by producing a blocked shot, swatting it into the backcourt to set the fast-break transition in motion.

“That was huge,” Watters said. “Lala is someone who is such a great playmaker on both sides, I don’t think she even realizes what she’s capable of yet. And it’s starting to click for her. She’s having a great season. She had a really dominant first half offensively, I thought, and then had some big rebounds and the block down the stretch, which probably saved the game for us.”

At the other end, as Skyline hustled back, Lautaimi took a quick pass in stride toward the basket and scored a cutting layup to give Skyline the lead for good at 71-69.

Skyline endured foul troubles of its own in the first half. Less than six minutes into the game, freshman guard Malia Latu — a recent commit to University of San Francisco — drew her third foul, and freshman guard Angie Olive soon joined her on the bench for the remainder of the half with her third.

This set the stage for Lautaimi, who totaled 22 points and eight rebounds, both team-highs, including 17 points in the first half.

“We’ve really relied heavily on Latu and Olive, and to have them both in foul trouble was a credit to their teammates to step up,” Watters said. “And then I give them a lot of credit to be able to get back into the rhythm of the game in the second half when they came back in.”

Latu had quite an impact in the second half. The Menlo-Atherton graduate totaled 19 points throughout, including three 3-pointers. But her biggest shots of the night came from the free-throw line with seven seconds remaining in the game, stepping to the stripe for two shots with Skyline clinging to a 73-72 lead and converting both.

“And I don’t think she committed another foul (in the second half),” Watters said. “She played real heads-up basketball.”

Skyline is a fiery bunch and plays an up-tempo brand of basketball. The Lady Trojans took 71 shots in the game, converting at a 43.7% clip from the field.

CSM shot just 31.7%, but the Lady Bulldogs’ Achilles’ heel proved the first-half turnovers. Fifteen of CSM’s 19 turnovers came in the first half, but the Bulldogs minded the ball after the halftime break and outscored the Trojans 39-31 in the second half.

“It was just about looking for the offensive rebounds, boxing out, and just trying to find the extra player,” Brown said. “We were just able to look for each other and were just able to score. And when we were hungry for the offensive rebounds, we were able to score too.”

Skyline guard Tatiana Newsome added 13 points. CSM sophomore Brittney Lewis totaled 12 points and seven rebounds, while center Courtney Townsend totaled eight rebounds.

The game was the first of a two-game set between the Coast North rivals. Round 2 is slated for Friday, Feb. 18 at CSM.

CSM men top Skyline 71-62

In a doubleheader nightcap at Skyline, the College of San Mateo men’s basketball team (3-2 Coast North, 14-5 overall) got back into the win column with a 71-62 win over the Gentlemen Trojans (2-3, 10-9). The Bulldogs were coming off a blistering 97-91 overtime loss Monday to Chabot.

CSM guard Isaiah Cabrera led a second-half resurgence. The Bulldogs managed just 26 points in the first half, with Cabrera accounting for a mere 3-point bucket. But the sophomore poured in 12 second-half points en route to a team-high 15. Sophomore forward Sam Manu added 11 points, while 12 different Bulldogs scored in the contest.