By: Josh Ouellette
(La Canada) It was the tale of two halves for the La Canada Lady Spartans in the championship game of the La Canada New Years Ball Tournament on Thursday verse the Serra Lady Cavaliers.
Both teams battled for the first two quarters with the score at the half 26-22 La Canada the better.
In the first half the Spartans were able to contain the size and the speed advantages that Serra had on them, while being able to score on the trapping and physical defense the Lady Cavaliers play.
The second half was completely different though. Serra started to double, and even sometime triple team point guard Tia Chen (13 points, four assists, six rebounds) and made their offense ineffective.
“In the second half they were able to completely take Tia (Chen) out of the game,” said La Canada Head Coach Tamar Hill. “This is a game that is going to prepare us for the future.”
The Cavaliers were able to break away on the offensive side, out-scoring the Lady Spartans 36 to nine in the second half. Bria Richardson (17 points, three assists, three rebounds) and Rejane Verin (13 points, eight rebounds) combined for 20 points in the half.
Richardson used her ability to drive to the basket to force fouls and get to the charity strike with ten of her game high 17 points coming off of free throws.
Verin was the tallest player on the court at 6’2, and she used her height and ability to grab most of the missed shots and put them back for points.
This combination was cold in the first half, but was just the fire the team needed to overthrow La Canada on their home court.
LA CANADA 9 17 3 6 35
SERRA 10 12 19 17 58
SCORING: LC – Courtney McCutchan 15, Tia Chen 13, Shannon Denney 5, Grace O’Hara 2
S – Bria Richardson 17, Rejane Verin 13, Talia Rayford 10, Raven Gammage 5, Danielle Muepo 4, Aaron Heard 4, Megan Wright 3
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