Girls basketball wins big against the Mavericks

The TPHS varsity girls basketball team (12-11) maintained an undefeated league record with their 60-52 win against the La Costa Canyon Mavericks (13-10) on Jan. 20.

Kicking off the first quarter, Harper Kelly (11) made an impact with a quick basket. Minutes later, Lily Oliva (11) stepped up and sank a free throw, which Grace Trusso (12) followed with four points off of two rebounds, leaving the score tied at 12-12 for the first quarter.

“The other team was doing a lot of screens and handoffs which was hard for us to figure out at first and cost us some points,” Trusso said. “But once we learned how to help off of them we were able to grow our lead.”

The second quarter started off a bit slow for the Falcons, with the Mavericks maintaining possession of the ball. While Lauren Mills (11) made a solid three pointer to help catch up, TPHS ended the half trailing 23-20.

“Although the first half of the game was a bit slower, talking to my teammates and rallying together in the locker room really helped us regain our energy and hype,” Zoe Lau (12) said.

Within the first 20 seconds of the third quarter, Lau scored a three-pointer, bringing the Falcons and Mavericks to a tie.

Mills continued to score, draining three three-pointers before the end of the quarter. The Falcons took the lead, with Trusso’s six points off of layups and Oliva’s layup, three-pointer and free throw.

“The easy part was that most of us had grown up playing against these LCC girls, and it wasn’t the first time seeing them over the years,” Lau said. “The challenges that presented themselves were that they played a defense that we hadn’t seen much of until that game, so we had to adjust accordingly.”

In the fourth quarter, the Falcons put heavy pressure on the Mavericks, slowly tiring out their starting lineup.

Trusso continued stacking up points, gaining four from layups, while Oliva contributed eight points from one layup and two three-pointers.

“The team performed really well, everyone did their job and rose to the occasion,” Lau said. “We all played together and did well moving the ball around to the open man.”

Trusso agreed.

“I think that we played very unselfishly and as a team rather than all playing individually,” she said. “As we get closer to CIF’s and the end of league we are hoping to keep our winning streak going.”

Photos by Hope Dennis