CIF-SOUTHERN SECTION GIRLS BASKETBALL PLAYOFFS

Valley Christian falls short of going back to divisional finals

By Loren Kopff

MOORPARK-With a few snowflakes falling outside of Moorpark College last Saturday night, the action was heating up inside when Valley Christian faced Oaks Christian in a California Interscholastic Federation-Southern Section Division IV-A semifinal game. But the Lady Crusaders found themselves playing catch-up nearly the entire game and were knocked off by the top ranked Lions 54-49.
Fourth ranked V.C., which was in division V-AA last season where it lost to Serra in the title game, trailed by as many as 11 points but got to within three points, the last time coming with 22.2 seconds remaining in the game. V.C. will now apply as an at-large to the state playoffs. The pairings for the state playoffs will be released on Sunday.
“Both sides definitely were battling,” said V.C. head coach Katie Hardeman. “They were probably a more skilled team than us. They’re a much more well rounded team. They should have beaten us by a lot more. But I was very proud with my girls and they have nothing to be ashamed of with that loss.”
Junior Kari Korver scored V.C.’s first six points which gave the team a four-point lead 87 seconds into the game. But Oaks Christian opened the second quarter on an 8-0 run and the Olympic League champions were never the same. After Korver scored a dozen points in the first quarter on four of five shooting from the field, Crystal Owusu and Brianna Barrett made sure Korver would not have a repeat performance the rest of the way. Korver was two of 10 from the field after the first quarter and had to earn her points the hard way by driving to the basket and hoping to get fouled. Korver scored a game-high 23 points and was eight of 10 from the charity stripe.
“It was going to make it really hard for Kari to where any shot she got was going to be heavily, heavily contested,” Hardeman said. “She still made some insane shots in the first half. It’s just a credit to her that she kept us in the game in the first half and that she was able to get to the free throw line in the second half.”
Owusu scored 11 points in the first half but Barrett spent the majority of the second half covering Korver and scored 13 of her team-high 20 points in the second half.
V.C. (19-10) trailed 31-20 late in the first half but scored the final six points of the half on a pair of baskets from senior Jelissa Holder and two free throws from Korver. Holder then put back an offensive rebound 25 seconds into the second half. But with the score 33-30, the Lions began to pull away with an 8-1 run. Even though the second half scoring was tied between the two teams, V.C. was seven of 20 from the field while the second place representatives from the Tri Valley League were five of 18.
Korver also had 11 rebounds and four steals while Holder added 16 points, eight rebounds, four assists and five steals. But the two of them were plagued with foul trouble throughout the game with Korver getting her fourth foul before the end of the third quarter and Holder hers midway through the final stanza.
“We needed one more person to be hitting and we didn’t have it,” Hardeman said. “They have a lot more weapons than we do, but I felt we played to our capabilities where we’re sneaky and scrappy and we’re able to make them turn it over a couple of times.”