CIF D5 girls championship: La Jolla Country Day wins in Styles

Pregame
Division V girls

La Jolla Country Day (La Jolla) (17-11) vs. Eastside College Prep (East Palo Alto) (25-5)

Terrific trios: La Jolla Country Day — Mai-loni Henson (17.0 points per game,), Alaysia Styles (9.6), Mariana Ecija (9.3). Eastside Prep — Destiny Graham (16.2), Brije Byers (14.4), Kayla Tahaafe (10.7).
State record: LJCD 3-4, Eastside Prep 0-0.
Key points: Eastside Prep has just six players so pace, pressure and foul trouble key.

Final score: La Jolla Country Day 40, Eastside College Prep 36

BERKELEY — The long reach — and long memory — of 6-foot-2 Alaysia Styles were pivotal in La Jolla Country Day's down-to-the-wire 40-36 win over a very gritty Eastside College Prep Friday at Haas Pavilion on the campus of Cal.

Styles, a sophomore who has caught the attention of University of Connecticut coach Geno Auriemma, definitely was noticed by the Panthers aver she had 10 points, 14 rebounds and eight blocks leading the Torreys to their fourth state title.  She also scored two key buckets down the stretch after nice fees from leading scorer Mai-Loni Henson.

In a game that featured 13 lead changes and five ties, two free throws by Isabel Aguirre with 6.8 seconds clinched the victory. That was particularly satisfying for the Torreys who lost in last year's state finals to Pinewood.

Mariana Ecija led LJCD (18-11) with 14 points, while Kayla Tahaafe had 12 and Chacitty Cunningham 11 for Eastside Prep (25-6), which played the entire game — and season — with six players.

"I didn't want to go home crying again," Styles said.

The defense of Styles played a bigger role than her offense as besides her blocks, she changed numerous shots of the smaller and quicker Panthers, who made just 15 of 59 shots (26 percent). The team's leading scorer, 6-3 Arizona-bound Destiny Graham managed just nine points on 4-of-13 shots, but she had had 10 rebounds.

Eastside actually held a 39-34 edge in rebounds, but couldn't get the ball into the basket over the long reach of LJCD which blocked 11 shots overall.

"We lost to a great team," Eastside coach Donovan Blythe said. "Most of the time with our quickness we can get to the hole without any problem. But they were so long and good at blocking shots. That was the difference."

So was a nearly eight-minute scoreless spell that started midway through the third quarter for the Northern California champions. An outside jumper by Graham gave the Panthers their last lead, 29-28, with 4:04 left in the third.

But they wouldn't score until 4:20 left in the fourth on a three-pointer by Cunningham, her third of the game. That tied the game at 32-32.

A driving layup by Ecija and lay-up from Styles made it 36-34, freshman Tahaafe added a putback to close to two, but Henson and Styles teamed up again to give LJCD a two-bucket edge. Henson, who came in averaging a team-best 17 points per game, had just two points and took five shots. But she had a game-high seven assists.

"I knew I had to get my teammates involved," Henson said.

And LJCD coach Terri Bamford said she had to take drastic measures when her team had a four-game losing streak starting in late January.

"We basically started all over," Bamford said. "Sometimes you have to do it. This is an incredibly talented team but at times I had to remind myself how young they are."

Not Aguirre who started her LJCD with a state title and finished it off with one. Her clutch free throws were a poetic ending to a fine career.

"There was a lot of pressure but I knew I could make them," she said.

For Blythe, there were no tears, only a load of pride. His team had regular 5:30 a.m. practices and they embraced the team motto of "Seal Team Six," in conjunction with some Navy Seal training he put the girls through. It led to their first Northern California title.

"It's been an unbelievable season," he said. "I'm at a loss for words. ... I couldn't be prouder of a group of six girls." 

La Jolla Country Day 40, Eastside College Prep 36

LA JOLLA COUNTRY DAY (18-11)
Kiera Oakry 2-3 0-0 4, Isabel Aguirre 0-2 2-2 2, Alaysia Styles 5-11 0-0 10, Mai-loni Henson 1-5 0-0 2, Mariana Ecilja 5-15 2-2 14, Bianca Notarainni 0-1 0-0 0, Jayda Villareal 3-7 0-0 8. Totals 16-44 4-4 40.

EASTSIDE COLLEGE PREP (25-6)
Ra'Anna Bey 0-2 0-0 0, Brije Byers 2-16 0-0 4, Destiny Graham 4-13 1-2 9, Kayla Tahaafe 5-12 2-2 12, Alayah Bell 0-3 0-0 0, Chacitty Cunningham 4-13 0-0 11. Totals 15-59 3-4 36.

LJCD 10  12  10  8  - 40
ECP   12   8    9  7  -  36

3-point goals: Ecija 2, Villareal 2, Cunningham 3. Rebounds: LJCD 34 (Styles 14), ECP 39 (Graham 10). Turnovers: LJCD 17, ECP 15.