Porterville (Porterville, Calif.) High School senior star shooter Kyla Hill clutched
her jaw shut and closed her eyes, but after the emotional game against the Lady
Broncos of Clovis North (Fresno, Calif.) (6-4, 19-8) she was simply unable to hold back falling
tears.
Despite the team’s effort, the Lady Panthers (5-3, 10-6)
crumbled in the second round of playoffs, 56-37.
“We [each] could have been six inches taller,” Hill chuckled
as she held back tears. “It would have helped tonight.” Hill chipped in four
points for her last high school game.
And the Lady Broncos did have height that helped them
dominate on the court – Rebecca Waller and Chay Coffman both register at six
foot one.
“We are really a
unique team, we have big tall girls and we have a lot of speed,” Clovis coach Shane
Kiehlmeir said.
“We played great full
court pressure defense tonight.”
But under all the circumstances Porterville senior Corianne Snyder still gave
her opponents a run for their money. Snyder led her team with 14 points and
nine rebounds.
“I think our problem along the whole year was taking care of
the ball, when we get pressured we usually turn the ball over,” Snyder said. “I
still think we had a great season, we made it a lot farther than we thought we
would. I don’t know what else I could have asked for out of this game – we
played our hearts out.”
However, Snyder may have not had her highest scoring game
due to receiving three fouls in just the first quarter. Snyder was taken out,
which left the Lady Panthers in the midst of trouble on the court until the
third quarter when she re-entered.
“Through the whole season my coach has told me don’t swat at
the ball and that’s when I realized I shouldn’t have done that,” Snyder said. “I
probably could have stood straight up more.”
Assisting Snyder in points and leadership on the court was
sophomore speed demon Alia Alvarez. Alvarez had 11 points, many which were
three-pointers.
“We are a very young team, so we don’t really know the
aspect of slowing the game down,” Alvarez said. “But, I still love our seniors;
Nancy, Kyla, Corrianne, D, we still had a really great year.”
The sophomore plans on coming back stronger and faster next
year with guidance from her coaches. Her goal is to become a better point guard
and be able to control the court more.
Lady Panther Nancy Valdez added two points whiles Chelsea
James helped with five.
On the opposing side Coffman lead her team with 14 points,
DeVaughna Jenkins had 11 and Jessica Newman had 10 points.
“We didn’t take care of the ball very well tonight,” Porterville coach Brian
Hill said. “Defensively we made some mistakes, but I’m very proud [of the
girls]. No one thought we would get this far and we did.”
The Lady Broncos will play either Frontier, Bakersfield,
or Tehachapi High School next week in the third round
of playoffs.
