Dos Pueblos' Chiara DiMarco looks for an open teammate.
Dos Pueblos battled toe-to-toe with top-seeded Harvard Westlake early in the game before the Wolverines wore the Chargers down and coasted to a 74-46 victory in a CIF Division 2 second-round girls basketball playoff game at Sovine Gym.
Jessica Escalante hit a 3-pointer at the end of the first quarter to give DP a 19-18 lead. But the Chargers couldn’t keep up the pace against the up-tempo attack and aggressive defense of the Wolverines.
Chiara Dimarco drives past a Harvard Westlake defender to score two of her 12 points for DP.
“The play hard,” DP coach Jelani Hicks said. “We ran out of gas. It took a lot out of us in the first quarter to stay with them.”
Led by the guard tandem of Esther Lee and Sylar Tsutsui, Harvard Westlake went on a 15-0 run in the second quarter. Jasmine Mata ended DP’s scoring drought with a free throw that made the score 33-20. The Wolverines led 39-26 at halftime.
“They were relentless,” said Hicks. “There’s a reason why they are the No. 1 team. They have those two guards who kept the tempo up.”
Lee scored 22 points and Tsutsui added 19 to pace Harvard Westlake.
Escalante led DP with 21 points, including four 3-pointers, and Chiara Dimarco added 12 points. The other DP players had a tough time against Harvard Westlake’s pressure
“They are a very good defensive team. They were able to slow down our other scorers,” said Hicks.
The DP coach said he told his players after the game that the have the potential to play like Harvard Westlake next season.
“I told them that’s where we want to be, and to use this game as a measuring point for next year,” he said.
