Missing its top two scorers, Cate’s girls basketball team struggled in its CIF opener on Thursday and suffered a 32-18 season-ending loss to visiting Calvary Chapel.
Cate's Lisa Huang tries to make a defensive play
“Without our two starting players, we kind of get disheveled,” said Cate sophomore KatrinaVon Burg. “They bring a lot to the court.”
The Rams managed to stay with Downey in the first half before a full-court press shut down Cate’s offense in the third quarter. The defensive adjustment hit the Rams hard as one of their injured players is their point guard and getting the ball into the frontcourt became a problem. The Rams were held scoreless in the second half until Kymmie Lawyer scored on a layup early in the fourth quarter.
“It’s incredibly frustrating because you add our point guard to this game and it’s a different game. But that’s the way it goes,” said Rams head coach Jay Dorion. “To be honest with you, the effort that we put in tonight, and how close we came to giving them a really good game, I’m really proud of how well we played.”
The press effectively pinned down the Rams for the entire third quarter, as Downey extended a slim two-point lead into a comfortable 20-10 lead heading into the fourth quarter.
“Basically, (our defense) is what carried us all season,” said Calvary Chapel head coach Stephanie Anderson.
Lawyer’s layup broke Cate’s dry spell but the Grizzlies kept applying the pressure and eventually built their first 14-point lead after a 3-pointer by Ashley Duyao.
The Grizzlies are the overall No. 8 seed in Division VI-AA and finished third in the Delphic League. They will face the winner either Mayfield or San Jacinto Valley Academy on Saturday.
Lanea Pearson posted a team-high eight points for Cate and Lawyer added six. Von Burg valiantly stepped into the point guard role and scored three points in the fourth quarter.
Calvary Chapel was led by Duyao, who tallied a game-high 16 points.
“We have only two seniors. We’ll have a great team next year, we’ll have a lot of experience hopefully,” Von Burg said.
