Laurel pulls away for 41-21 win over Lady Trojans
COAL CENTER — Brandi Sutherland watched her California girls basketball team grow and improve over a season that saw it finish second in Section 3-2A and qualify for the WPIAL playoffs.
Even though the youthful Lady Trojans’ year ended with a 41-21 Class A first-round loss to Laurel on Tuesday night, Sutherland remained upbeat about the program’s future.
“We started two freshmen tonight. We definitely have a young team,” said the second-year coach. “We’re losing only one senior and we’ll miss Mady Morton, her height and her play, but we will be gaining hopefully a good class of about six or seven more freshmen next year, so we feel we can continue building from that.”
Jael Henderson scored a game-high 14 points with a pair of 3-pointers to lead the ninth-seeded Lady Spartans (13-10) in their win in front of a packed gymnasium at California Area High School. Alexis Bair added nine points and Laurel held a significant edge at the foul line, converting on 15 of 24 free throws while the No. 8 Lady Trojans attempted just eight.
Freshman Lila Mitchell, the daughter of Brownsville baseball and basketball great Mitch Mitchell, led California (11-11) with six points and was followed by juniors Lauren Hartley and Hayley Gibson with five and four points.
Sutherland lauded her team after the game.
“I told the girls in there that I’m proud of them for the progress they made this season,” she said. “This is not the same team that we saw in the tip-off tournament. They’ve changed so much and grown together as a team. They’re teamwork got better and they improved a lot.”
California lost its first four games in starting out 2-6, but went 9-3 over its next 14 games and finished 8-2 in section play.
Morton, a four-year letterman with four playoff appearances, didn’t let the loss diminish what she felt was an enjoyable final season despite being the lone senior.
“This year was something to remember,” Morton said. “These girls mean a lot to me. They changed my whole perspective on basketball.”
California jumped out to a 7-2 lead early on thanks to a 3-pointer and jump shot by Hartley and a fastbreak layup by Mitchell.
Laurel reeled off the final eight points of the first quarter to go up 10-7 and never trailed again.
The Lady Trojans pulled within one point twice in the second quarter. Mitchell’s baseline jump shot made it 10-9 and Gibson’s layup on a pass from freshman Aubrey Cellurale made it 12-11.
Again, the Lady Spartans closed the quarter strong, this time with a six-point run for an 18-11 halftime lead.
Laurel’s defense, which forced a slew of California turnovers, started to take charge in the second half.
“We’re had problems all year on offense with making the outside shot, and today we had trouble making an inside shot, too,” Sutherland said. “We really struggled without a true point guard.”
The six-foot Mitchell brought the ball up court most of the night for California.
“Lila should be under the basketball but she’s one of our best ball handlers,” Sutherland said.
After Morton’s driving basket opened the scoring in the third quarter, the Lady Spartans gradually moved out to a 29-16 advantage heading into the fourth.
Lady Trojans freshman Lilah Estis sank a 3-pointer from the corner to make it 31-19 but California could get no closer. The Lady Spartans finished the game on a 10-2 run.
“We had some tough non-section games at the beginning of the season to try to prepare us for a battle like this,” Sutherland said. “Unfortunately it didn’t translate to a win.”
Mitchell, a strong all-around player who provides rebounding, defense and ball-handling skills in addition to scoring, drew praise from Sutherland.
“Through MaxPreps, she’s leading all freshmen in double-doubles,” Sutherland said. “She’s got a lot of potential. If we can get her under the hoop where she belongs, that number is just going to go higher.”
Sutherland was pleased to see a packed house supporting her team.
“This was nice to have this many people here for one of our games,” she said. “We don’t usually play in front of a big crowd so I appreciate all those that showed up tonight.”