The Los Alamitos Girls Basketball Team honored seven senior players with a victory last Thursday night over the visiting Newport Harbor Sailors.
All five starting seniors for Los Al scored on this special Senior night which marks the last time they will play on their home court.
A standing room only crowd celebrated the accomplishments of the girls before the game. The fans then cheered the home team to a 47-41 overtime victory and witnessed Los Al Senior Tess Wianecki score a season high 16 points and the game winning basket in overtime to lead the Griffins to victory.
The game began slowly with Los Alamitos out pacing the Sailors 10-3 in the first quarter. Seniors Shelby Schiada and Tess Wianecki each pulled down three rebounds and scored 2 and 4 points respectively.
Natalie Richards contributed three steals and 2 points. Newport Harbor stayed close to Los Al and continued chipping away at the deficit to end the first half down by a score of 17-12.
The Griffins got serious in the third quarter with Tess Wianecki scoring 8 points, tossing in two 3 pointers. Aran Laferrara put in a 3 point shot of her own, for a total of five points in the period. Schiada rounded out the scoring with a bucket and a free throw to help end the quarter with a 33-21 lead.
The final period had a change of fortune for the pesky Sailors. Led by Alex Morton and Maiquel McCleish, Newport Harbor found their shooting touch and tied the Griffins with a 12-0 run before Sophomore Tia Karapoulios’s two free throws put Los Al ahead with 1:59 left in the contest.
The Sailors surged ahead again with two free throws and a McCleish lay-in with 1:33 left on the clock. The teams missed their scoring chances for the next minute until Los Al’s Natalie Richards sunk a clutch 3 pointer with 25 seconds left on the clock to put the Griffins ahead, 40-39. Richards fouled out 15 seconds later when she clipped Newport’s Alex Morton who sank 1 of two free throws to tie the game 40-40 and send it into overtime.
The overtime period was a defensive struggle for both teams as most offensive efforts were denied. With 2:41 left, Tess Wianecki scored the game winning basket with a 16 foot shot from the baseline corner. Her basket was the only field goal in the extra period although Los Al out scored the Sailors 5-1 at the charity stripe to end the contest with a 47-41 victory.
High scorers for Los Alamitos were Wianecki with 16, Karapoulios 8, Richards, Schiada, Laferrara and Rachel Bass, each with 5. The Griffins (10-13, 3-5) are on the road for their last two games against Esperanza and Marina to round out their Sunset League play.
