For the second time in two weeks, the Los Alamitos Girls Junior Varsity basketball team made a good showing in a local tournament, this time going 3-1 in the Millikan Junior Varsity Basketball Tournament and earning the Third Place Award with a gritty 31-29 victory over Huntington Beach High.
Huntington Beach scored first, but the Griffins took a 4-2 lead and never trailed again, although the fourth quarter was too close for comfort. At the end of the first half, the Griffins led 21-9, but they were outscored 20 to 10 in the second half and relied on inspired defense to get the stop they needed as Huntington Beach had the ball with 30 seconds left but couldn’t get a good shot.
The Griffins (6-2) relied heavily on three juniors: forward Kat Contreras, who had 8 points, 8 rebounds, and 6 steals, point guard Karla Buenrostro, who also had 8 points to go along with 2 assists and 2 clutch free throws in the fourth quarter, and forward Mikayla Aguayo, who had 12 rebounds, 4 points, 2 steals, and a blocked shot.
Contreras’ energetic and effective play earned her a place on the All-Tournament team.
For the four-game tournament, the Griffins were led in scoring by freshman point guard Remy Hoang who averaged 11.3 points per game, including a 27-point performance in the Griffins’ 83-2 victory over an over-matched Norwalk High. The Griffins also defeated Ramona High 45-22. The only blemish was a loss to West Torrance 27-38.
Two weeks ago, over the Thanksgiving weekend, the Griffins made it to the final four in the El Toro Thanksgiving Classic tournament, defeating Brea 40-32 for that third-place trophy.
