It was a long Thursday for Millikan girls’ basketball coach Lorene Morgan. Since she’s the girls’ athletic director in addition to the school’s hoops coach, Morgan had to help set up and supervise the school’s girls’ soccer and girls’ water polo playoff games, then run to the store to pick up snacks for her boosters to sell, then help set up the scoreboard after the plug came undone behind the gym’s bleachers.
Fortunately for Morgan and her Rams, it was smooth sailing once their game started. Millikan had no trouble at all in a CIF-SS Division 2AA opener, defeating visiting Vista Murrieta 64-36.
The Rams are ranked No. 4 in their division, and were hoping for a quick contest Thursday to open the playoffs.
“I thought we played good defense, eventually,” said Morgan. “We want more consistency throughout the game with that.”
The Rams forced plenty of turnovers in the first half, holding VM to eight points in the first quarter and seven in the second, building a 27-15 lead behind shooting from distance and easy transition buckets after steals.
Amaya Lacy led the Rams with 14 points, and was a voice in helping to settle the team. The Rams are without the services of Vanessa Smith, a key contributor who went down with a knee injury late in the regular season.
“We’re going to go all out for her, we’re missing one of our best players but we’re all stepping up to make sure we get it done,” said Lacy.
Other leading scorers for the Rams were Lesley Garcia, who had four 3-pointers for 12 points, and Kylee Ishibashi and Alison Crawford, who had 10 points apiece. Freshman Makena Ching led Vista Murrieta with 17 points.
The Rams will travel to Pasadena High on Saturday for their second round game.
