The562’s coverage of Long Beach Poly is sponsored by Bryson Financial.
The Moore League champions from Long Beach Poly got a rude welcome to the postseason by the visiting Summit High on Thursday night. The Jackrabbits were flummoxed by the Skyhawks’ defensive pressure, leading to a rash of turnovers and easy buckets for the visitors from Fontana.
Poly was able to battle back in the second half, but ran out of steam in the final minutes as Summit emerged with a 38-34 victory in the first round of the CIF-SS Division 2AA girls’ basketball playoffs.
“They punched us hard, and we didn’t respond to it,” said Poly head coach Carl Buggs of his team’s start. “In the second half we stepped up a little bit, we just had way too many turnovers. We were just forcing stuff and didn’t need to. That’s the biggest disappointment, because it was a lot of my experienced kids that were making these turnovers.”
The SkyHawks jumped out to an 11-0 lead, forcing a pair of early timeouts for Poly. The visitors benefitted from a bunch of offensive rebounds and second-chance points to lead 13-2 after the first eight minutes, and they maintained a 19-9 lead at halftime.
Senior Joy Anderson was doing all she could offensively to keep the Jackrabbits in the game, recording all three of Poly’s made field goals in the first half. She finished with a game-high 15 points, with Poly getting seven points apiece from Nevaeh Lemons and Helena Vu.
Lemons missed nearly half of the second half when she picked up her fourth foul early in the third quarter, putting even more strain on Poly’s offense. After Summit took a 24-14 lead to go back up by double-digits, the Jackrabbits were able to find some rhythm, force turnovers of their own, and finally get some shots to fall.
Vu scored six of her points during a key 11-2 run that trimmed the Summit lead down to just one (26-25) in the closing stages of the third.
A three-pointer from Lemons again pulled Poly back to within one in the fourth quarter, but they could never quite get even as the SkyHawks went wire-to-wire for the win.
“They didn’t quit, that’s the good thing. They didn’t quit,” said Buggs of his team’s ability to get the game back in range. “And we weren’t turning the ball over. When we were taking care of the ball, we were coming back and actually scoring.”
Poly had a chance to tie with a three-pointer in the final minute, but it went wide and Summit was able to hit just enough free throws to put the game away.
Kamryn Ellis and Jordan Moron each had eight points to lead the way for Summit. They’ll advance to face Oak Park on the road on Saturday in round two.
