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Photo by...Mario Villegas


Girl ‘Rough Riders’ Beat Wilson for City Title

By Mario Villegas, Exclusive to EGP

Using a familiar pattern, Roosevelt High School overcame a slow start and survived a late surge last Saturday to edge top-seeded Wilson, 52-51, and win the City Section Division II girls’ basketball title.

The No. 3 Rough Riders improved to 21-4 as they notched their 20th victory in 21 games after starting the season 1-3. They took a 17-game winning streak into Monday’s CIF State Southern Regional Division II playoff game against Spring Valley Mount Miguel (24-6) of the San Diego Section at Roosevelt.

Moreover, Roosevelt has won two titles in three trips to the City finals in the last four years.
Roosevelt High School players celebrate after defeating Wilson, 52-51, in the City Section Division II championship game. The Rough Riders captured their second City title in four years. (EGP Photos by Mario Villegas)

Roosevelt High School players celebrate after defeating Wilson, 52-51, in the City Section Division II championship game. The Rough Riders captured their second City title in four years. (EGP Photos by Mario Villegas)

“I don’t know about a dynasty, but we’re doing pretty well,” Roosevelt Coach Dina Mayeda said. “We played through a lot of adversity this year and I’m just so proud of my girls.”

Down 10-2 at the end of the first quarter, the Rough Riders were able to attack Wilson’s press and used a 19-11 run in the second period to leave the Roybal Learning Complex court at halftime tied, 21-21.

“We had trouble with their press, but we’ve had some slow starts throughout the playoffs,” said Mayeda, noting that the Rough Riders rallied back from a 17-point deficit to defeat Monroe in the quarterfinals.

“Our girls knew that they could come back from anything, so we were able to play a lot smarter and work the ball around after the first quarter.”

Olivia Ochoa scored seven points in the second quarter to lead Roosevelt back into the game.

“I got mad at myself for missing my first three shots, but then I made one and I got my confidence back,” said Ochoa between coughs. The junior guard was bothered by an ear infection and had missed two days of practice because of the flu. She recovered in time to have an outstanding game. Ochoa finished with 14 points, five rebounds, four assists and four steals.

“We were just nervous at the beginning of the game,” junior guard Aurora Torres said. “We were rushing things and throwing the ball away. We just stayed patient and looked for the open man.”

Torres scored a game-high 15 points and was credited with six rebounds.

Neither team could put together a run in the third quarter until Roosevelt went on a 7-2 run capped by Ochoa’s 3-pointer that gave the Rough Riders a 34-27 lead with 44 seconds left. But layups by Elisa Alvarez (eight points, 10 rebounds) and Michelle Venegas (11 points) quickly got Wilson to within 34-31.

The Mules, however, were unable to catch up to the Rough Riders, who extended their lead to 46-39 on a basket by Lauren Cruz (six points, five rebounds) with 4:20 left in the game.

After Wilson’s Lizette Ramirez hit two free throws, an offensive foul negated a basket by Abigail Vasquez that would have pulled the Mules to within two with 1:11 left. Vasquez, Wilson’s season scoring leader, fouled out, leaving the game with 15 points and six rebounds.

Torres grabbed an offensive rebound and scored to give Roosevelt a 52-46 lead with 38 seconds left. But Ochoa missed two free throws that likely would have sealed the victory and Wilson’s Denise Villa drilled a 3-pointer with 16 seconds left to get Wilson to within 52-51.

The Rough Riders were able to inbound the ball and get it across midcourt. Wilson purposely fouled Brizia Gonzalez, but there were only 1.8 seconds left.

Erika Navarette grabbed eight rebounds and scored six points and Monica Briseno had six points to also lead Roosevelt.

Wilson (22-6) was also led by Danielle Martinez who played most of the second half with four fouls before fouling out. She scored five points and had eight rebounds and two steals.

Wilson Coach Mari Rodriguez expressed frustration late in the game with pivotal officiating calls that went against her team in the closing minutes, including what the Mules felt was a backcourt violation and an unwarranted shot clock reset, but she declined to comment about them afterward.

“It’s not the reason why we lost, but there were some calls that really changed the momentum,” she said.
She felt the Mules hurt themselves, especially with foul trouble and 11 missed free throws.

“All year long we’ve made our runs and the other teams have made theirs, but in the end we’ve always finished games strong,” she said. “But tonight we missed free throws, we missed layups and we fouled at times that we shouldn’t have. Foul trouble really hurt us. Our forwards had two fouls late in the first half and that was one of the reasons why Roosevelt tied it up. We had to pull them out because we couldn’t risk them having three fouls to start the second half.”

Wilson also advanced to the CIF State Southern Regionals and was scheduled to play Garces (29-2) of the Central Section Monday in Bakersfield.

“We’re frustrated and the girls are hurt, but we’re going to regroup and be ready to play on Monday,” Rodriguez said. “There are a lot of teams out there that would love to be where we are right now.