The loneliest place to be Friday night at Santa Teresa High was on the bench of Eastside College Prep, which had only two subs for its game against St. Francis.
That lack of depth didn't help the Panthers on Friday night in a 45-36 loss to St. Francis (20-7). The setback came in the Central Coast Section Open Division opening round.
Eastside (21-7) led 20-17 at the half.
"The second half we locked up on them defensively and I felt like they got tired so we pushed it on them," Lancer forward Jennifer Lucian said. "We just kept going and nobody gave up. We all stayed together and made some really important free throws and just played like a team."
The Lancer victory avenged a last-gasp, 42-39 setback to Eastside in overtime in a non-league tournament game in East Palo Alto.
"Defensively we played well and we had some opportunities on offense," St. Fracis coach Brian Harrigan said. "In the second half we started finishing those shots and made some free throws down the stretch."
Eastside 6-foot senior center Hashima Carothers was a tower of strength for the Panthers, scoring 19 points, taking 12 rebounds and blocking three shots. She scored eight of those points in the first quarter to stake her team to a 12-5 lead.
But Harrigan had more players at his disposal and more contributing with four players scoring seven points or more. The Lancers were led by Lucian with 14 points, Shelbi Aimonetti with 12 and Daisha Abdelkader with 11.
Aimonetti also did a nice job guarding Eastside star point guard Charmaine Bradford, who was held to seven points before fouling out in the final minute.
Leading 32-28 to start the fourth quarter, St. Francis outscored the Panthers 6-1 to start the period to gain a little breathing room.
Still clinging to a 40-36 lead with 46.5 seconds left, the Lancers made five free throws down the stretch to hold off the wilting Panthers.
St. Francis made 14 of 18 free throw attempts and Eastside 7 of 13.
St. Francis now faces Lynbrook on Wednesday at Oak Grove High at 7:30 p.m. in the semifinals. Eastside meets Sacred Heart Cathedral at 7:30 p.m. Tuesday at Oak Grove.
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John Murphy may be reached at jmurphy@prep2prep.com
