The Eastside College Prep Panthers held a steady lead to defeat the Capital Christian-Sacramento Cougars, 53-42, Saturday night during the CIF Northern California Division V Quarterfinals in East Palo Alto. A few days before, the Cougars (21-11, Golden Empire) came off of a 54-42 win against the Urban Blues in first round of the Championships.
Going into the quarterfinals, Eastside (21-8, West Bay - Foothill) had a first-round bye, so it was the team’s first game in nearly three weeks.
“We had a long layoff and it showed a bit,” Eastside coach Donovan Blythe said. “There were times when we performed well, but other times we didn’t, so we really needed this game.”
The Panthers led most of the game, but lost their lead a few times in the second quarter. After a slow first quarter that ended with a score of 8-5 in favor of Eastside, Capital Christian junior Haleigh Filer opened with a 3-pointer that tied the game 8-8. A few seconds later, Filer came back down the middle of the court with a layup, while two Eastside players tried to block her, to snatch a 10-8 lead for the Cougars.
It wasn’t long until Eastside sophomore guard Chacitty Cunningham scored two points, followed by a 3-pointer, to re-obtain a 16-13 lead for her team. Cunningham went on to score two more points in the fourth quarter.
With four minutes to go in the second, the Cougars were relentless. Filer sunk another 3-pointer to once again tie the game at 16-16.
But the Panthers responded immediately with two points, and from that point on, Eastside maintained their lead.
“Once we took the lead back, we kept coming down with a couple baskets here and there, which allowed us to stay ahead,” Blythe said.
Eastside’s rebounding also kept it in the lead. Senior forward Hashima Carothers led the Panthers in rebounds with 13 total and scored eight points. Sophomore center Destiny Graham had six rebounds and scored 10 points total, nine in the second half. Junior guard Charmaine Bradford and junior forward Alexus Simon each had five rebounds. Simon finished with 13 points, and she scored the last two points in the first half to gave the Panthers a 26-18 lead.
Bradford had six assists, the most made in the night, and five rebounds and scored six points. With a little more than one minute to go in the third, Bradford’s fast reflexes got her the rebound after Crothers’ missed free throw, and she easily sunk two points for the Panthers. After the third, Eastside created a larger lead at 42-28.
Panthers sophomore guard Brije Byers started off the fourth quarter strong for the team with a 3-pointer and an additional two points. Filer and sophomore Nicole Colbert scored 12 points combined in the fourth for the Cougars, but it was not enough to catch up to Eastside.
In total, Filer scored 18 points, had three rebounds and went 3-for-4 from the free-throw line, while Colbert went 2-for-2, had five rebounds, and scored 10 points for the Cougars.
I’m not sure if it was because of nerves, but we had around six turnovers,” Capital Christian coach Suzanne Baker said. “We did a good job on the bigs. Offensively we’re a little stagnant, but I was pleased with how we did.”
The Cougars experienced many injuries and illness this season, so Baker was glad to have her whole team today.
“Considering our injuries at the beginning, I am happy with our whole season and how far we went,” she said. “When we beat Urban, it was great to know that we have another game, so we were excited to come play.”
Though it’s the end of the 2012-2013 season for Capital Christian, it’s just the start of their next season.
“All of our contributors are back, so right now we will work on just getting better, not playing scared,” Baker said. “In the fourth quarter, the players played like I know they can play, so we need them to do that in the first quarter. Most of all, we will work on building confidence so the players believe they are a good team and can compete against anybody.”
Eastside will move on to the Semifinals and face International-San Francisco Jaguars on March 12 at 7 pm. Last year, the Panthers lost to the St. Joseph Notre Dame Pilots in the semifinal round, but they are hoping to get the win this time.
“It gets tougher and tougher every round, so we’re going back to the drawing board and getting ready,” Blythe said.
