Lynbrook defeated Palo Alto 81-61 on Tuesday night in an SCVAL-De Anza girls basketball game.
The game was evenly contested at the outset, but Lynbrook eventually exerted its dominance.
“We didn’t realize they were going to come out so fast, so it was good for us to calm down a little bit as the game went on,” said Lynbrook coach Cynthia Ting.
Lynbrook's 14-0 second quarter run put it in control.
Junior point guard Dolly Yuan provided Lynbrook (10-4, 2-0) with an offensive spark, leading the team with 24 points, 12 of which came in the first quarter. The Palo Alto defense was no match for her strong drives to the basket, as most of her points came from layups.
“We didn’t stop their penetration from their guards, but their guards are good, so we’ll learn from it,” Palo Alto coach Scott Peters said. “They exposed some things on us defensively but that’s the style we’re going to play and commit to.”
Palo Alto (8-7, 1-2) made Lynbrook work for their points by employing a tight man defense throughout all four quarters. To counter this, Lynbrook turned to a heavy passing game, often spreading the ball out to all players on the court during each possession. Senior guards Paige Song and Annie Cheng often threw darts across the court to their teammates, setting up several scoring opportunities.
“This year, we’ve been moving the ball really well and looking for each other,” Ting explained. “We played like a team should, not one player dominated.”
On the Palo Alto side, freshman Amelia Schmarzo led the way with 14 points, mainly from four three-pointers. Additionally, sophomore Coco Lovely and freshman Lauren Koyama added 10 and 13 points, respectively.
Palo Alto consistently found its teammates on the perimeter, which resulted in a higher percentage of long-range shots. Lynbrook relied mainly on their presence in the paint to score points, evidenced by senior center Sara Dyslin’s 20-point performance.
“We played hard and I was proud of our effort,” Peters said. “The girls did what I asked of them, and in this case it’s a failure on the part of the coaching staff. So we’ll either stay with this scheme and get better with it, or try something else.”
Palo Alto will pay a visit to the Mountain View Spartans on Jan. 24, while Lynbrook faces Gunn on the road on Friday.
