Orange Lutheran girls basketball overwhelmed by La Salle’s strong start

ORANGE — The Orange Lutheran girls basketball team came into Friday’s game looking to build off the momentum of a quality victory earlier in the week.

Instead, it was La Salle, the top-ranked team in the San Gabriel Valley, that blitzed Orange Lutheran from the onset and came away with a 49-26 victory at Orange Lutheran High.

Riley Higgins scored a game-high 19 points and Aislin Tamez Torres added 12 points for La Salle, which improved to 8-2.

Orange Lutheran coach Lindsay Charity said her team got off to a slow start.

“We didn’t come out ready to go. So when you start the game down 20, it’s real hard to recover from that,” Charity said. “I think a lot of our youth showed tonight, and a lot of us just not being mentally prepared for a game. I think coming off of the high that was beating San Clemente on Wednesday, we didn’t even look at this game the way we should have.”

Orange Lutheran (9-3), ranked No. 10 in Orange County this week, could not replicate its performance against the fifth-ranked Tritons.

La Salle coach Scott Wiard believes the defensive intensity and size of his team were key factors in the victory.

“I was pleased with our effort tonight,” Wiard said, “especially on the defensive end. It was a chance for us to play (against) some really good players.”

“We felt like one of our strength is our size this year, and Riley and Aislin are such versatile players with their size, and skill level,” Wiard continued. “They do a good job of getting to the glass and getting the ball near the basket, and making easy plays.”

La Salle jumped out to a 16-6 lead after the first quarter and continued to ride its suffocating defense to a 33-8 halftime advantage.

Ever Lin’s drive to the basket late in the first half helped the host Lancers avoid being shut out in the second quarter.

Charity found some positive takeaways from the second half.

“Proud of our girls for winning the second half, that was the goal,” she said. “You know, you can’t change the first half at that point, just fight back and do what we can with the second half. Happy with that.”

Kayla Watanabe was the only Orange Lutheran player to reach double figures with 11 points, nine of those coming in the third quarter from three 3-pointers.

Both teams went more than four minutes without scoring in the fourth quarter before a basket by Tamez Torres made the score 45-21.

Orange Lutheran’s next game is Dec. 20 against Oak Hills in the La Salle Showcase.