Birmingham girls basketball overpowered by Westchester in City Open Division semifinals

VENICE — Tuesday night’s CIF L.A. City Section Open Division girls basketball semifinal between Westchester and Birmingham was a rematch of last season’s championship game — and this time the Comets came out on top.

Birmingham’s hopes of reaching a second straight Open Division championship were dashed at Venice High School when Westchester beat the Patriots 57-44.

Birmingham’s season will continue in the CIF State playoffs. Brackets will be released Sunday afternoon.

“I know they’re very sad that we weren’t able to repeat but it’s tough to repeat and Westchester played a hell of a game,” Birmingham head coach Victor Koopongsakorn said.

Kayla Tanijiri and Kamora Coleman were two of the smallest players on the court, but they gave Birmingham the best chances to win and finished with 16 and nine points, respectively.

“We go if they go,” Koopongsakorn said. “If they’re clicking and they’re harassing the other team and we’re getting easy buckets, that’s more our type of game. Today Westchester did a good job taking care of the ball and we didn’t get the transition off turnover points we normally do.”

Zoee Mitchell, who scored nine points, made a turnaround layup to bring the score to 40-34 in Westchester’s favor with 3:02 left in the third quarter. The Comets outscored the Patriots 13-8 in the fourth quarter to punch their ticket to the Open Division championship.

Westchester, which was led by Reigne Waugh’s 22 points, will face No. 1 seed Hamilton in the final.

Birmingham was undersized in the matchup and Westchester leveraged the physical mismatch to force turnovers and make shots up close.

“They did a lot of stuff to bother us that normally doesn’t bother us,” Koopongsakorn said. “Hopefully we can learn from that and use this as a little motivation towards state.”

The Comets double-teamed Mitchell, the Patriots’ leading rebounder, and made it difficult for her to score on the offensive end. Coleman hustled her way to the paint to put up six points in the first half and Tanijiri hit four free throws and finish the half with nine points but Birmingham was unable to truly get under Westchester’s skin.

Tanijiri’s four free throws all came as the result of a technical foul and kept the Patriots in the game until Westchester’s Savannah Myles made a half-court shot at the end of the first quarter to give the Comets a 21-15 lead.

“We had some chances offensively,” Koopongsakorn said. “We missed a lot of chippy shots that kind of rattled out that could have helped settle us down. We never really settled down and were able to get into our flow.”

Mitchell made her first layup of the game with 2:56 remaining in the second quarter as Westchester continued to use its size to bully the Patriots and keep them from settling in on offense.

Birmingham starts two freshmen in Tanijiri and Bella Medina on a young team that has potential in the state playoffs and beyond.

“We have an automatic state bid, so we still have more work to do,” Koopongsakorn said.