Troy girls basketball falls to Valencia in the Division 1 quarterfinals

FULLERTON — In his first year back at the school where he guided the girls basketball team to five CIF Southern Section titles and three state championships, Troy coach Kevin Kiernan turned the Warriors back in the direction they hadn’t gone in several years.

Troy won more games this year than it had in the previous two seasons combined.

But the Warriors fell short in their CIF-SS Division 1 quarterfinal Wednesday night, losing to Valencia of Valencia, 52-48, at Troy High School.

Troy, ranked No. 8 in Orange County, led 47-45 with under 35 seconds remaining in the game. That’s when Valencia’s Keira McLaughlin knocked down a 3-pointer from the top of the key to put the Vikings (27-4) ahead by a point.

The Warriors (22-9) had possession of the ball and trailed by three with 16.2 seconds remaining. They turned the ball over and the Vikings put the game away with a pair of free throws with 4.2 seconds left.

Warriors starter Lexi Joko was injured early in the third quarter and never came back into the game. Rilynn Robinson, Aoki Perry and Princeton signee Mei-ling Perry were in foul trouble for much of the second half and had to be taken out for periods of time.

Mei-ling Perry scored 21 points before fouling out late in the fourth. Robinson also fouled out late in the fourth.

“It was a really physical game,” Kiernan said. “We knew they were going to be really physical and we wanted to match that physicality. We got in foul trouble and that really hurt us, you know, because we had to get both Perrys out of there for a while and had players foul out. And then Lexi got hurt, and not having your point guard at the end of the game hurt us.”

The Vikings led by six points late in the second quarter, the largest lead by either team.

Joko scored to get the Warriors within a basket. Aarna Nagakar made a steal and passed to Joke, who hit a three-pointer to get Troy within a point at the half.

The Warriors also had a tough time containing Kamilla Basyrova, who led the Vikings with 19 points.

Valencia also exploited its height advantage under the basket.

“Rebounding has been a big deal for us all season,” Valencia coach Jared Honig said. “We always talk about rebound margin as being one of our main stats that we look for, so just trying to dominate the boards on both sides.”

Kiernan said he plans to return next season and several seasons after that.

“I don’t think they really believed we could be in this position, in this game, in front of this crowd, with as many people caring,” Kiernan said. “I don’t think they believed that as little as four weeks ago. They’re young but I think they saw how exciting this is, win or lose.”

During Kiernan’s first 11 years Troy, before he went to Mater Dei, the Warriors were undefeated in the Freeway League every year.

Kiernan extended that streak to 12 undefeated seasons in league games in his first year back as the Warriors went 8-0 in the Freeway League.