Valencia girls basketball fends off Windward in the Division 1 semifinals

VALENCIA — Valencia’s girls basketball team defeated Windward 59-46 on Saturday night in the CIF-SS Division 1 semifinals at Valencia High.

Sophomore guard Kamilla Basyrova led the Vikings with 20 points.

The Vikings will play La Salle game in the championship. The date, time and location for the final will be announced Monday.

“We executed at a really high level, especially to start the game,” Valencia coach Jared Honig said. “And the girls just fought and battled all game through. They kind of absorbed the other team’s runs and just closed it out. So I couldn’t be more proud of the team.”

After Windward scored the first two points of the game, Valencia’s defense kept Windward off the board again until there was less than a minute left in the period.

Basyrova’s jump shots and senior wing Cara McKel’s backdoor layups were the difference makers on offense. The Vikings led 16-3 after the first quarter.

“We just had a couple jitters. The jitters, third playoff game, the atmosphere,” Windward coach Dante Dixon. “But I don’t like to make excuses. Valencia executed. They made their shots. We missed ours.”

The Vikings dominated the paint to start the second quarter, scoring off of three consecutive layups before Sophia Sarkar landed two 3-pointers. Overall, the Vikings scored 14 unanswered points to go up 30-6.

Basyrova added two layups during the run.

Windward junior guard Charis Rainey got into foul trouble early and was taken out while the Vikings were on their run.

“Their best player got in foul trouble, and that really helped us to build the lead,” Honig said. “So it was really helpful that she wasn’t on the floor. So we executed there, and we were just playing our game, running our stuff, taking good shots, taking care of the ball.”

Windward sophomore forwards Shiloh Johnson and Alexie Werhle brought the Wildcats back into the game. Johnson landed two 3-pointers and Werhle had two layups.

The Wildcats scored 13 straight points before Basyrova made a 3-poiner for the Vikings.

“The game of basketball is a game of runs,” McKel said. “So just they have their run, so it’s now our turn to get our run and we did that. We hit shots, we moved the ball well.”

The first half ended with Valencia leading 33-21.

Valencia scored first in the third period, but Windward went on an 8-2 run to keep the game within reach.

The two teams then went point for point as they entered the final quarter with the Vikings leading 45-34.

Wehrle continued to be big on offense, scoring six points in the quarter.

Johnson landed another 3-pointer as Windward pulled within five points 51-46. But that is as close as they would get to the Vikings.

Valencia stayed one step ahead in the final minutes to secure the victory.