Valencia Has Bad Night but Beats Estancia

Michelle Pietka played for Brea Olinda as a sophomore and Troy as a junior, so she knows what a good team is supposed to look like.

Now at Valencia, Pietka says the Tigers can be a good team too, even though they weren’t on Thursday.

Valencia did win for the ninth time in 10 games, a 47-35 nonleague girls’ basketball victory at Estancia. But the Tigers did little to stamp themselves among the elite.

“We didn’t play that good at all,” Pietka said. “We could have done a lot better. If they were shooting the ball good, we could have been in trouble.”

If Estancia had shot well, the game certainly would have been different. The Eagles (7-3), also trying to find out just how good they are, made only one of 14 field-goal attempts in the second quarter, and two of 11 to begin the third. A three-point deficit turned to 15, and it was too much to overcome in the fourth quarter. They shot 22.8% (13 of 57) overall.

Estancia played without its only true post player, 5-foot-10 Erika Avalos, who was on a family Christmas trip. It created a huge mismatch in favor of Valencia’s Monika Jackley (6-0), who finished with 22 points and 14 rebounds.

Valencia Coach Chris Cox thought his team, averaging 60.8 points, was lucky to escape with a victory.

“I don’t think I’ve ever seen us play so badly,” Cox said. “On defense, we were very lazy. We were not anticipating passes, we weren’t switching our defenses, we were slow in transition, we lost who we were guarding.

“Offensively, we like to push the ball, and we weren’t looking to push the ball at all. I’ve got a feeling they’re mentally on vacation right now.”

Pietka had 13 points, six rebounds and three steals, but at times had a two-player game with Jackley at the expense of running the offense. “Tonight, it was really apparent,” Cox said.

Jackley is averaging 23.6 points, Pietka 20.7.

Pietka, a point guard, said she transferred from Troy to Valencia before the season because of problems at home. She has moved in with her father.

She and Jackley combined to score as many points as Estancia. Sandy Harris had six points and nine rebounds against the Eagles, who were outrebounded only 41-36 despite having no one taller than 5-9.

Becky Lenhart’s third three-pointer cut Estancia’s deficit to 41-33 with 3:43 remaining, but the Eagles scored just once more.

Lenhart scored 11, and Lisa Hirata had 15, along with four steals, for Estancia. Lauren Cassity added seven points, eight rebounds and five steals.

In the San Diego Mt. Carmel tournament:

Santa Margarita 51, El Capitan 39--Colleen O’Leary scored 16 points and had 12 assists to lead the Eagles (7-3) to a third-place finish. O’Leary also hit four of four three-pointers. Vanessa Ferragamo added nine points and 10 rebounds.

In a nonleague game:

Century 41, Laguna Hills 29--Elizabeth Mendoza scored 15 points, Charlenda Van Buren scored 14 points and had 12 rebounds to lead host Century (8-3). Sophomore Megan Aaker led Laguna Hills (7-5) with 11 points.