RANCHO SANTA MARGARITA — Santa Margarita’s girls basketball team had to rely on contributions from unexpected places in its 56-47 win over Redondo in the first round of the CIF-SS Division 1 playoffs Thursday.
The team’s top scorer was sophomore Bella Emanuel, who had 14 points off the bench and made 4 of 5 3-point attempts.
“She’s a coaches’ dream,” Santa Margarita coach Seyram Bell said of Emanuel. “She works hard, does whatever she is asked and she’s a great teammate. When her name is called, she is ready for whatever the assignment is and today it was to knock down 3s.”
“It was awesome,” Emanuel said. “It feels like a rush I can’t describe.”
The Eagles (18-10) will host Harvard-Westlake in the second round Saturday.
Santa Margarita had to play much of the game without its primary ball handler, Madi Lam, who had four fouls early in the second half and fouled out early in the fourth quarter.
Lam managed to score seven points and dish out five assists in limited playing time, but the Eagles had to count on freshman Katie Wang and sophomore Taylor Black to bring the ball up court.
“Kudos to the team for adapting and adjusting,” Bell said. “It goes to show that we have enough trust in each other to know that when someone is down, we can pick up the slack.”
Wang had two steals on defense and scored all seven of her points in the second half. Black also had two steals, scored five points and grabbed five rebounds.
Redondo (16-13) made its first four field goals of the game and had a lead at the end of the first quarter. The Sea Hawks trailed by 13 points in the fourth quarter and cut the lead to six, but couldn’t score in the final minute.
Abby Zimmerman had 17 points and 13 rebounds for Redondo and Ava Gomez had 13 points.
Santa Margarita gave up some baskets inside to Zimmerman, but limited Redondo to 2-of-10 shooting on 3-pointers.
“We scouted them well and understood the actions that they were trying to look for,” Bell said.
Grace Anderson had 11 points for Santa Margarita and added six rebounds. The Eagles went on a 9-0 run in the second quarter with six points from Jennea Holmes and a 3-pointer from Emanuel.
Santa Margarita finished in fourth place in the Trinity League standings and entered the playoffs on a three-game losing streak.
“The girls have been putting in so much work,” Bell said. “Them being able to refocus, regroup and play hard for each other, it’s a good feeling.
Santa Margarita was No. 21 in the final CIF-SS rankings and Redondo was No. 29.
The Sea Hawks were the third-place team from the Bay League.
Harvard-Westlake is the No. 12 team in the CIF-SS rankings but lost to Redondo on Dec. 3.
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