The girls varsity basketball season is off to contrasting starts at La Jolla Country Day School and La Jolla High.
LJCD carries a 6-2 record into its next contest under head coach Terri Bamford.
The Lady Torreys used a balanced attack and hot shooting hands to start 4-0 and capture the Sweet 16 Tournament championship recently.
In the championship game, LJCD turned up the defensive heat in the second half on the way to a 62-30 victory over San Clemente. En route to the title, LJCD scored wins over Escondido (77-47), Murrieta (58-47) and Bishop O’Dowd (52-33).
Janae Fulcher was the tournament MVP with four consecutive double-double performances. Dominique Conners and Ariana Elegado were All-Tournament selections.
LJCD then went 2-2 at the Troy Hoops Showcase. LJCD lost to JW North (51-50) and Troy (56-46), while scoring wins over Artesia (86-49) and Santiago (78-57).
All eight teams LJCD has played to date are ranked either statewide or in the area.
LJCD will play after Christmas in the Nike Tournament of Champions.
Meantime, La Jolla High is searching for its first win, starting the season at 0-5 for head coach Ty Eveleth.
The Lady Vikings opened the season in the Coronado Tournament. La Jolla dropped contests to Coronado (49-29), Mar Vista (45-41), Francis Parker (60-49), Torrey Pines (45-41) and University City (51-32).
To date, Valarie Nawahine and Olivia Waldon have been the scoring leaders for La Jolla, which is playing this week in the Crawford Tournament.
On the junior varsity front, La Jolla High played three contests last week to finish the Coronado Round Robin Tournament with a record of 3-2.
The Lady Vikings opened up the week by defeating Francis Parker 30-10. Anna Parma was the high scorer with eight points, while Lilly Sedaghat put in seven of her own.
La Jolla then fell to Torrey Pines 42-14. The Lady Vikings fell behind at the half 31-5. Despite the lopsided score, La Jolla competed hard in the second half and outscored the Lady Falcons 9-7 over the final two quarters. Parma again led the scoring with seven points.
La Jolla then dropped its final game of the tournament in a 32-30 thriller.
The Lady Vikes trailed by seven with three minutes to play, but staged a furious rally to tie the game at 30 with less than a minute. The Lady Centurions went ahead for good on a jump shot with 20 seconds left.
Parma’s three-pointer just missed at the buzzer for La Jolla.
Parma led the way with 12 points. Taylor Templeton, Maria Olea and Sedaghat all had six points in a losing effort.
“We had a very nice tournament,” La Jolla head coach Gary Frank said. “The girls showed a lot of heart and competitiveness in each game. Even though we didn’t win all the games, we outscored every team in the second half. These girls never quit, and they’re getting better every game; they’re doing a great job.”