ANAHEIM >> The Esperanza girls basketball team had visions of another deep postseason run similar to last year’s race to the CIF Southern Section finals.

West Torrance had other plans.

The Warriors came out and shot the ball well while Esperanza struggled to make baskets, and then West Torrance withstood one final push from the Aztecs to win 56-48 Saturday night at Esperanza High in the first round of the CIF-SS Division 1 playoffs.

West Torrance (16-10) will be at home against Peninsula in the second round Wednesday night, Feb. 16, which will be the teams’ third meeting this season.

Christina Swenson had 19 points for the Warriors including four 3-pointers, Ella Estabrook added 13 points and Nicole Chuang scored 10 points.

West coach Steven Williams gave his honest assessment of his team nearly squandering a 20-point, fourth-quarter lead.

“We had a big lead and we actually let them come back in the game,” he said, “but you know how games go, they have ups and downs. They went on a run, we went on a run and thankfully we were just able to come out with a win,” Williams said.

Julia Lavigne led the Aztecs with a game-high 21 points and Alyssa Kubo finished with 13 points. Kaiya Mack had a rough shooting night and was held to 2 points.

“It was just one of those nights. I’ve seen Kobe Bryant go 7 for 32,” Esperanza coach Jimmy Valverde said, “it just happens and it wasn’t because of lack of effort or desire and heart, but it was just one of those days where the ball didn’t find the rim for us.”

Esperanza (20-8) cut its 20-point deficit to nine points with 50.8 seconds remaining but couldn’t get any closer.

“We just didn’t get it going until it was too late, but give us another five minutes and that might’ve been us up there,” Valverde said.

West jumped out to an 11-1 lead before the Aztecs went on a small run to close the first-quarter gap to 14-10.

Esperanza tied the game 15-15 early in the second quarter on Lavigne’s basket, but West Torrance closed the quarter on a 18-3 run behind the sharpshooting of Swenson, who scored nine points in the period, including a pair of 3s.

The Aztecs offense lacked its normal production during the first three quarters as they only managed 26 points during the first 24 minutes of the game. In the fourth quarter, Esperanza scored 22 points but ultimately ran out of time.

Related Articles

“Basketball is what we do, it’s not who we are,” Valverde said. “Well, they showed who they are: winners. I can’t be more proud of them.”