These girls basketball victories came with a price.
Though Sierra Canyon and Harvard-Westlake advanced to the CIF Southern Section Open Division quarterfinals, both programs were shaken after watching Alexis Griggsby and Sydney Tsutsui fall to the floor with leg injuries.
Both are expected to miss at least Wednesday’s next round when Sierra Canyon travels to Troy and Harvard-Westlake treks to Lakeside in Lake Elsinore.
“It’s just awful,” Harvard-Westlake coach Melissa Hearlihy said.
Oaks Christian had a scare when Sydney Boyer left with an ankle injury in the third quarter and did not return. Oaks Christian held on for a 45-35 victory over Orange Lutheran.
The better news is that Boyer is expected to play on Wednesday when Oaks Christian travels to Eleanor Roosevelt High in Eastvale.
“She told me ‘I’m playing no matter what,’ so that’s a good sign,” Oaks Christian coach Kristy Hopkins said.
Griggsby collapsed to the ground after landing awkwardly on her foot and immediately cried out in pain in the final minutes of a 79-47 victory over Chaminade.
Sierra Canyon coach Alicia Komaki said Griggsby was taken to a local hospital, but x-rays did not reveal anything broken or fractured. An MRI is scheduled for this week.
“It’s a super severely sprained ankle,” Komaki said. “I don’t plan on having her for the rest of CIF.
“I’m not downplaying her injury, but I know we’ve still got a good squad. And in our minds, we were preparing for this just in case something happened.”
Hearlihy said the Skidmore (New York) College-bound Tsutsui injured her knee on a layup attempt and added that Tsutsui is immobilized and in a brace.
“She’s definitely out for Wednesday,” Hearlihy said.
Hearlihy said if there is any positives, Harvard-Westlake went on a 12-2 run to close the game after the injury to rally for a dramatic 59-58 victory over Mater Dei.
“The injury motivated the girls to another level,” Hearlihy said. “And we have played 10-12 games without her at the beginning of the season when she hurt her ankle. As frustrating as it is, the girls have stepped up before.”
Hopkins said Boyer landed on another player’s foot and did not practice Monday, but said she intends to start Boyer.
“She will probably be a little stiff at the start of the game, but she should be fine,” Hopkins said. “And the good thing is that we’ve had a lot of girls step up previously. Everyone on this team feels they can contribute in some way.”
San Fernando sweeps City wrestling titles
The San Fernando wrestling programs swept the L.A. City Section titles on Saturday with a pair of dominating performances.
The boys had five individual champions and posted 236 points to top Birmingham (216.5), Palisades (190), Sun Valley Poly (117.5) and El Camino Real (116).
Eric Rocha (140) won by fall over Birmingham’s Shawn Rojas to highlight the individual champions.
Kobe Lane (115 pounds), Matthew Garcia (134), Trevor Gill (145) and Jose Reyes (222) won by decisions to emerge as City individual champions.
Birmingham had three first-place finishers: Roman Ruque (106), Jonovan Smith (162) and Carlos Gomez (184).
Other local champions included El Camino Real’s Pablo Alvarez (122) and Kevin Castillo (172) and Reseda’s Louie Hernandez (287).
The San Fernando girls captured eight individual City crowns to score 306 points, beating Birmingham (252), Sun Valley Poly (123), Granada Hills (110) and Monroe (93).
San Fernando’s parade of individual champions included: Paris Valencia (106 pounds), Alexandra Cota (116) Samantha Munoz (121), Trinity Duarte (131), Yea Gi Sarabia (137), Giannas Anaya (143), Adelina Parra (160) and Sandra Castrejon (170).
Birmingham had four City champions: Diane Cuadras (111 pounds), Karla Rivera (126), Alex Castillo (189) and Kimberly De La Cruz (235).
Poly added a pair of City champions in Jaslyn Avila (101) and Christine Contreras (150).
Valencia shines at CIF-SS Wrestling finals
Valencia posted the strongest local performance at the CIF Southern Section wrestling finals, securing sixth place in the Coastal Division finals at Westminster High School with 129 points, including four Masters qualifiers. Simi Valley (13th, 88 points), Royal (16th, 62 points) and Faith Baptist (21st, 53 points) also scored at the meet.
Chance Rich led Valencia with a second-place finish in the 120-pound division. Ben Gould took third at 170 pounds, Israel Galvan took fourth at 113 pounds and Derrick Top finished fourth at 152 pounds.
Faith Baptist had a pair of Masters qualifiers at the Coastal finals with Andrew Rasmussen (second, 182 pounds) and Joshua Padilla (fifth, 126 pounds).
Other local Masters qualifiers from the Coastal Division included Moorpark’s Travis Gelinas (fourth, 138 pounds), Simi Valley’s Zane Romney (second, 113 pounds).
Alemany led a group of local teams in the Central Division finals at Oak Hills in 14th place with 79 points, beating Chaminade (18th, 55 points) and Harvard-Westlake (32nd, 18 points).
Adrian Rodriguez emerged as Alemany’s lone Masters qualifiers in fourth place at 220 pounds.
Chaminade had a pair of Masters qualifiers: Jack Cheney (third, 132 pounds) and Erich Osteen (third, 220 pounds).
Among the girls Masters qualifiers were Eastside’s Dymond Guilford (second, 170 pounds), Antelope Valley’s Jaryssa Tambi (third, 150 pounds) and Valencia’s Roxana Ramirez (fifth, 137).
Our editors found this article on this site using Google and regenerated it for our readers.
