Jan 16, 2017 3 min read

CALIFORNIA – The much-anticipated contest for second place in Section 3-AA girls basketball was anything but close Monday night as California jumped out to a 20-0 lead and cruised to a 61-39 win over Frazier.

“This was an important win for us and it was key for us to jump out to such a big lead,” said California coach Chris Minerd. “Our press caused them problems and we were able to take advantage.”

California (6-1, 14-1) forced Frazier (5-2, 9-5) into 11 first-quarter turnovers and it wasn’t until Frazier’s Brooke Poling scored with 1:50 to go in the quarter that the Commodores were on the scoreboard.

California led 22-2 after the first quarter, and according to Minerd, shutting down Poling was a key.

The Trojans made 11 of their first 14 shots.

“She is their leading scorer,” Minerd said. “We were able to limit her and that was another big difference.”

Poling finished with 10 points but made only three out of 14 shots.

With California up big to start the second quarter, the Trojans began getting sloppy with the basketball and did not score their first points in the second quarter until there was 4:10 to play, when Dominique Gaston hit a shot off of a Jenna Miller assist.

Frazier had ample opportunities to get back into the game early in the second quarter but could trim only four points off of California’s lead.

Up 24-8 with 3:50 to go in the half, the Trojans went on an 11-4 run to take a 35-12 lead.

Even after Frazier closed the half with four straight points, California’s lead was 35-16 and was never in jeopardy in the second half.

Gaston finished with a career-high 20 points to lead California while Love Porter (12) and Bailey Vig (11) also hit double figures.

Miller scored only eight points, but she recorded a career-high 12 assists and added five steals and five rebounds.

Miller would have had at least five or six more assists but her teammates missed several layups and close-range shots.

“Jenna controlled the floor,” Minerd said. “She did a great job with the ball and also on defense while watching Poling.”

Hannah Fell led Frazier with 11 points.

Frazier finished with 23 turnovers, which pleased Minerd, but he was not happy with his team having 22.

“We have to protect the ball better,” he said. “We still have not played a full four quarters and have to do that.

“We went back into the press despite the lead because we weren’t executing in the half-court on offense and we couldn’t score.”

California opens up the second half of the section schedule Thursday when it hosts Serra Catholic.

“Serra is well-coached by Bill Cleary,” Minerd said. “Just because we beat them the first time has nothing to do with Thursday.”