Eagles hoops still in running Eagles hoops still in running (January 27, 2006)

Girls basketball keeps CCS dreams alive in win over Saratoga

By Erik Koland

To say that the Los Altos High School girls basketball team dodged a bullet on Tuesday night wouldn't be fair, because Saratoga seemed to be set on rapid, albeit sporadic, fire. More times than not, Saratoga got one, two, or even six offensive rebounds. And yet, in most cases, they just couldn't score.

"You could probably hear us yelling 'rebound' or 'box out' the entire game," said Los Altos assistant coach Martin Aycott. Head coach Vern Hubbard added, "It's the little things that make such a big difference, like rebounding and boxing out."

So does defensive pressure. While Saratoga might have out-rebounded and attempted more shots than the Eagles, the shots they took were typically forced, off-balance or altered by Eagle defenders.

While Saratoga preferred to pull the trigger, the Eagles chose to move, pass and work for higher percentage shots. Led by sophomore forward Emily Lippe, the Eagles' attack was smart and consistent. Los Altos (2-4) spread the court in transition, capitalized on turnovers and moved the ball to create easy baskets against their more physical opponents to claim a much-needed 44-41 league victory.

"We have many players that can lay it in," said Hubbard. "This is something we work on and we're getting better at."

Los Altos never trailed, but was unable to build a commanding lead and Saratoga kept threatening. The Falcons went on a bruising 10-3 run in the fourth quarter to cut the Eagles' lead to three with less than two minutes remaining.

With the game on the line, the Eagles turned again to Lippe. With terrific position in the middle of the paint, Lippe sunk an arcing jumper over two Falcon defenders to put Los Altos up 44-39 with 1:30 left. Lippe led all scorers and racked up a season-best 19 points.

"She plays the whole game at 100 percent," said Hubbard. "She's only a sophomore. Her hands will only get better and she'll be able to finish even more of her shots."

Also big for the Eagles were sophomore guard Duong Trang and junior forward Christina Ngo. Trang and Ngo were most effective when the Eagles were passing aggressively, scoring their baskets mainly on back-door cuts and on the counterattack. Ngo and Trang added 10 and seven points, respectively.

"Trang really stepped up and played hard," said Hubbard. "She made great plays at half court."

Friday, the Eagles travel to Cupertino, one of the weaker teams in the league, in what will be a must-win in a long series of must-wins.

"I told the team at the beginning of the season that we would have to go 8-4 to make CCS," said Hubbard. "We're at 2-4 now, so the good news is that it's possible, but the bad news is that we have to win the next six games in a row. We're good enough to do it."

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