GIRLS BASKETBALL: Sequoia, Injuries Topple CSU

The Score: Sequoia 38, Crystal Springs Uplands 24.

The Star: Sequoia High guard Alaina Woo. The sophomore consistently led the Cherokee attack and scored 10 points through three quarters of play to send visiting Crystal Springs Uplands to the non-league defeat.

The Turning Point: Crystal Springs Uplands trailed by just four points after the opening quarter, but then the visitors fell victim to repeated turnovers to fall behind by 20 points by the end of the third quarter.

The Quote: "It's hard to put forth a consistent, tough, strong effort on a regular basis with only seven healthy girls." — Crystal Springs Uplands coach Anthony Jones, citing his team's injuries after the road loss at Sequoia.

What's Next? No rest for either team. Crystal Springs hosts Capuchino today at 4 p.m., while Sequoia visits Cupertino at 5:30 p.m.

The Bottom line: Crystal Springs Uplands entered Thursday's game facing injuries and a lack of complete-team practice time. Coach Anthony Jones has gotten some of his players back on the court with the end of volleyball season. Sequoia was able to capitalize on the Gryphons' turnovers. Crystal Springs Uplands could not do the same.

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The injury-plagued Crystal Springs Uplands girls basketball team got off to a sluggish offensive start and fell 38-24 in a non-league game at Sequoia on Thursday night.

The Gryphons (1-3) turned in a strong fourth-quarter performance, but the team's second victory proved elusive. Constant turnovers and missed field goals contributed to the 34-14 deficit Crystal Springs faced entering the final period.

Gryphons coach Anthony Jones was pleased his undermanned team rallied down the stretch.

"We're really, really happy with the performance overall today. We're pretty decimated by injuries right now," said Jones, whose team entered Thursday's game with seven healthy players and three injured starters.

"All in all, I think that's pretty much the best we would've hoped for today," Jones said. "It's hard to play good basketball for four quarters at this level. Sometimes things go our way, sometimes they don't. But definitely the second half was much, much better."

"Give Crystal a lot of credit for hanging in there and making it interesting at the end," Sequoia coach Steve Picchi said. "They hung in there. They're tough, they're scrappy and they put pressure on us the whole game with their full-court press. We had to respond to that by not turning the ball over too much. That made it hard."

Both teams seemed to struggle offensively in the opening quarter, as Sequoia (5-3) mounted a 10-6 lead. In the next two quarters, however, the host Cherokees capitalized on Crystal Springs' offensive woes to extend their lead.

"Defense was the key in holding and slowing them down," said Sequoia guard Alaina Woo, who scored a team-high 10 points. "We try to do as much as we can on defense, and then the offense just plays off the defense. So we were able to capitalize on both ends today, which is nice."

In addition to utilizing a strong counterattack through the first three quarters, Sequoia also capitalized on its size, posting tall center Gianelly Prieto below the Crystal Springs basket. Prieto scored eight points off offensive rebounds.

"They're big — we're not," Jones said. "We're not as physically imposing as some teams, but we're working on that."

Megan Faulk, Michelle Embury and Neha Singh helped Crystal Springs cut the Sequoia lead to 14 points in the fourth quarter.

"They didn't have a lot of players, so that was really impressive that they could keep the pressure on like they did all that time," Picchi said.

Crystal Springs is back in action today – the Gryphons host Capuchino at 4 p.m.

"We're looking for a better effort," Jones said. "They weren't super strong last year, but we're not super strong either. I think it will be a competitive game. At this point we're really just making sure that we're improving every game … and just playing hard. That's really the No. 1 most important thing for us right now."

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Sequoia 38, Crystal Springs Uplands 24

CSU — 6 4 4 10 — 24

S — 10 13 11 4 — 38

CSU: Singh 4 2-2 10, Faulk 3 0-0 6, Murguia 1 0-0 2, Teter 1 0-0 2, Douglas 1 0-0 2, Embury 1 0-0 2. Totals: 11 2-2 24.

S: Woo 4 1-2 10, Prieto 4 0-0 8, Serrano 1 0-0 2, Mataitoga 2 1-2 5, Harden 1 2-2 4, Carroll 2 0-0 4, Albin 2 0-0 5. Totals: 16 4-6 38.

3-point goals: CSU: none. S: Woo, Albin.

Records: Sequoia 5-3. Crystal Springs Uplands 1-3.