Adriana Garcia sat most of the first quarter after being hit in the stomach by a Sylmar opponent, but the Eagle Rock junior guard came back with a vengeance.
Garcia had six steals and nine points in the second quarter, including a 40-foot bomb at the halftime buzzer to give Eagle Rock a commanding 16-point lead on its way to a 52-33 win in the CIF-Los Angeles City Section Division III quarterfinals at Eagle Rock High School.
“It always feels good when you can contribute to your team like that,” said Garcia, who finished with 15 points and eight steals. “Especially my team, I owe it all to them. I push my hardest so I can help them achieve what we always wanted to do.”
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What the Eagles want to do next is defeat No. 2 seed Reseda. Third-seeded Eagle Rock will travel to Reseda to face the Regents in the semifinals on Friday at 7 p.m.
On Wednesday night, Jessica Loya scored 10 of her game-high 16 points in the first half and also grabbed seven rebounds before intermission. She knew the way the half ended gave the Eagles all of the momentum.
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“Adriana’s shot right before the half just put us in that mood where we weren’t going home (a loser) tonight,” said Loya.
Garcia took over in the second quarter, seemingly picking the pocket of a Spartan each time Sylmar (13-14) had the ball.
She and teammates Aaliyah Tihanyi, Judith Espinoza, Wendy Lo, Adaly Veliz and Susan Bystrom pressured Sylmar until it doubted its ability to protect the ball.
“I thought (Sylmar) had almost a mental block about dribbling the ball,”Eagle Rock coach Mark Kramer said. “That kind of fed us a little bit and made us feel if we could put pressure on we might be able to get some easy steals. And we did.”
The result was a 20-2 Eagle Rock run to end the first half with a 26-10 lead.
Sylmar (Valley Mission League) fought back gamely in the third quarter, getting as close as seven at 38-31. But the Eagles went on a 12-0 run to put the game away. Sophomore Vanessa Encinas had six of her seven points during that run.
“It is an amazing feeling, especially as a senior,” Loya said. “It’s something that I’ve dreamed of since I started playing basketball — to win a championship. And we really have a group of girls who have the skill, the desire and the talent to really go for it.”
Said Garcia: “We haven’t gone this far ever before and I think this time we can actually win the whole thing. It feels great.”
Kramer, though, was a little more cautious in his optimism.
“Reseda is a really good team,” he said. “They’re much bigger than us. It’s gonna be a really big test for us.”