Girls Hoops: Eagle Rock Battles to End in Semifinals Loss to Reseda

Its season ended Friday night, but the legacy the Eagle Rock girls basketball team left will remain for a long time and the memories will likely last a lifetime.

“These are a group of ladies who have heart and have talent and who have become part of my family that I will love and cherish forever,” said senior Jessica Loya, after the Eagles 70-63 loss at Reseda in the CIF-Los Angeles City Section Division III semifinals.

On a rainy Friday night, in front of a boisterous crowd, which were at least half Eagle Rock fans, a young Reseda team fought off a late comeback attempt by an Eagle team that simply refused to quit.

“Going into halftime our coach told us it’s either now or never,” said junior Aaliyah Tihanyi, who led a balanced Eagle Rock scoring attack with 14 points.

Reseda will play in the championship game next Saturday at Roybal High School, rode the hot hands of Crystal Ortega and Tkia Clay (12 and 11 first half points, respectively) to build a 32-23 lead at the break.

But Eagle Rock (20-8), despite falling behind by 11 in both the third and fourth quarters, wouldn’t go away. And late in the fourth quarter Vanessa Encinas hit three from downtown to spearhead the Eagles comeback.

With 3:00 left Encinas, who scored all 11 of her points in the fourth quarter, hit a trey to make it 61-58. But Reseda (19-7) used its combination of skilled guards and a physical inside presence to ward off the Eagles' comeback.

Clay and Ortega each finished with 18 points, but 6-foot-4 sophomore Ahlisha Henderson also scored 17, and continually grabbed offensive rebounds for the Regents.

Lariesa Staten added 13 points for Reseda. Judith Espinoza had 11 for the Eagles and Loya, who had posted double-doubles in the first two playoff games, finished with eight.

“It was an all-night fight,” said Loya, who gave away six inches to Henderson. “They were a challenge and we took the challenge. We fell short but we know that we tried our hardest and we left it on the floor.”

When Adriana Garcia (13 points) scored on a drive to cut the Eagle Rock deficit to 67-63 with 50 seconds left in the game, it seemed the Eagles still had hope. But it was not to be.

“Everything happens for a reason,” Tihanyi said. “We came out this season and showed what Eagle Rock basketball really was and we made history this season and I’m really proud of my girls.”

Eagle Rock coach Mark Kramer said he was also proud of his players, but noted that because of its relatively small size, the Eagles must play smarter than its opponents, and Friday night there were times the Eagles didn’t do that.

“In one respect we definitely showed that we play hard all the time,” Kramer said. “We didn’t give up. We didn’t play smart, though, and that’s what I talked with the girls about before the game and during every timeout.

“You don’t get this far unless you have a ton of talent and you play hard. But we’re smaller (so) we have to play smarter than our opponents. Tonight we didn’t play smarter. We just didn’t do enough.”