Venice Defense Folds in Fourth

For three quarters of Monday night's game, the Venice High girls basketball team played better than Westchester. However, the Comets blitzed their opponents in the last eight minutes, outscoring them 26-10, for a 54-42 come-from-behind win.

“Bottom line, Westchester brought it, and we didn’t respond,” Venice head coach Dominick Flores said. “The thing that hurt us the most is we were up by five but our body language was saying something else, and when Westchester came alive we didn’t respond well. It was tough.”

The Gondoliers came out aggressive on both sides of the ball to start the game.  Venice forced a ton of turnovers and junior Cassie Flores poured in eight of her game-high 15 points in the quarter, leading Venice to a 13-6 lead.

As it would in each quarter after, Venice struggled to score early in the second. It wasn’t until five minutes were left that they scored their first points and by then Westchester had closed the gap to 16-12.

Junior forward J’miayah Alston, who had missed the previous few games with an ankle injury, dominated on the backboards, easily crossing double digits in the first half alone. After the game, Flores praised her efforts.

“She played really well," Flores said. "Her ankle didn’t bother her but she’s battling the flu. She probably has a 100-degree temperature hacking away. She might have coughed up a lung. She played tough today.”

Venice took a 23-18 lead into halftime but again struggled to score in the third quarter. By the time the Gondoliers put points on the scoreboard, the game was tied 24-24. Venice got three free throws after a Westchester technical foul and led 32-28 after three quarters.

In the fourth quarter, it all fell apart for the Gondoliers. Westchester started making shots, its defense forced constant turnovers and the Comets used a 9-0 run to take a 37-32 lead.  

Sophomore star Sarah Schemerhorn left the game in the middle of the fourth quarter with a jammed finger and did not return. The Gondoliers closed their deficit to 43-38, but it was as close as they would get. 

“I’m kind of down," Alston said. "I was hoping we could take the victory. We only lost to them by one point last time. I thought we could get them, but I guess not. This time we tried hard but we could have done better today."

The Gondoliers will try to recover from Monday's defeat before meeting University on Wednesday. The team will need to win out to hold onto its slim playoff hopes. Tipoff is set for 5:30 p.m.

1st

2nd

3rd

4th

END

Venice

13

10

9

10

42

Westchester

6

12

10

26

54

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