GIRLS BASKETBALL: Late Slide Costs Cougars

The Score: Carlmont 44, HMB 41.

The Star: Half Moon Bay High’s McKenna Hilton dropped a game-high 14 points, leading all players with six field goals. Hilton’s performance was not enough for the Cougars though, who lost the Peninsula Athletic League Ocean Division contest to host Carlmont Tuesday night.

The Turning Point: After Carlmont guard Nikki Kenyon sank a free throw in the fourth quarter to even the score at 39, the Scots forced a Half Moon Bay turnover and converted it into a Natalie Leist basket. Scot guard Alyson Lazzarotti then managed a steal on the inbounds and laid it up to give Carlmont a 43-39 lead with less than a minute and a half remaining.

The Quote: “We didn’t get a lot of production from our posts. We’ve had that the last couple of games and it has been huge. Sometimes you get that; sometimes a group of players struggles and you have to get over that. We have to do a better job of that and getting our guards, our best players, some shots.” --Half Moon Bay coach John Carey, on the importance of his team finding an offensive rhythm from all areas of the court.

What’s Next? Half Moon Bay travels to Oceana Friday for a 7:30 tipoff in PAL Ocean play.

The Bottom Line: Half Moon Bay boasts a roster with decent size. The inability to exploit that strength Tuesday put the Cougars at a disadvantage. Focusing on the low post game should put Half Moon Bay back in the win column in PAL Ocean action.

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The Half Moon Bay High girls basketball team fell to Carlmont 44-41 at on the road Tuesday night, snapping the Cougars’ undefeated streak in the Peninsula Athletic League Ocean Division. The loss now pushes Half Moon Bay (8-7, 2-1 PAL Ocean) into a tie atop the league standings with Carlmont (10-6, 2-1).

The two teams battled evenly from the opening whistle to the final horn, with the lead changing hands five times in the second half. A late burst by Carlmont saw the Scots wrestle the lead away from Half Moon Bay for the final time with a minute and a half remaining.

“I think they did a nice job,” said Half Moon Bay coach John Carey of Carlmont’s effort. “They threw some things at us, caught us off guard. They changed things up on us a bit. We never really found our rhythm. We never really got on a roll offensively.”

The decisive run started with Carlmont trailing 39-36. Alyson Lazzarotti scored on a lengthy possession, and then Carlmont managed back-to-back steals.

“I think we managed to shoot ourselves in the foot,” said Carey. “Not taking anything away from Carlmont, but we had some shots inside we didn’t finish. We had that possession in the last minute that we threw away. Hopefully the next time we see them, we convert on those things.”

While Carlmont did not convert on the first attempt, Nikki Kenyon managed to pilfer the ball to maintain possession. Half Moon Bay’s Diana Cariaga fouled Kenyon, pushing Carlmont into the bonus. Kenyon proceeded to make the first shot of a one-and-one opportunity, missing the second, but edging the Scots into a 39-39 tie.

Carlmont forced another Cougar turnover, and Natalie Leist scored a basket to make it 41-39. Lazzarotti added a steal and another layup to cap a seven-point unanswered streak and give Carlmont the 43-39 advantage. Half Moon Bay’s McKenna Hilton would add two points, and Leist a free throw for the final three-point margin.

Half Moon Bay had one final opportunity to tie the score with a 3-pointer. As the clock ticked down, Hilton fired a shot from beyond halfcourt that rang off the rim a little right of the mark to end the game.

Half Moon Bay’s Hilton led all players with 14 points. Carlmont’s Leist and Kenyon scored 12 and 10 points, respectively.

The game served as an opportunity for Half Moon Bay to face a team that had, in the prior season, played in the highly-competitive PAL Bay Division. Carlmont was sent to the PAL Ocean after finishing last year 1-9 in league play.

“It was more important for us to win that one,” said Carey on the importance of exposure to high levels of competition. “We’re not looking at anybody, at what they did last year. We’re looking at what we are now. We were in first place by ourselves and we’ve lost that control now. We just want to beat the teams that we play against.”

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Carlmont 44, Half Moon Bay 41

HMB – 11 11 11 8 -- 41

C – 11 10 9 14 – 44

HMB: Hilton 6 1-1 14, Reimche 3 2-5 8, Cariaga 3 0-0 7, Koloamatongi 2 1-2 5, King 2 1-4 5, Miller 1 0-0 2. Totals 17 5-12 41.

C: Leist 4 2-3  12, Kenyon 4 1-3 10, Lazzarotti 3 1-2 7, Zane 3 0-0 6, Corvello 1 2-2 4, Belasco 1 1-1 3, Abinader 1 0-0 2. Totals 17 7-11 44.

3-point goals: HMB: Cariaga, Hilton. C: Leist 2, Kenyon.

Records: HMB 8-7, 2-1 PAL Ocean. Carlmont 10-6, 2-1.