Girls Hoops: Tologs Too Much for Alverno

Flintridge Sacred Heart Academy earned an easy 57-32 win over Alverno in the first round of the CIF-Southern Section Division 5AA girls basketball playoffs Thursday night, but the Tologs were not satisfied with their performance despite the lopsided score.

“We definitely should have pushed 80 tonight. We’ll get back to practice. We have to come up with a big game plan for Saturday night,” FSHA coach Gino Pacella said.

“We did everything we were supposed to defensively. We were trapping, we were getting in their face, we were getting rebounds, we just didn’t execute on offense. It was really sluggish on offense. We’re going to need to do a much better job.”

No. 8 FSHA (16-11), which earned an at-large berth out of the tough Mission League, had trouble with the Horizon League champion Jaguars for just a few minutes. But once the Tologs got going, the game turned into a rout.

But Alverno coach Brent Fabbri was pleased with his team’s effort, which dressed just seven players and was missing its tallest player due to an illness. Alverno was the designated home team, but chose not to play in its home gymnasium, which does not have bleachers. So the game was moved the Tologs’ gym.

“We’re used to playing on the road, but this is really close to home so it’s like a home game,” Fabbri said of his team, which finished the season with a 12-5 record.

“I thought my girls played great. I have one starter out and I had to play a sub and you see my bench, I have two players. I thought we fought hard. I thought we gave them a scare for a second.”

Alverno jumped out to a 4-0 advantage to start the game, but the Tologs fought back to take a 16-12 lead at the end of the first period. Thanks to solid play from center Lana Haddad, the Tologs went on to take a 33-18 lead at halftime.

Haddad scored 14 of her game-high 24 points in the first half. She also finished with 12 rebounds.

“I felt confident, but my shots were not going in like I wanted them to,” Haddad said. “Even though I had a lot of points, I can still improve.”

Alverno was led by Jasmine Ross, who finished with 20 points.

“She’s my all-star; she’s my senior,” Fabbri said.  

FSHA got 11 points from senior Vanessa Romero. Olivia Warner finished with eight points and 15 rebounds.

“I think for us since we’re used to playing big aggressive Harvard-Westlake and Chaminade — when we go from that to a little bit smaller team, it’s much easier for us,” Warner said.

Dina Budzyn and Ivy Fitzgerald each scored seven points for the Tologs.

Mimi Capra had eight points, and Marissa Seanez added four for Alverno.

The Tologs face the winner of Thursday's St. Monica-Workman game in second round action Saturday.