Pali Girls Advance over Keppel, 67-59

Only minutes into the third quarter of Tuesday’s state playoff game, the Palisades High girls basketball team seemed to have everything under control. After taking a 40-17 edge into halftime, the seventh-seeded Dolphins quickly built a 46-20 cushion and looked ready to run past first-round opponent Keppel High from Alhambra. However, the tenth-seeded Aztecs didn’t back down, using a 21-4 run to cut the lead to 50-41 with 6:24 to play in the game. Then PaliHi captain Ashlie Bruner took over. The 5-foot-6 junior guard scored in the lane and got to the free-throw line in the fourth quarter en route to 26 points and a 67-59 win.   ’Every team is good,’ Johnson said of Keppel. ‘Bad teams aren’t playing in March. I expected them to make a run, they’re a well-coached team. We got a big lead, got into cruise control. But we were resilient.’ Bruner was one key to that resilience, especially in the first half. After Pali trailed 5-2 moments into the game, she seemed to impose her will and began slicing through the Aztecs’ full-court defense. A series of steals, assists and scores’Bruner totaled 15 points and five assists in the first half’keyed a 19-2 Pali run that gave the Dolphins a 21-7 lead after one. Then, after going quiet following halftime, she came back strong in the fourth to close out the victory. ‘I had a bad third quarter, so in the fourth quarter, I had to come out and dominate,’ Bruner said.   For Keppel (27-3), no player was more important than sophomore guard Alyson Lock, who finished with a game-high 32 points (22 in the second-half), many of those scores coming on contested layups and fadeaways to key the late comeback. Meanwhile, for the Dolphins (25-9), junior forward Asia Smith added 21 points, while senior center Nicole Flyer and junior Skai Thompson each scored 10. Smith’s strength, especially on the glass, proved to be a nightmare for the Aztecs’ undersized frontcourt, as they seemed somewhat helpless against the powerful six-footer.   ’They tried to box me out, but I’m a lot stronger than them,’ Smith said. ‘It was really easy.’ With the win, the PaliHi advanced to the second round and play at second-seeded Buena High School (25-7) tonight at 7 p.m. in Ventura. The semifinals are this Saturday.