The Palisades High boys varsity basktball team had plenty of reasons to feel confident before last Friday’s rematch with Western League rival University.
The Dolphins were coming off a respectable 68-48 loss two days earlier at first-place Westchester — a 17-point improvement over their previous meeting with the Comets. Additionally, Palisades had beaten University soundly on its home floor in the first round of league, a loss University head coach Steve Ackerman called “embarrassing.”
This time, however, the Wildcats walked into the PaliHi gym with a new strategy and a new attitude and walked out with a hardfought 68-59 victory that tightened up the league standings heading into the final week of the regular season.
Early on, Uni once again looked overmatched as the host Dolphins opened an 18-7 lead, but the Wildcats clawed their way back point by point and took a 29-28 lead into halftime.
The game was tied entering the fourth quarter, but an 8-0 run gave the Wildcats a 54-46 lead with under four minutes left. Aaron Johnson, who finished with 19 points, got a steal and a layup to cut the Dolphins’ deficit to three points, but Uni answered with a 7-0 run to put the game out of reach. Tre Weston led University with 15 points.
Rich Schmitt/Staff Photographer
“Palisades outplayed us and outhustled us the last time, so our gameplan was to speed up the tempo because we felt it was to our advantage,” Ackerman said. “I think this validates that we’re one of the top five or six best teams in the City, along with Palisades.”
Joseph Robinson had 15 points and went 10-of-12 at the free throw line and Elias Etaat added nine points for Palisades.
The Dolphins wore black jerseys for Senior Night against LACES on Monday and head coach Vejas Anaya thanked his 12th-graders for their hard work and commitment to the program. The starting five were seniors Johnson, Zane Zeder, Noah Lasky, Gabe Plesant and Etaat.
Palisades had needed overtime to beat the Unicorns on the road in their first league meeting and the Dolphins found themselves trailing 32-28 at halftime after LACES guard Trent Jones made a desperation three-pointer at the buzzer.
The Dolphins outscored their opponents 28-11 in the third quarter to seize control of the game. Senior Louis Kurihara scored 16 of his 23 points in the second half, Johnson added 18 and Shane Williams had nine. Tucker Steil’s last-second putback gave Palisades a 56-43 lead going into the final quarter.
“We knew we could do better against Westchester the second time,” Johnson said. “We defended better and caused more turnovers, which led to easy baskets. They have good players but we do too. We came here to win, not keep it close.”
Palisades (14-11 overall, 7-4 in league) wraps up its regular season tomorrow at Venice.
Girls Basketball
Palisades head coach Torino Johnson continued to give every player significant minutes last week in preparation for what he hopes is a deep playoff run.
Bianca King has been on a tear, collecting six straight double-doubles until the string was broken Monday when she scored four points with 16 rebounds in a 52-34 win against LACES. Kayla Merrill-Gillett led the way with 15 points and four steals, Hayley Hutt had 11 and Erina Niwa had eight points and two assists.
King had 21 points and 13 rebounds, Emma Newman had 14 points, Hutt had 12 points and Merrill-Gillett added 10 assists for PaliHi in last Wednesday’s 75-50 victory over Westchester.
King had 14 points, 20 rebounds and four blocks, Merrill-Gillett had 12 points and nine assists, Newman had seven points and five rebounds and Hutt added four points and three steals on her birthday last Friday in a 48-45 win at University. PaliHi had a 12-point lead at halftime but the Wildcats made it interesting with a 22-11 run in the third quarter.
The Dolphins (18-10, 9-2) will host last-place Venice in their Western League finale tomorrow night.
“Bianca’s been working extremely hard and I’m very proud of her,” Johnson said. “Right now I’m just trying to keep everyone healthy for the playoffs. We want to see Fairfax one more time.”
King has played every game for the Dolphins and is averaging 9.9 points, 11.8 rebounds and 1.9 blocks. Since gaining her transfer eligibility prior to the start of league, Merrill-Gillett has averaged 10.7 points and 6.3 assists.
Boys Soccer
The Western League title was still up for grabs at the start of the week and Palisades is still in the thick of the fight after mixed results last week.
The Dolphins played to a scoreless draw with visiting Hamilton on Monday and hosted University yesterday for first place in the Western League. Palisades finishes league play tomorrow at last-place LACES.
“We played really well at Uni when we beat them 3-0 and getting that second one against Hamilton would’ve helped our chances, but we still control our own destiny,” Coach Dave Suarez said. “We just need to win our last two games.”
Joob Sanchez tracked down a 70-yard punt and scored 25 minutes into the first half and PaliHi hung on for a 1-0 triumph at Westchester last Friday to stay in contention.
Ben Sack and Tyler Newman both scored in the first half in last Wednesday’s 2-0 win at Hamilton.
In the first meeting with University, Sack scored in the first half, then Newman and Sanchez added second-half goals.
“We played with good intensity and that’s what we have to do from here on out,” Suarez said. “Look at Fairfax. They proved to be better than they looked for the first couple of weeks. We can’t take any teams lightly.”
Girls Soccer
Kaitlyn Parcell scored the only goal late in the first half of PaliHi’s 1-0 victory over Hamilton last Wednesday. Another 1-0 win against the Yankees on Monday clinched first place in league.
Sandwiched between those games was a 10-0 rout of Westchester in which Caitlin Bremner scored three goals, Parcell added two and Palisades had 31 shots to the Comets’ seven.
Also scoring for the Dolphins were Emily Hardwick, Kiana Ferguson, and Hannah De Silva. Ferguson had two assists and Bremner, Elizabeth Seaman, Lauren Wilson, Sydra Gianassi and Kayla Dzurek each had one.
Freshman goalkeeper Katie Wilkes played the entire first half and made two saves. Annika Lundeberg (three saves) and Amy Bailey (two saves) split time in the second half.
Water Polo
Mardell Ramirez and Genesis Carballo each scored five goals for the Dolphins in last Wednesday’s 13-7 Coastal League victory over San Pedro. Palisades has already clinched the league title.
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