Paloma Valley remains unbeaten with 59-52 victory

Story and photos by Doug Spoon, Editor

Players and coaches everywhere know that when you're on top, everyone is out to get you. Of that, the Paloma Valley High girls basketball players were reminded in dramatic fashion on Friday.

Fortunately for the Wildcats, they had just enough left of what was once a 19-point lead to hold on for a 59-52 victory over Sunbelt League rival Orange Vista in the Paloma Valley gym. With that win, the Wildcats improved their perfect record to 12-0 and preserved their No. 1 ranking in CIF-SS Division 4-AA.

It appeared to be business as usual for the Wildcats in the first half as they jumped out to an early lead. The score was still close at 16-13 at the end of the first quarter, but Paloma Valley was setting a fast and strong tempo led by Trinitee Bradley's consistent scoring. After a 10-2 scoring spurt to start the second quarter, the lead was 26-15. And after closing out the half with a 12-4 scoring spurt featuring 3-point baskets by Breann Willich (2), Bradley and Mya Pierfax, the Wildcats took a 13-19 lead into the intermission.

(In photo above, Sydney Woodley tries to move around Orange Vista's Kelsei Robinson).

Orange Vista (5-6) wasn't finished, however. The Coyotes scored the first eight points of the third quarter and continued to pressure the Wildcats on defense. That, combined with a series of missed jumpers by the Wildcats, resulted in a Paloma Valley lead of just 45-38 entering the fourth quarter.

"We missed a lot of shots, but I didn't like the shots we were taking," said Paloma Valley coach Matt Dale. "I thought we were settling for a lot of mid-range shots, and we weren't doing a good job of offensive rebounding, so it was basically one and done on a lot of possessions."

The game got even tighter when Orange Vista's Neveah Manning and Mya Clark scored consecutive baskets opening the fourth quarter, cutting the Wildcat lead to 45-42. At that point, Paloma responded with a layup and two free throws by Sydney Woodley, a transfer student from San Jacinto who has made a major impact this season.

Woodley was aggressive against the Orange Vista defense in that period, penetrating the interior and opening up the outside for Pierfax (right), who hit a two-point basket and a three-pointer to push the lead to 56-49 with 2:52 remaining. The lead was still five (57-52) with 20.6 seconds left and Woodley sealed the victory with two free throws with 6.8 seconds left. Orange Vista didn't score during the last 1:20 of the game.

Woodley led Paloma Valley scorers with 18 points. Bradley finished with 17, Pierfax 10 and Willich 9.

Before the game, Dale said the Wildcats are committed to improving on last season, when they finished 13-1 in league play but lost in the second round of the playoffs, 50-47, to Maranatha, finishing 19-10 overall.

"We were unhappy with how last year ended, even though we won league and stuff," Dale said. "We felt we should’ve gone deeper in the playoffs. This year, the work ethic has been very good.

"The players' confidence level is really high, but it hasn’t tipped toward cocky even once. I think the girls are still really humble. They recognize they can still be a lot better than they are. Being [12-0] isn't a big deal. We want to try to win CIF this year."

Trinitee Bradley drives to the basket for two of her 17 points in Paloma Valley's win over Orange Vista on Friday.

Paloma Valley guard Leslie Giles drives past an Orange Vista defender in Friday's game.

Support local journalism. If you want to see more news coverage like this, please consider becoming a Menifee 24/7 member donor at the link below.