Los Amigos girls’ basketball beats Perris in CIF opener

Los Amigos utilized a swarming defense and dominance on the offensive boards to make early, easy work of its CIF Southern Section girls’ basketball playoff opener Thursday night, the first step in what the Lobos believe could be a magical run.

They put Perris away in a 12-minute span of the first half, scoring 22 successive points en route to a 49-28 Division 5AA victory, their first postseason triumph in eight years. It wasn’t so close.

Sixth-seeded Los Amigos (13-9), the Grove League runner-up, romped to a 20-4 halftime lead, extended the advantage to 34 points near the end of the third quarter, then emptied its bench for the rest of the ride.

Sophia Boyer scored eight of her 14 points in a 23-point third quarter, Madeline Nguyen hit three first-half three-pointers and scored 10 points, and Catalina Guardado tallied nine points for the Lobos, who head Saturday night to Jurupa Valley for a second-round meeting with Patriot (16-12).

They suffocated visiting Perris (12-11), forcing the Panthers into a half-court game (“not our sweet spot,” noted Perris coach Ikeya Taylor), and then limiting them to one first-half field goal and three in the first three quarters, prodding 41 turnovers, and grabbing more offensive rebounds (33) than Perris managed at both ends (32, just seven on offense).

“We just got after it,” said Los Amigos coach Reginald Kennedy, who rotated 10 players against a seven-player roster. “We fought hard, we got to the spots, and our girls wanted it.”

The Panthers led twice in the first two minutes, and then, just like that, it was over. Los Amigos’ aggressive approach denied them space to operate and 18 of their next 23 possessions ended with turnovers.

The Lobos were sloppy, too, committing 31 turnovers in a frantically paced, often out-of-control battle. Both teams hit about a quarter of their shots, but all those offensive rebounds, among 52 in all, led to 78 shots to Perris’ 36 attempts. Boyer and Heydi Nava grabbed 11 rebounds apiece — Nava had nine on the attacking end, Boyer seven — and Guardado had six rebounds (four offensive) and three steals.

“We were really aggressive,” Guardado said. “We wanted to ball. We were always on the floor [diving for loose balls], you’d never see one of us standing up when the ball was rolling anywhere, we would literally throw ourselves [onto the floor]. ...

“We came out with energy right off the beginning. Today was a good day for us. We wanted to play. We are so excited, we can’t wait for our next game.”

Los Amigos targeted Carina Castaneda, the Panthers’ top scorer, holding her to one basket and four points until she hit the first of three shots from beyond the arc midway through the third quarter. Eight of her 15 points came against the fourth-quarter reserves.

The Lobos are thinking big, with good reason. They’re the highest remaining seed in the lower half of the 5AA bracket.

“I think we’re capable of going all the way,” Kennedy said. “I’ve got all the confidence in the world in these girls. Right now they’re riding high, and they’ve got confidence.”

CIF Southern Section Division 5AA playoffs

Los Amigos 49, Perris 28

SCORE BY QUARTERS

Perris 3 - 1 - 10 - 14 — 28

Los Amigos 9 - 15 - 23 - 2 — 49

P — Castaneda 15, Martin 7, Rath 4, Ray 2.

3-pt. goals — Castaneda 3.

Fouled out — None.

Technicals — None.

LA — Boyer 14, Nguyen 10, Guardado 9, Nava 5, Le 4, Kue 4, F. Macauley 3.

3-pt. goals — Nguyen 3, Guardado 1, F. Macauley 1.

Fouled out — None.

Technicals — None.