By Uy Pham
With the reformations to this year’s league play, Fountain Valley High School girls’ basketball (16-7, 7-2 league) has the chance to face each of their six Sunset League opponents twice — once home and once away.
Thursday’s matchup against the Corona del Mar High School (14-9, 6-2 league) marked the second time the Barons and Sea Queens have clashed this season, with the Sea Queens winning by two points in the first round.
However, in a rematch against the current leaders of the Sunset League, the Barons secured a 44-30 win and pushed themselves to second place in the standings, behind the new leaders Los Alamitos Griffins by half a game.
“This is a really big game for us. Last time, we lost by two. We knew it was a winnable game,” co-head coach Izabella Om said. “Coming into this game, we had a game plan to match their physicality, especially since [Corona del Mar] is bigger than us. We executed our game plan very well, everybody stepped up.”
Senior Victoria Om led the Barons’ offense with 16 points and offensive playmaking, while junior Sophie Hsieh scored 14, four being key three-pointers, throughout the game to maintain Fountain Valley’s momentum. Maintaining a strong defense and dominating the paint, a combination of seniors Karley Waite and Krystal Pham along with junior Avery Jones secured key rebounds and blocks to deflect the Sea Queens’ drives.
The Barons quickly gained an early, commanding lead of 9-1 ahead of Corona del Mar within the first six minutes of the quarter. An exchange of initial possessions led to a wide-open three-pointer by Hsieh, followed by Victoria Om converting a contested three-pointer for her own.
A free throw for Corona del Mar secured their first point, but blocks by Pham and rebounds by Victoria Om and Hsieh forced the Sea Queens to circle around the perimeter.
Two inside-the-arc shots and a deep three-pointer for Corona del Mar closed their deficit to one point with one minute remaining in the quarter, by a combination passing play between senior Candice Tran and Victoria Om found Hsieh for another corner three-pointer, ending the quarter at 12-8.
With the Barons’ offense unable to convert shots early on in the second, Corona del Mar gained their first lead of the game with a quick layup and open three-pointer with 5:50 remaining. Pham and Waite maintained a strong post-defense, and, two minutes later, Victoria Om broke the scoring deadlock driving to the basket and spinning around the defender to draw a foul.
Victoria Om converted the two free throws, but Corona del Mar seized the lead again with their third three-pointer of the game. However, Victoria Om found Waite for an under-the-basket jumper, and a Waite block led to junior Kailey Nishi’s fastbreak three-pointer.
Looking to regain their offensive tempo, Corona del Mar attempted several three-pointers, but layups exchanged by the Sea Queens and Hsieh had the Barons leading 21-18 into the half.
The Barons’ shift to a three-guard and two-post lineup with a 3-2 zone defense was evident in the third quarter, as Fountain Valley’s strong interior defense and rebounding held the Sea Queens scoreless from the field in the third quarter.
“Usually, we like to do four guards and one post, but we knew Corona del Mar had a few bigger posts in the game,” Izabella Om said. “It’s a tough matchup when we only have one post, so we adjusted our defense for the two posts to help out inside and get rebounds and blocks.”
A fastbreak by Victoria Om kicked off the Barons’ scoring run, and with the help of Jones and Waite’s rebounding and blocks, Victoria Om cruised to another layup and Hsieh converted a three-pointer to push Fountain Valley on a 9-0 scoring run in six minutes.
Unable to break through the Barons’ defense, Corona del Mar searched for opportunities around the perimeter and broke their scoring drought by scoring a free throw. The Barons led 32-21 to end the third quarter; Tran assisted Jones on a fastbreak and Corona del Mar scored another two free throws.
“A big thing was our boxing out looks so much better, so we could get more rebounds,” Izabella Om said. “In the half-court defense, our guards did a really good job of rotating, helping each other and closing out Corona Del Mar from getting wide-open jump shots.”
Looking to hold their lead in the final quarter, several Barons secured defensive steals that maintained Fountain Valley’s possession. Sophomore Kaylie Sasaki’s steal led to a jumper by Victoria Om. Extending the lead to 37-21, Victoria Om, off-balance, heaved a three-point shot to beat the shot clock.
Continuing her offensive tempo, Victoria Om assisted Sasaki with a fastbreak wide-open three-pointer. Corona del Mar, still scoreless from the field since the beginning of the third, converted two free throws but struggled against the interior defense of Jones and Waite.
Breaking their field scoring drought, Corona del Mar scored a deep-three pointer after a Barons’ turnover and drove through Fountain Valley’s defense for a hook shot, closing the gap to 40-28 with three minutes remaining.
Despite their strong defense, Fountain Valley struggled to convert shots and turnovers, and Waite fouled out of the game. Finding a shot underneath the basket, Corona del Mar closed the score to 40-30, but Victoria Om assisted Hsieh in the corner for her fourth three-pointer of the game.
“My biggest thing was for them to calm down. I told them we were rushing it and trying to get quick shots,” Izabella Om said. “I was like ‘Guys we’re up. We need to use the shot clock to our advantage, smart shots only and get a stop but don’t foul,’ … They adjusted.”
Corona del Mar increased their defensive pressure against the Barons’ offense, but a steal by Hsieh led to the end-game. Victoria Om scored a free throw to cap her 16-point performance, and a scuffle led to junior Helen Williams, Victoria Om and Sasaki all recording steals to end the game at 44-30.
Girls’ basketball’s next matchup will be a league matchup away against Marina High School on Monday at 7:00 p.m. The Barons, now second place in the Sunset League, will travel to face Flintridge Prep away in a nonleague matchup, before returning home to play their final Sunset League matchups against Huntington Beach and title-contenders Los Alamitos.
“Next week is going to be a very heavy week, we have two away games and one home game,” Izabella Om said. “That is a lot of bodies, but we want to win. We have a game plan for each game, and we want to make sure all of the girls follow it.”
