West Hills ladies to take on Fresno City for Golden Eagle Tournament championship

The Tigers earned the chance to take on Fresno City after overcoming a somewhat sluggish start against Oakland’s Laney College Saturday night in a game that saw the Laney Eagles take a 32-28 halftime lead, putting somewhat of a fright into the Lady Eagles.

However, thanks to a stifling full-court press to open the second half and some superb play from Jordan Lassiter and Kim Alfors, West Hills quickly took the lead in the opening moments of the second half and held on to beat Laney College 73-66, improving their overall record to 11-4.

The Golden Eagles will play Fresno City at 3 p.m. in the Golden Eagle Arena for the tournament championship today (Sunday, Dec. 20).

The Lady Eagles fell behind early and it stayed that way the entire first half as Laney’s Kimberly Powell and Madison Mills connected from long-range to keep West Hills at bay in the opening stanza. Powell finished with 19 points while Mills had 9 points. Laney’s big girl in the middle, Jamika Wilson, finished with 14 points.

The Lady Golden Eagles didn’t waste any time in the opening moments of the second half as they shook off a case of the first-half jitters and completely stifled Laney’s momentum.

Alfors got it started in the opening seconds when she scored and was fouled. She converted the free throw to cut Laney’s lead to just one point at 32-31. Alfors had 16 to lead the Lady Eagles while Lassiter finished with 14 points.

Laney scored again to lead 34-31, but a pinpoint pass from WHC guard Samantha Earl to Tiffany Smith cut the gap to 34-33. Janissa Pates sank the first of 2 free throws to tie the game and her inside move for a basket gave the Lady Eagles their first lead of the game at the 8-minute mark of the third period.

West Hills Lemoore never gave up the lead though Laney did cut the gap to just 1 point at the beginning of the final period. Lassiter then took over again, connecting on two quick baskets, the second coming off her steal.

With just minutes remaining in the game, West Hills led 71-61. Michelle Brown finished with 13 points for the Lady Eagles while Earl finished with 11. Freshman Tarah Pires tossed in 6 points while Pates had 7 points.