The Live Oak girls basketball team just continues to win.
Despite having to battle in the middle quarters against Santa Teresa Friday night, the Acorns pulled away with a dominate fourth quarter to improve to 8-0 in league play (17-1 overall) with a 54-35 win.
Coach Mike Kiefer said the girls didn’t look like the same team that defeated formally undefeated Leigh two nights prior. He said the energy wasn’t there and the team had to dig deep to pull out the win.
“We talked after the game and we know we went out there and we didn’t play with the same energy as we did the other night,” Kiefer said. “One of the things we talked about after the game is it’s tough to come back from such a meaningful game and bounce back and have a game where you know you’re better than the other team.”
Live Oak jumped out to a 13-4 lead after the first quarter thanks in large part to a strong defensive effort that denied the Saints an easy shot. Santa Teresa also turned the ball over eight times in the frame, which allowed Live Oak to overcome a lackluster shooting performance.
“We could have put them away, but we let them hang around,” Kiefer said. “At this point, in the second half of the season, everybody is dangerous. It’s a brand new season and when you are at the top, everyone wants to be the one to knock you off.”
Kiefer said if the offense isn’t there, then the defense for sure needs to pick it up.
Fayth Lyon got Live Oak rolling early with a pair of baskets before taking a seat at the mid way mark of the quarter.
Courtney Sykes came off the bench to add four to help Live Oak close out the quarter strong.
In the second quarter, Santa Teresa got rolling thanks to the unexpected shooting of Ann Nguyen.
Nguyen had six points to propel the Saints to a 13-point effort before the half, cutting Live Oak’s lead down to seven at 24-17.
And out of the break, Nguyen continued to lead the Saints’ offense with another six in the third quarter as Santa Teresa went for 15 in the frame.
Live Oak, however, had a much more balanced scoring effort with Grace Smith scoring four and Julieanna Blotz and Amy Gunther going for three. The Acorns went for 16 to take a 40-32 lead.
In the final quarter, Gunther hit a 3-pointer to set the tone and Live Oak never looked back.
Nguyen had a bucket and that was it. One other Saint had a free throw, but Live Oak outscored Santa Teresa 14-3 to pull away.
“The thing I am most impressed with is that Santa Teresa had the ability to possibly take that game from us but our girls kept fighting and fighting,” Kiefer said. “When things weren’t going right, we kept fighting. … We just kept our composure and I think that’s the biggest difference.”
Gunther led the team with 11 points, with Lyon adding nine and Smith and Jennifer Rosales adding seven each.
Nguyen had 16 for the game, but no one else scored more than six. In fact, just two scored more than one bucket for the game apart from Nguyen.
“I knew she could score, but in the first game she really didn’t do anything. She didn’t shoot, she didn’t attack, she really didn’t do anything. So tonight, she was a completely different player,” Kiefer said. “It could just be growth of the season. She had an outstanding game, but some of that could have been us not playing defense.”
Kiefer said his girls got lazy at times on defense, going for easy swipes rather than standing tall against the ball handler.
Live Oak will next take on Leland on Tuesday. The last time the two squared off, the Acorns had their worst shooting night of the season, scoring just 36 points. But the Chargers managed just 16 in response.
Tipoff is scheduled for 7 p.m. Tuesday in San Jose.
