Acorns pummel Hill in first quarter in 59-18 rout

The Live Oak girls basketball team extended its winning streak to 10 games with a 59-18 thrashing of Andrew Hill Thursday night.
The Acorns (19-1, 10-0) punched Hill in the mouth from the very start, stunning the Falcons and just kept the haymakers coming.
Live Oak went up 24-5 in the first quarter thanks to turning 11 turnovers into 15 points.
The Falcons were never able to get off the mat.
“We came out explosive in that first quarter. Going into our pregame talk and some of the things we worked on yesterday and saw on film, I told them if you come out and explode on them, you can take their desire to play away,” said coach Mike Kiefer. “I think in the first four minutes, we won that game in those first four minutes.”
Live Oak led 40-11 at the half and 56-13 after three quarters.
The only time the onslaught slowed was in the fourth quarter when the Acorns emptied their bench and the game went to a running clock.
Meanwhile, Hill turned the ball over 28 times for the game, which translated into 31 points for the Acorns.
“Our defense has been our strong point all year long. Every practice, we focus on defense, defense, defense,” Kiefer said.
Grace Smith and Julieanna Blotz both lead with 12 points.
Live Oak actually built its lead—and the Acorns players points totals inflated—because of steals that turned into easy layups.
Smith, Cameron O’Connell, Fayth Lyon and Jennifer Rosales all punished Hill for turning the ball over with easy buckets.
Rosales had six points to lead Live Oak in the first quarter, but was forced out of the game following a hard foul that appeared to injure her shoulder.
From there, Blotz had a six-point second quarter and McKinzie Lothrop had a six-point third to carry the Acorns to a massive lead.
Live Oak’s usual scoring stalwart Amy Gunther had just five points for the game, but also led the team in rebounding with six.
Live Oak emptied its bench for the fourth, which allowed Frances Giba to sink a 3-pointer to the roar of the Acorn crowd.
The Acorns now have to pivot to face a brutal two-game road stretch where they travel to Oak Grove on Tuesday and Evergreen Valley on Thursday.
“We call it hard road boulevard. Everything is going to be difficult, everything is not going to be easy and everything is going to offer different challenges,” Kiefer said. “One of the things we emphasize is not who is the better team, but who is better that night. We’ve been fortunate to be better that night on more occasions this season.”
The Eagles are 6-0 at home, compered to 2-11 away from their home floor.
Meanwhile the Cougars of Evergreen are just 3-1 at home, but likewise have a losing record on the road.
Evergreen will also be pumped to play on the friendly hardwood, having just completed a five-game road stretch, which will actually end Tuesday against Del Mar.
And Live Oak knows it has to play strong in all four of its remaining games, refusing to concern itself with anything but the Oak Grove game in from of it.
Nevermind that three of the next four opponents—Leigh, Evergreen and Oak Grove—are the two, three and four teams in the Santa Teresa Division, all of which can leapfrog Live Oak in the standings should the Acorns stumble in the next four games.
Tipoff at Oak Grove is 7 p.m. Tuesday.