San Pedro girls basketball fends off Carson in LACS D2 quarterfinals: 5 takeaways

SAN PEDRO, Calif. – San Pedro took care of business early on Tuesday, riding a huge first half in a 69-62 CIFLACS quarterfinals victory over Carson.

Star PG Noelani Raigans continued building her Division 2 Player of the Year case with 23 points, 6 steals, and 5 assists.

Here are five takeaways from the game:

1. SAN PEDRO DOMINATES THE FIRST HALF

The Pirates won this game in the first half, in which they dictated the tempo on both ends.

Defensively, they forced an abundance of turnovers by trapping aggressively and switching defensive looks every time Carson began to get its bearings. After spending much of the quarter in a full-court press and then several minutes in a fairly conventional extended 2-3 look, San Pedro did much of its damage in the second quarter upon moving to a unique 1-2-2 trap with Raigans wreaking havoc as the head of the snake.

In the first half, they oftentimes sped Carson up out of control, but avoided letting Carson – a dangerous transition team – get many opportunities off fast breaks. Many live-ball turnovers resulted in easy buckets for San Pedro, which also sought out opportunities to run after defensive boards with quick outlet passes. 

"From the onset, we just wanted to establish that tempo," said San Pedro head coach Kevin Simpson. 

"We knew that if we let Carson get comfortable, they'll be able to establish a post presence and get buckets down there, and we didn't want that. We wanted to be aggressive on defense and make them play our game, make them play at a fast pace."

Carson was led in scoring this season by frontcourt starters Zoey Taylor, who SP held scoreless in the first half, and Miah Molette, who was contained with six first half points. With all the turnovers and deflections SP instigated in the first half, the Colts had major trouble getting into their sets.

Pedro was also in a rhythm hitting shots out of its half-court offense early on, and it rolled to a 40-22 halftime lead.

2. DESPITE VALIANT EFFORT, CARSON RUNS OUT OF TIME

After two quarters, it didn't look like there was any way the Colts were going to climb back into the game.

But they did, multiple times.

While Carson still struggled with turnovers in the second half, it was able to get in some downhill situations when it took care of the ball, and that's its wheelhouse. Additionally, the Colts were able to hit the offensive glass quite hard without giving up transition opportunities at a higher rate. And the Pirates started missing some of the open jumpers they were hitting early in the game.

Carson cut the deficit down to 48-38 fairly quickly. But San Pedro regathered, finished the third quarter with nine unanswered points, and built the lead back up to 19.

At this point, it seemed even less likely that Carson could mount a comeback. But Carson wasn't done.

Molette, who'd gotten into collisions in both the second and third quarters that appeared to knock the wind out of her, got going in the fourth quarter. She went coast-to-coast a small handful of times and scored 10 of her 16 points in the last frame as Taylor also scored all 13 of her points in the second half on putbacks and post-ups.

San Pedro had been the aggressor all night, but it appeared to be low on gas having played an aggressive uptempo style against a slightly faster, more athletic squad all night. Especially with star F/C Maia Wooldridge dealing with foul trouble in the second half. The Colts surged throughout the fourth quarter as the Pirates struggled to put them away, but San Pedro kept its poise and held on until Carson was well out of time. 

While the 69-62 final score was the closest of the game since the first quarter, SP's victory was never in doubt.

Other than the overall closing stretch of the game, the defensive glass was the sole sore point of the game for San Pedro – and Simpson said it will be a focal point in practice leading up to the semifinals.

On the road against a team that had already defeated it twice by double-digits previously, Carson had many chances to quit. Especially with Molette sitting for extended minutes. But Carson turned heads just by putting a bit of a scare into the Pirates by the end of the game. It came up short, but the second half turnaround showed resiliency.

3. THE BIG THREE CAN DO IT ALL

Some have known this for a while. But for those who don't – Raigans is one of the best all-around point guards in the entire City Section, and very possibly the best player in Division 2.

Averaging nearly 19 PPG as a junior, her scoring prowess is obvious. And Raigans is as good of a passer and perimeter defender as she is a scorer. When she wasn't outright stealing the ball, she was blowing up Carson's sets with her disruptive on-ball defense.

Wooldridge is the Pirates' Swiss Army knife. In addition to averaging a double-double, she can defend three positions for San Pedro and block some shots. On offense, she uses her status as an undersized big to play a point forward or point center role for the Pirates. Wooldridge can go coast-to-coast or simply get San Pedro into its sets – including running an inverted high pick-and-roll herself – and that's extra valuable with opponents such as Carson opting to face guard Raigans the whole game and trying to deny her within a box-and-1.

In this matchup, the Pirates counter-schemed the box-and-1 by letting other players take the ball up and letting Raigans fly around off the ball within their five-out sets. As Simpson pointed out after the game, that's where it's particularly valuable to have numerous ball-handlers who can initiate the offense – and a point guard who's willing to work off the ball.

Shaila Coleman, SP's third double-digit scorer this year, also came up big with 16 points, 6 rebounds, 4 assists, and a lot of energy that pumped up her team.

4. DESPITE BIG AMBITIONS, PEDRO NOT LOOKING AHEAD YET

San Pedro hasn't won a City Section championship since the 1970's, and that could very well change this month. While it probably won't be able to afford staggering to the finish in the final rounds of the playoffs, SP looked the part of a Division 2 contender on Tuesday.

City Section fans have speculated all year that No. 1 San Pedro and No. 2 Chatsworth are on a collision course for the finals, and halfway through February, that's still what it looks like. San Pedro has heard some of the chatter and is excited for a potential heavyweight clash in the championship game, but has been making sure not to look ahead to the future too much yet.

"I love the basketball chatter, whether it's from fans, coaches, or players, but we play every game and respect every opponent," said Simpson. 

"We're not looking past [Bravo in the semifinals] like we didn't look past Carson. We've heard it and it's fun to talk about – Chatsworth might be looking at us, we're looking at them – but again, we're focused on the next game."

"We're trying to restore the order for San Pedro," said Simpson. 

"It's been a very long time since San Pedro has had the level of success we're shooting for. And we're not just looking to get there this year, but next year too, and then maintaining that level of success. We're a committed group, and we practice hard because we want to keep that going."

5. FUTURE BRIGHT FOR COLTS

The Marine League has been better this season than in the past couple of seasons, and it's going to be better in 2023-24. Like San Pedro – which will lose starters Aliesha Fizer and Keloa Tauala but return everyone else – Carson will be at the forefront of it.

The Colts may struggle to fill the void left by Molette, but they have the potential to take a leap. They have athletes who can score inside at nearly every position, and Taylor, who's already one of the best centers in the division, could plausibly be one of the top centers in the whole section in upcoming years. Carson has a bright future to look forward to if its returners take leaps in the next one to two seasons.

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