Lady Nighthawks Fly Past Jaguars, 64-34

Murrieta Valley's varsity girls basketball team struggled in the opening period and had a tough time getting started Saturday night in its CIF quarterfinal playoff game.

A tough, attacking Segerstrom defense was wreaking havoc on the Nighthawk offense. Led by Natalie Perales, the Jaguars caused 18 turnovers in the first period and had Murrieta Valley flustered and apprehensive. 

Alex Morrison came off the bench and settled down and stabilized the Nighthawks. Morrison created the spark and scored three quick baskets to ignite Murrieta Valley. Morrison finished the game with seven points, seven rebounds, a blocked shot and a steal.

Murrieta Valley was up 31-14 at the half and would not look back.

"We had a game plan: control the boards and execute on offense and we did just that. We worked extremely hard and played as a team and got a good win as a result," said Nighthawk Captain Karen Wolf.

Wolf led the team with 15 points and 15 rebounds against the Jaguars.

Coach Scott Richard said: "We had four players (who) scored in the double digits and our rebounding was at our best. Our 'bigs' did a great job of boxing out Kayla Stephens and eliminating second and third shot opportunities."

The “Bigs” are Wolf, Aliah Marshall, Deshea Wilkes, Brynn Dahmer and Ariana Hernandez. Marshall seems almost 100-percent recovered from last week’s injury and scored 15 points with six boards for the Nighthawks.

Wilkes scored six and exhibited a calming leadership to the court. Dahmer added 10 points and Hernandez scored 11.

"Our girls were very focused pregame and wanted to take full advantage of our quarterfinal home game," Richards said. "We had a good game plan that was executed exceptionally well tonight by the entire team."

Murrieta Valley continued to contain the Jaguars and coasted to a 64-34 victory.

Richards and the team are now looking forward to playing their semifinal game versus Redondo Union at home.

Who will get their wings Tuesday night when the Sea Hawks visit the “Hawk House” to face the Nighthawks? Redondo Union is 19-11 and coming off a 55-38 win over Warriors from Riverside Patriot. Game time is at 7 p.m. Come out and support Murrieta Valley as it competes for the CIF Southern Section Division 2A title.