Live Oak's Ariana Guerrero fights for control of the ball with the help of Jasmine Muerong during their game against Lincoln Thursday at Lincoln High School in San Jose.
SAN JOSE -- There were moments in Thursday's West Valley Division game when Live Oak looked in midseason form, forcing turnovers, hitting 3s and deftly passing its way through Lincoln's half-court trap.
Whatever short-lived success the Lady Acorns mustered was outweighed by Lincoln's consistency and good health. Once their visitors lost rhythm, the Lions were off and running to a 61-47 win.
Lincoln climbed to .500 in league while sending Live Oak to 1-6 and 3-12 overall.
And with that, the senior Acorns felt the end of their prep basketball careers loom closer.
"I don't want to think about it," said Jacey Turay, who led Live Oak with 16 points and eight rebounds. "I'm going to be really sad when it's over; we all are. We just have to make the most of the games we have left."
With their leading post, Fa Saulala, and starting point guard, Niki Patel, injured, the Acorns were outrebounded 33-25 and minus-seven in turnovers. Junior guard Meghan Perez, who has faired well in place of Patel this year, joined them on the bench early in the fourth quarter after she rolled her ankle.
"Injuries and too little, too late -- that's been the story every game," Live Oak coach Jeff Perkins said. "I still love the effort I've seen from these girls. They never quit."
Acorns senior post Ariana Guerrero prolonged the final minute, smiling as she let two inbound passes roll to halfcourt. The outcome was well in hand by then, but Live Oak made in entertaining early on, cutting a 15-point deficit to 31-21 at halftime.
Turay buried a trey from four steps behind the 3-point line as time expired in the second quarter.
"That was crazy," the senior post said. "I didn't even know how far out I was. I just let it fly."
Guerrero made it an eight-point game with her drive-and-score to start the third quarter. Following a quick layup by Lincoln's Mari Nakashima, Perez dished to Turay for back-to-back baby hooks to keep the deficit at seven. Live Oak pressured the Lions into four turnovers during that stretch.
That was as close as the Acorns got. Lincoln opened up an 11-2 scoring run, complete with nine points from forward Karla Uriate, to push ahead 47-28.
Danielle Horning answered with a turnaround jumper that sparked one last rally. The Acorns came up with two more steals, leading to a 3-pointer by Jasmine Muerong and a layup by Marie Lewis. That pulled Live Oak within 10 again -- 47-37.
Lincoln reeled off the final six points of the third quarter to ignite a clinching 14-2 run.
"It was hard for us to keep it going the whole game," Horning said. "We get down on ourselves. That's when we need girls to bring the rest of us up. Jacey and Meghan helped tonight."
Horning finished with six points, five rebounds and two blocks, and Guerrero had 15 points and seven rebounds. Perez totaled four assists.
Uriate scored 12 of her team-high 14 points in the second half, Brianna Jimenez scored a dozen and Nakashima 13 to lead the Lions (5-12 overall, 4-4 league).
Hooks, who was injured for Lincoln's first meeting with Live Oak (a 34-32 Lions win), had 10 points and five steals. She swished a 3-pointer at the end of the first quarter to put Lincoln ahead -- 11-8 -- for good.
"She's a great shooter, one of many on that team," Perkins said. "We tried our best to keep up with them. But it's back to the drawing board from here; try to end things strong."
Silver Creek 61, SHS 46
Freshman Alyssa Firato had a dozen points, and Brooke Montgomery netted eight on 3-of-4 shooting Thursday in one of the Lady Bulldogs' closest league games this season.
Alejandra Villamares also scored eight points for visiting Sobrato (3-15, 0-8), which rallied from a 40-22 halftime deficit. It was similar to their meeting at the start of Mount Hamilton Division play, when the Bulldogs scored 20 points in the fourth quarter only to lose by nine.
Silver Creek (11-7, 4-4) picked up its third win in four games.
Tina Dang had 22 points, and Kryzza Zeijnali 16 to lead the Raiders.
Scott J. Adams Scott J. Adams covers Morgan Hill sports for South Valley Newspapers. Send him an email or call him at 779-4106.
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