Christian Brothers pressure gets to Petaluma

Christian Brothers of Sacramento pressured 22 turnovers by Petaluma and rolled to a 56-37 win over the T-Girls in a second round game of the West Coast Jamboree on Tuesday afternoon in Orinda.

The Lady Falcons moved into the Amber Division consolation championship game with stifling double teaming in the back court, and Petaluma was not able to score a field goal until 3:36 left in the second period.

The T-Girls still trailed only 24-13 at halftime after a pair of baskets by guard Gretchen Hoffman, but a ragged offensive third stanza by Petaluma enabled Christian Brothers to put the game out of reach.

A couple of 3-pointers from the top of the circle by senior guard Lynette Sandoval of the Falcons were daggers in T-Girl effortS to climb back into the game.

Christian Brothers improved to 9-4 for the season with the win. The Sacramento-based school was a CIF playoff team last year with a 19-12 record.

Despite the outcome, there were some strong performances by the feisty T-Girls who don't return any starters from last year's team.

Senior Lindsey Strain continued to earn more playing time with a team leading 15 rebounds and added three blocked shots in addition to scoring six points.

Guard Kierra Lizama topped Petaluma scoring with seven points. It was the second consecutive seven-point effort from the sophomore, who had the same output against Albany in a tourney-opening loss the previous afternoon.

Petaluma coach Doug Johnson was pleased with the effort of the play off the bench of Myra Guzman-Gonzalez, who was a force inside in both the second and fourth periods. Guzman-Gonzalez collected seven rebounds and added five points.

"Myra has strong hands, and she didn't give up the ball in those pressing situations. She is starting to understand what we expect from our offensive sets."

Hoffman, Lizama and Lindsey Stoll battled the Christian Brothers press throughout the game, and the T-Girls cut down on their offensive mistakes as the game wore on.

Held to only four points, Stoll managed to contribute with three steals and two assists. The senior captain leads Petaluma with a 9.3 scoring average. Stoll had 13 points in a 64-39 loss to Albany.

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