The Oxford Academy Lady Patriots girlsbasketball team finished in first at the Liberty Christian Winter Showcase tournament which occurred Dec. 18-21.The tournament championship was Oxford’s first ever in basketball for either the boys or girls team in the fifteen year history of the school. Oxford won 4 games in the Liberty Christian tournament and improved their record to 9-3 and helped catapult the team to a #3 rank team in the CIF Southern Section Division 5AA. “It feels great to earn the first basketball championship for the school and start to get some recognition for our accomplishments, but right now it’s time to enjoy the holidays then start to get ready for Academy League play on Jan. 5th,” Oxford Coach David Clifton said. The Liberty Christian tournament featured some of the top teams from Division 4A – 5AA including undefeated Rock Academy of San Diego, plus Academy League rivals Calvary Chapel Downey and Brethren Christian. Two weeks ago the Lady Patriots finished 2-2 in the Ocean View tournament while battling big South Orange County schools El Toro, Irvine, El Modena and Dana Hills. Oxford’s strong showing at Ocean View gave the team confidence going into the Liberty Christian tournament as the Lady Patriots would be paired up against schools similar in class.Going into the tournament, The Lady Patriots offense has been clicking with the team averaging 56 points a game, while defensively they have averaged holding opponents to fewer than 46 points a game. In the first game, Oxford met up with The Rock Academy from San Diego who came in with a record of 5-0.The game was tight as The Rock held Oxford’s front court to 5 points, but the Lady Patriots still managed to lead at halftime 23-21.In the 3rd quarter, Oxford broke the game open with tough defense leading to transitions baskets and outscored The Rock 15-3 in the quarter.Oxford coasted the rest of the way ending with a 46-36 victory. The difference in the game was tough defense that limited The Rocks playmaking opportunities.Jessica Pham provided a defensive spark off the bench for the Lady Patriots and they also got solid defensive efforts from Debrah Graver who secured some key rebounds early in the game, Sophia Chan with 6 steals and Serena Ing who had 3 steals.The Lady Patriots had balanced offense output led by Angie Gagnon who led all scorers with14 points,Austyn Masuno scored 12 points and gathered 13 rebounds,Sophia Chan had 11 points, andMylee Madrazo scored 8 and dished out 4 assists. Next up for the Lady Patriots was Academy League rival Calvary Chapel Downey.Oxford came out strong right out of the gate and took a first quarter lead of 22-10.Austyn Masuno was on fire as she scored 10 points, grabbed 4 rebounds, had 4 steals and dished out 2 assists in the first quarter alone.Masuno ended up with a game high 23 points for the contest and the Lady Patriots downed the Grizzlies 50-24.Sophia Chan added some strong perimeter shooting and knocked down 3 – three point shots and finished the game with 11 points, while adding 4 assists to her stat line. Point Guard Mylee Madrazo scored 10 points and also had a huge contribution on defense where she had a game high 9 steals for the Lady Patriots.Oxford got solid front court play from Claire Alcanar who grabbed some important boards and from Debrah Graver who pulled in another 6 rebounds for the Lady Patriots. In the 3rd game, Oxford met up with Connolly, the college prep Catholic high school for girls in Anaheim.The Lady Patriots dominated from start to finish and beat the Koalas 59-21 and earned a berth into the tournaments championship game.Connolly had no answer for Austyn Masuno who scored 26 points and had 12 rebounds. SophiaChan scored 12 and had 8 steals.MyleMadrazo had a balance stat line scoring 6 points, grabbing 4 rebounds and dishing out 4 assists.Both Debrah Graver and Jocelyn Lopez kept the Koalas off the boards and picked up 6 rebounds each. In the championship game, Oxford paired up again against Rock Academy.Mylee Madrazo was a spark plug that got the Lady Patriots going as she scored 7 of the team’s first 10 points as Oxford jumped out to a 16-4 point lead at the end of the first quarter.The Rock Academy was focused on stopping center Austyn Masuno via physical defense and held her scoreless in the first quarter. The Rock got back into the game and outscored Oxford 18-12 in the 2nd quarter as the Lady Patriots turned the ball over 9 times allowing the Warriors to close the lead to 28-22 at halftime.In the 2nd half, Oxford played solid basketball and limited their turnovers to just 3 and Masuno took over the game.She went to the line 15 times and made 11 and ended the game with 21 points.Madrazo added the knockout blow scoring six 4th quarter points to finish off the Warriors 52-42, and launching the Lady Patriots to their first ever tournament championship. Madrazo earned player of the game honors with her outstanding stat line of 16 points, 5 rebounds, and 5 assists, plus she played stifling defense against The Rock backcourt. In the 3rd place game, Connelly took on Calvary Chapel Downey and the game was tight as it was tied at 33 after the 3rd quarter.However, in the first 90 seconds of the fourth quarter, Connelly went off on an 8-0 run and The Koalas never looked back as they outscored the Grizzlies 18-6 in the 4th to earn a 51-39 victory and finished in 3rd place. Winter Showcase Top Performers Over the four game tournaments, Oxford averaged scoring over 52 points a game.Center Austyn Masuno averaged 20 points and 12 rebounds. Point guardMylee Madrazo averaged 10 points and 3 assists.Sophia Chan dropped 9 points a game and averaged 6 steals.Angie Gagnon averaged 7 points a game and had six 3 points field goals.Jocelyn Lopez averaged 4 points and gathered 6 rebounds a game. Oxford Academy is now 9-3 on the season and will be back in action when Academy League starts on Jan. 5.The Lady Patriots travel to Newport Coast to take on the Sage Hill Lightning at 6p.m. Oxford Academy Lady Patriots Basketball Enter Academy League Riding High Oxford Academy Lady Patriots Girls Basketball competes in the Academy League, which is made up of college prep schools and includes Oxford Academy, Whitney (Cerritos), Sage Hill (Newport Coast), CreenLutheren (Irvine), St. Margarets (San Juan Capistrano), Brethren Christian (Huntington Beach), and Calvary Chapel Downey.Oxford only won 6 games last year but the team is off to a great start this year and believes they can compete for a league title, something the school has not won in its fifteen year history.
