Oxford Academy Girls Basketball Tournament kicks off the season for 16 teams but for Oxford Academy and Cypress High, their sights are set on the title.
Winning the tournament was a legitimate goal as both teams were coming off strong campaigns last year where Oxford finished with a record of 25-5 and Cypress was 19-10.
Oxford Academy Girls Basketball Tournament kicks off the season for 16 teams but for Oxford Academy and Cypress High, their sights are set on the title.
Winning the tournament was a legitimate goal as both teams were coming off strong campaigns last year where Oxford finished with a record of 25-5 and Cypress was 19-10.
Although both schools are located in Cypress, they play in different leagues and have never played each other. But the way the tournament brackets were set up, a game between Cypress and Oxford could become a reality to stage a battle for the city of Cypress.
Both teams marched through the first two rounds where the Centurions defeated Fountain Valley 54-28 and Katella 54-37, while the Lady Patriots smashed Artesia 49-9 and La Quinta 61-25 to reach the semi-finals.
On Thursday night in the semifinals, Cypress took on last year’s tournament champion, St. Josephs of Lakewood, who last year defeated the Centurions in the semifinal round.
Cypress stunned the Jesters to start the game by jumping out to an 11-0 lead and finished the first quarter up 17-7. But St. Josephs battled back and the game went down to the wire with St. Josephs eventually prevailing 47-44. The victory put the Jesters in the championship game and sent Cypress to the third place game for the second year in a row.
Cypress was led by Sabrina Ichiho with 10 points and Jordan Matsuda with 8, while Aggie Manu pulled in 10 rebounds and St. Josephs got 32 points from Stefanie Berberabe.
Oxford took on Pacifica of Garden Grove in the semifinals in a contest that was close the entire way.
At the end of the third quarter, Pacifica maintained a 33-31 lead over the Lady Patriots and built up a 5 point lead midway through the 4th quarter. Oxford battled back to take a 41-40 lead with 1:30 remaining but were unable to score again and Pacifica converted clutch baskets to earn a 46-41 victory and move on to the championship game.
Oxford was led by Austyn Masuno who had 18 points and 13 rebounds while Jocelyn Lopez added 7 points and 5 rebounds. Pacifica was led by Sunshine Townson with 14 points and Miranda Robles had 13 points.
Both Cypress and Oxford had similar tournament experiences where they dominated in the first two rounds and had control of the semifinal game to only have it slip away. Not the results the teams wanted. However the tournament got the much desired “Battle of Cypress” showdown, it just happened to be in the third place game instead of the final. But that doesn’t matter for the local community since it gives them something to chatter about down at the local hangouts.
The “Battle of Cypress” was held Saturday afternoon and the hype was warranted as it was a hard fought battle with Oxford emerging victorious by a score of 50-41. The game was very tight in the first half. The score was tied at 10 to end the first quarter and Oxford was able to get a slight edge in the 2nd quarter and took a 24-21 point lead into halftime. Sophia Chan led the Lady Patriots with 8 points in the half while 14 of the Centurions points came from forward Huda Trabcli. However, the real story was the Cypress front court got into foul trouble forcing both Trabcli and Aggie Manu to the bench for extended periods of time for the remainder of the game.
In the 2nd half, Oxford stepped up the full court press and it gave Cypress fits resulting in 6 turnovers in the 3rd quarter alone and was a catalyst for the Lady Patriots outscoring the Centurions 12-5 in the quarter, despite being able to hold Oxford star center Austyn Masuno scoreless in the quarter. In the fourth, Sabrina Ichiho kept Cypress in the game by pouring in 6 clutch points in the quarter. However, it wasn’t enough as the Centurions had no answer for Masuno who overpowered the Cypress front court and was repeatedly fouled sending her to the line where she converted in 8 of 10 free throw attempts in the quarter.
Oxford claimed the crown for the first “Battle of Cypress” and was led by Masuno who finished the game with 19 points and made 15 of 21 free throws, while guard Sophia Chan scored 14 points. Cypress was led by Trabcli who scored 17 and Sabrina Ichiho who had 10.
In the Championship game, St. Joseph’s beat Pacifica 56-47 to win the tournament for the 3rd consecutive year. St. Joseph’s was led by Tournament MVP Stefani Berberabe who had 18 points while Pacifica was led by Kylie Beall who scored 18 points
Oxford Tournament Top Performers
• Oxford Academy – Austyn Masuno (71 points, 46 rebounds), Sophia Chan (34 points, 10 assists), Jocelyn Lopez (26 points, 18 rebounds), Mylee Madrazo (25 points 10 assists)
• Cypress – Huda Trabcli 36 points Sabrina Ichiho 32 points, Shannyn Karasawa 32 points, Jordan Matsuda 23 points