Sierra Canyon girls basketball returns to winning form against Harvard-Westlake

STUDIO CITY — The Sierra Canyon girls basketball bounced back from only its second loss of the season, as it routed Harvard-Westlake 75-25 in a Mission League game Tuesday.

Sierra Canyon (19-2 overall, 5-0 league) is now 35-0 in league play since joining the Mission League in the 2022-23 season.

Sierra Canyon played last week in the Hoophall Classic in Massachusetts. The Trailblazers’ 15-game winning streak was snapped by a loss to Long Island Lutheran of New York.

“I think we were just focused, it’s not that we came off a loss or a win,” Sierra Canyon coach Alicia Komaki said. “We’re trying to get ready for playoffs and staying focused no matter who we’re playing, and I thought we came out really intentional tonight.”

Sierra Canyon put on a defensive clinic in the game, allowing Harvard-Westlake (11-8, 3-2) to score only 11 points in the first half. The Trailblazers led 49-11 at the break.

Sierra Canyon applied heavy pressure on the ball and was able to grab 10 steals.

South Carolina commit Jerzy Robinson had 23 points, six rebounds and five assists to lead Sierra Canyon. She also made five 3-point shots.

Sophomore forward Rosie Oladokun had 13 points and four rebounds for Sierra Canyon.

Sierra Canyon’s starting guards, Delaney White and Cheri Hatter, did a nice job in the game pressuring the Harvard-Westlake ball handlers and not letting them get into the flow of their offense. White, who is committed to UC Irvine, had 11 points, three assists and one steal, while Hatter had 11 points and three steals.

“I think we were just trying to apply a lot of ball pressure, make it hard for them to get into their offensive set because they’re really good at execution,” White said. “Our goal was to kind of bounce back from our last game and I think we did a really good job.”

Sierra Canyon, the top-ranked team in the Daily News area, has allowed only 31 points per game in its five Mission League games this season.

“A lot of our guards did a really good job defensively tonight,” Komaki said. “It starts with whoever’s guarding the ball and ball pressure, and everyone did a really good job defensively.”

Pacific commit Payton Montgomery had eight points, five rebounds and two steals for Sierra Canyon. Jordyn Malek had nine points and Oregon commit Emilia Krstevski had four points, three rebounds and a block for Sierra Canyon.

No. 5 Harvard-Westlake came into the game having won 10 of its last 11 games after starting the season 1-6.

The Wolverines had a tough time getting things going against the high-pressure Sierra Canyon defense.

Sydney Yamaguchi had eight points for Harvard-Westlake.

Both teams will start the second round of Mission League games on Friday. Sierra Canyon will host Chaminade while Harvard-Westlake has a home game against Marlborough.