By Makena Nakaji
Staff Writer
For Costa girls basketball, the fourth time is not the charm.
The Mustangs fell to Martin Luther King High School, 62-54, in an away game on Wednesday, ending their California Interscholastic Federation run in the third round.
“I think we played very hard, and we did all that we could against this team,” junior shooting guard Haley Herdman said.
Costa girls basketball has made it to the final round of CIF play the past three years. Although Costa rostered senior forward Allie Navarette, who averaged 16.5 points a game this season, the Mustangs struggled to stop the Wolves’ guard senior Shalexxus Aaron, who averages 25 points per game.
“It definitely wasn’t a good way to end the season,” Navarette said. “Losing in the quarterfinals to a team we could have beaten is not a good feeling.”
Costa trailed the Wolves but managed to cut its deficit to one point, trailing 16-15 at the end of the first quarter and 32-31 in the second. The Mustangs were able to capitalize on the Wolves’ aggressive defense, getting themselves to the foul line multiple times throughout the game.
Link: Click to see player stats from Mira Costa’s game against King.
“Drawing fouls on them, getting to the free throw line and stopping them on defense really kept us in the game,” Navarette said.
During the third quarter, Martin Luther King High School slowly pulled away, leaving Costa behind 48-43. King continued to pull ahead with its high-intensity transition offense, ending the game 62-54.
Link: Click to see more details about the game.
The Mustangs ended their season 22-9 overall and 9-1 in Bay League.
“We have a lot of experienced and talented juniors and sophomores that will step up and be able to do great things,” freshman shooting guard Kim Waller said.
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