It was Knight versus the Knights Wednesday night at Hofschulte Gym in Orcutt.

The Knight High School Hawks came to town to face the St. Joseph Knights in the second round of the CIF Southern Section Division II-A girls basketball playoffs.

The Hawks - they call themselves the Knighthawks - came in from Palmdale, about 60 miles north of Los Angeles.

The upstart Knighthawks pulled out a gritty 57-53 victory for the fairly new high school.

“This is just our third year of varsity and we've made the playoffs all three years,” said Knight coach Shawn Johnson. “This year we'll be graduating our second senior class. Our first year, we made the playoffs but were out in the first round. Last year, we won one game and advanced to the second round. With tonight's win, we've made it the farthest into the playoffs. I hope it doesn't end here”

“It was a great year,” said St. Joseph coach Ron Barba. “I'm extremely disappointed that we didn't win but you have to give Knight a lot of credit. They played a great game.”

Junior forward Malika Jackson led the Knighthawks with 14 points. Junior guard Brandi Dawson added 10, junior center Anttanisha Moton chipped in nine, junior guard Dominique Turner and senior guard Aladrian Gaines each added seven, senior guard Gelenda Loving scored six points and junior forward Kristina Duncan added four for the visitors.

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St. Joseph was led by Sophomore forward Analise Riezebos with 15 points. Analise's sister, senior center Devin Riezebos, scored six points. Junior forward Ané McPike added 14 points, junior guard Colleen Smith chipped in eight points, freshman guard Kelsie English added five, senior guard Stephanie Cusack scored five points and junior guard Gabby Winters added two.

The game went down to the wire - but it didn't start out that way.

The Knights - that would be St. Joseph - had a strong first quarter. The Knights spread the ball - and the scoring - around. Cusack opened with a three-pointer from the corner. Winters drove in for a layup. Devin Riezebos muscled inside for two. McPike drove the lane for a basket then, after a steal, drove again for another two. Riezebos inside for another score then Analise Riezebos followed with another inside bucket.

Meanwhile, the Knighthawks were having trouble with the St. Joseph defense. They had trouble getting the ball up court and, when they did, they had even more trouble penetrating the St. Joe defense.

“St. Joseph has one of the best 2-3 zones in the state and we were having trouble figuring that out,” said Johnson. “I told the girls to keep their composure and just stick to the game plan. I reminded them that we were down 7-0 at the beginning of our last game (a 66-61 victory over Pacifica in the first round) and we came back to win that.”

The Knights had no trouble in their first round game - a 59-17 victory over Glendora - and this one was shaping up as another blowout.

“But we couldn't stop the two things we saw when we scouted them,” said Barba. “Their post play and penetration. We knew what they were going to do but we just couldn't shut down their inside players or stop their guards from penetrating when we needed to.”

Turner and Gaines opened the second quarter knocking down big three-pointers. That cut the St. Joseph lead to three and the Knighthawks were back in the game.

The Knighthawks to a brief lead at 21-20 before St. Joseph responded.

McPike scored. Analise Riezebos hit back-to-back buckets and the Knights were back on top by five.

Dawson scored just before halftime to get that Knighthawks back to within three - 27-24 - when the buzzer sounded.

The second half was non-stop action.

Knight built a seven-point lead in the third quarter.

Magnolia 69, AG 31

ANAHEIM - The Eagles (24-5) ran up against a top seed that, well, played like a top seed in this Division III-AA quarterfinal.

“They're strong, athletic, fast,” said Arroyo Grande coach Vard Ikeda. “Every kid has guard skills, and no one is small. They're all 5-foot-8-to-5-foot-10. They give you all kinds of match-up problems. Every time they got a steal, they converted.”

Arroyo Grande's Wesleigh Chriss buried three 3-pointers and led the PAC-7 League champions with nine points.

Girls water polo

Arroyo Grande 8, Louisville 4

WOODLAND HILLS - The second-ranked Eagles have earned another shot at a Division IV title.

Cabrillo defeated Arroyo Grande for the championship last year. This year, the Eagles (26-6) play top-ranked North Hollywood Harvard Westlake at 4 p.m. Saturday at The William J. Woolett Center in Irvine after vanquishing Louisville in the semi-finals.

Erin Higginbotham continued her late-season scoring roll that day. “She scored four goals early in the first quarter,” said Eagles coach Steven Allen. “That was huge for us.”

Women's basketball

Pierce 77, Hancock 55

WOODLAND HILLS - The Brahmas led 46-31 at halftime, then salted the win away. The Bulldogs dropped to 1-10 in the Western State Conference North Division and 1-28 overall. They finish their season at 5:30 p.m. Saturday at home against Ventura.

Elisa Ayala led the Bulldogs with 14 points. Hollyann Deparini scored 13.

“The second half was much better,” said Hancock coach Sheri Bates. “We had no transition defense at all most of the firzt half. We cleaned it up the last part of the first half, and it carried over to the second half.”

Feb. 21, 2008