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Sports

Windward Girls Hoops Bounces Back

The Wildcats rout Sierra 98-21 in the first round of the SoCal regionals.

So much for a hangover in the first round of the state playoffs.

Still smarting from last week's triple-overtime loss to Serra in the CIF Southern Section Division 4AA finals, the Windward School girls basketball team took out its frustrations on Tollhouse Sierra with a 98-21 victory in a Southern California Regional opener Wednesday night.   

Coach Steve Smith's squad, which won the Division IV state crown last March by defeating Northern California regional champion Albany St. Mary's, 51-47, in the finals at Power Balance Pavilion in Sacramento, is determined to make a return trip north, but still has work left to do.

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On Saturday, the third-seeded Wildcats (28-4) will host sixth-seeded La Jolla Bishop's, the San Diego Section runner-up, in the regional quarterfinals. The Knights (20-9) dispatched Southern Section 4A semifinalist Santa Fe Springs St. Paul 64-36 in the first round. 

Windward had its offense rolling from the start against the Central Section semifinalist Chieftains (18-10), who entered the game averaging 48.9 points behind forwards Amanda Bewick (7.6 ppg) and Casey Stark (7.2 pg). In this game, though, Sierra's attack was stymied by ball-hawking Wildcats defense and the athleticism of Jordin Canada, Courtney Jaco, Troye Mosley, Kristen Simon, Paris Baird, Imani Stafford and Macchiati Smith.

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If victorious over Bishop's, the Wildcats will either travel to Gardena for a rematch with second-seeded Serra or host Southern Section 4A runner-up Brentwood in the semifinals next Tuesday.

San Diego Section champion La Jolla Country Day, which lost to Windward in last year's regional finals, is the top seed and had a first-round bye. Country Day would not face the Wildcats until the regional finals March 17 at Colony High School in Ontario.

Here are the girls' CIF SoCal Regional Division IV quarterfinal matchups:

North Hollywood Campbell Hall (Southern 4A champion) at No. 1 La Jolla Country Day (San Diego IV champion)

No. 5 Burbank Bell-Jeff (Southern 4AA semifinalist) at No. 4 Playa del Rey St. Bernard (Southern 4AA semifinalist)

No. 6 La Jolla Bishop's (San Diego IV runner-up) at No. 3 Los Angeles Windward (Southern 4AA runner-up)

Los Angeles Brentwood (Southern 4A runner-up) at No. 2 Gardena Serra (Southern 4AA champion)

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