Venice Girls Overwhelmed by Palisades

The girls basketball team is glad to be done with its toughest stretch of the season – in which it took on the top three teams in the Western League in a row. Despite playing better in each game, the Gondoliers were unable to come away with a victory, losing to Palisades 87-42 Wednesday night.

“At halftime we trailed by 18. We battled, and eventually they took over at the end," Venice head coach said. "I was pleased with our performance. It’s tough when they have four or five players who are a good head and shoulders above us.”

Palisades (16-9 overall, 6-2 in league) came ready to play, establishing its dominance inside and using its height advantage. Junior Donae Moguel scored 13 of the team's first 14 points on her way to a game-high 17. Palisades head coach Torino Johnson was very pleased with her effort.

“She worked really hard today," Johnson said. "She played with a lot of intensity and was running the floor really well. She’s an impact player so when she is working hard, so is the rest of the team and we enjoy success.”

Venice trailed 20-4 at the end of the first quarter. Palisades extended its lead to 31-6 before the Gondoliers began to close the deficit thanks to Dolphins foul trouble. Venice was in the double bonus throughout the second quarter but was only able to close to within 36-18 at halftime.

Junior , who led the Gondoliers with 12 points, went down hard to start the third quarter, limping off the court. It was just one of many injuries the team dealt with. Junior missed the game with an ankle injury, and sophomore star sat much of the second half with the flu.

“We are still working on fundamentals in practice but with the illness going around and injuries we are going hard but still limiting contact a lot of individual skills," Flores said. "J’miayah can’t run right now so hopefully she can play on Friday but I’m not sure if she can.”

made back-to-back three-pointers for Venice, but Palisades was on fire on offense, scoring 29 points in the eight minutes to build a commanding 65-38 lead.

The Dolphins brought in the reserves in the fourth quarter and with the clock running the whole time, both teams were held to minimal scoring. Asia Smith and Ashlie Bruner both finished the game with 14 points for the Dolphins.

Venice begins a crucial three-game stretch with Hamilton, Westchester, and University. First up is Hamilton, the only team the Gondoliers have beaten in league.  Tip-off is 4 p.m. on Friday.

1st

2nd

3rd

4th

END

Venice

4

14

20

4

42

Palisades

20

16

29

22

87

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