January 21, 2024
By Loren Kopff • @LorenKopff on X
Almost three minutes into La Mirada High’s game against Norwalk High, senior Hailey Medrano grabbed the second of her four offensive rebounds, took a few steps back and launched a three-pointer. From that point on it would only get better for Medrano and the league-leading Matadores.
Medrano, who had never scored more than 14 points in her high school career, doubled that performance against an injury-riddled Norwalk squad, sans two of its top three scorers. Medrano was eight of 16 from three-point territory, one of four from two-point range, hit a pair of free throws and grabbed a team-high eight rebounds as the Matadores had their way with the Lancers in a 68-17 win last Friday night at John Glenn High. The win kept La Mirada tied for first place in the Mid-Cities League with Warren High.
“She was feeling good in warmups, so she was making a lot of the shots; I could tell,” said La Mirada head coach Victoria Luong. “It was just a matter of getting open. But this season, she has really stepped up and putting more confidence in her shooting. In the past, she had the shot, but she was more timid. So this season, she has been stepping up.”
Medrano admitted it took her a while to get into her rhythm, but when she did, there was no stopping her, or the Matadores who posted their widest margin of victory over the Lancers in the past 54 meetings.
“Honestly, my mindset was to just get the win,” said Medrano. “We want to be league champions this year, so we have to do what we have to do. I’m just concentrated to set up my teammates and getting my best shot.”
“It’s tough,” said Norwalk head coach Ashley Baclaan. “We lost a couple of key players, [and] we truly are young this year. But the girls are battling as hard as they can.”
After both teams combined for three turnovers within the first 30 seconds or so, a steal and basket from sophomore Jordin Shaw opened the scoring and the Matadores went wire to wire from that point on. Once freshman Connie Esquival got Norwalk on the board just past the halfway mark, Medrano’s second perimeter shot, and another Shaw steal and basket made it 12-2.
“Unfortunately, that’s just the way these girls work,” said Luong of the slow start. “In the last couple of games, we’ve had double digit turnovers probably in the first quarter. So, just not getting into the groove of things and getting into [the game] too late…we’re 21 games in and it’s still the same thing. Luckily for us we were able to pick it back up and get to a rolling start.”
The Matadores (11-10, 4-1) led 14-4 after the opening quarter and any chances of the Lancers bouncing back were immediately squashed in the first three and a half minutes of the second quarter when Medrano nailed three straight baskets from beyond the arc. That streak was snapped with Esquival’s second basket from the stanza before Medrano converted on a three-point play, then hit another three-pointer to make it 29-8 with 1:44 left in the half.
La Mirada, which held a 36-10 lead at the half, went on second half runs of 15-2, 7-2 and 9-1 with Medrano scoring four of her 28 points during that time.
“She’s been a big three-point shooter all season and tonight, she was just on fire,” said Luong. “I just let her be and there was one play where she had the lane wide open and she dribbled out to the three-point line, turns around and shoots. Normally, I would be mad for a play like that because you’re already under the basket. But she was just hot tonight, so we took advantage of that.”
“She was doing a great job of hitting her shots,” said Baclaan. “We were slow in our defensive rotations and getting to the ball.”
Norwalk (7-10, 2-3) never scored in succession as Esquival scored 14 points, had five rebounds and two steals. Seniors Anahi Rodriguez and Celine Zavala each added half a dozen rebounds as the Lancers have been limited to under 20 points for two straight games after scoring at least 33 points in nine of the last 10 games.
“I think [the morale] is still good,” said Baclaan. “It’s just we have to grow; we have to learn a lot. We have a lot of young players, but I think they’re still very much well-together.”
Norwalk has bounced back from a 1-5 start to get to within a game of .500 four times before the current two-game skid. However, junior Katelyn Moreno, who has scored 178 points, injured her calf against Warren two days prior to the La Mirada contest. Baclaan said it’s unsure if she’ll return this season. Junior Monica Ruiz, with 106 points went down with a knee injury in the second half against El Modena High on Dec. 18 and is lost for the remainder of the season. Esquival, who now has 140 points, will be called upon to help keep the Lancers, who suited eight players against the Matadores, in the hunt for a playoff spot. The remainder of the team has combined to score 186 points.
“That’s a freshman I’m excited to see grow and be able to handle and carry a team,” Baclaan saif of Esquival. “So, it’s good.”
Norwalk will go to Dominguez High on Friday and face Glenn on Monday in a non-league tilt before welcoming Bellflower High on Wednesday.
“I was shocked when I saw the roster that they had eight players,” said Luong. “I didn’t look closely at who was out, but I told our girls [they] had to go in and play hard. We never know what to expect as far as who is going to show up.
“Last season, we had an amazing season, but towards the end of league, our key player was out, and that was proof that you never know who’s going to be injured or who’s going to be sick,” she continued. “You never know.”
Shaw scored 17 points, had four steals and three rebounds while senior Jael Arreguin added 15 points, five steals and three rebounds. All 10 La Mirada players attempted at least one of the 57 shots from the field and had at least one of the 33 rebounds the Matadores had. The team also had 15 steals as the Lancers turned the ball over 28 times. La Mirada will host Firebaugh High on Friday and travel to Warren on Wednesday in a game that could decide the league title.
“I came into league figuring Norwalk and Warren would be our top contenders,” said Luong. “I didn’t think Dominguez would step up as big as they have been. So right now, we’re just prepping for round two and really get that win against Dominguez and Warren in the second round.”
“They set up all of us and they want everyone to score; they don’t want to fall short to anyone,” said Medrano of the other four starters. “They’re really good teammates and personally, they make us improve more and help us with our driving [to the basket] and rebounding.
“We’ve been having a really good season,” she later said. “We fell short to Warren, but this year we really want to win league.”
Entering the game, Norwalk had won eight of the last nine games with La Mirada and 13 of the last 16 meetings with its former Suburban League rivals. The 51-point loss is the worst in the series in over 25 seasons with the previous worst coming in 2000, a 36-point setback. The 17 points scored is the also the worst against La Mirada 24 seasons ago when the Lancers mustered 28 points in a 27-point loss. Before last Friday, 11 of the last 17 La Mirada wins over Norwalk had been by eight points or fewer.