Westchester girls basketball defeats Crenshaw 56-46 in heated LACS semifinal battle: Video highlights, 5 takeaways

Mariah Blake led the finals-bound Comets with 19 points

PASADENA, Calif. – It appears that Westchester girls basketball knows a thing or two about going on finals runs.

The Lady Comets are headed to the Open Division title game for the second year in a row – and their fourth LACS title game in five years – after beating Crenshaw for the third time this season by a score of 56-46.

Here are five takeaways from the game:

1. JACKSON CARRIES THE TORCH IN THE FIRST HALF

There are many games where the Comets' offense is in a rhythm from nearly start to finish. But Saturday was not one of those games. Both teams were locked in on defense all game, and neither shot it well in the first half when they did get clean looks, leading to a neck-and-neck defensive battle.

However, Westchester was able to maintain a slight lead in score and momentum in the first half thanks largely to Ron'yae Jackson. The CSU-LA signee was the only player on either team with more than 6 points in the first half, scoring 11 of Westchester's 24 primarily via jumper. Jackson also did a little bit of everything outside of the points column for the Comets, including setting up teammates, making plays on the defensive end, and helping secure the glass. In addition to her production, her poise and steadying energy set the tone until other Comets got their feet under them.

Jackson only scored 1 point in the second half, but she still had her fingerprints on the game until the final buzzer.

2. BLAKE HEATS UP IN THE SECOND HALF

About five minutes into the second half, Mariah Blake stole the show. The explosive Westchester forward scored 13 of her game-high 19 points in the last quarter-and-a-half or so of the game, hitting mid-range jumper after mid-range jumper, plus a deep three, to close Crenshaw out. After hitting two middies in the waning minutes of the third quarter, Blake scored 9 points in the final frame.

At nearly six feet tall with the ability to rise high over multiple defenders and drain jumpers with little air space, there aren't many teams out there that can stop Blake when she's going. And even though Crenshaw is a good defensive team, it just didn't have any chance to contest her with its tallest rotation player standing 5-8.

Blake also made an impact on the boards and racked up a handful of steals and deflections for the Comets.

Saturday wasn't a signature Rylei Waugh performance, but the senior point guard still found ways to lift Westchester to victory. After helping put the game away with six free throws in crunch time, she finished with 13 points and 6 assists, and defensively was a big reason Westchester kept Crenshaw's dynamic backcourt in check.

3. SALAZAR'S FOURTH FOUL A BACKBREAKER

Senior Citlali Salazar, Crenshaw's leading scorer at 14 PPG and a gifted finisher at the rim, was efficiently finding ways to score through Westchester's length whenever she found a seam. But she had trouble staying on the court. 

Salazar picked up her fourth foul less than 30 seconds into the second half, and had to sit for the entire rest of the third quarter. The Cougars' depth stepped up big-time to keep Westchester from gaining separation as she sat. Still, they struggled mightily to get good looks against a strong Comets' defensive effort without her.

Salazar scored a team-high 14 points despite only playing a hair over 20 minutes. Dalayja Floyd-Hurt was also in double-figures with 11 points.

4. CRENSHAW REMAINS TOUGH IN FACE OF DEFEAT

This was a particularly hard way for the Cougars to get their LACS title dreams dashed. 

Not just because it was a close game that they had a chance of winning even with their leading scorer in foul trouble. But also because this was their third meeting with Westchester this season despite being in different leagues, and it was a chippy game between a couple familiar foes who play very physical basketball. 

As an athletic but undersized team, the Cougars have to lay it on the line every night in order to compete against any bigger teams that can match their ability to play uptempo. The Cougars knew they were the underdog against Westchester, a great team that they arguably don't match up well against, and even when they were running out of time, they didn't back down. Even when they went down 47-35 just over halfway through the fourth quarter after a pair of jumpers from Reigne Waugh, Crenshaw responded with a 7-0 run of its own before eventually running out of time.

No play embodied Crenshaw's character more than when sophomore Destiny Floyd-Hurt dove out of bounds face-first to save a ball in the second half, successfully igniting a fast break score in addition to giving herself a mouthful of blood.

It was a tough loss, but Crenshaw continues to show its true colors – toughness – in the face of adversity.

5. FOUR FINALS IN FIVE YEARS

Westchester has already won a City Section title during the tenure of its current senior class. That was when it won Division 1 in 2019-20 with Waugh as its second-leading scorer and Jackson as a key role player.

And of course, the Comets were a couple buckets away from winning the Open Division last year, when a lot of people thought they were one more year away from a finals run. So that makes this the third trip to the finals in four seasons for Westchester, including back-to-back Open Division championship appearances.

Go back to the 2018-19 school year before any current players were in high school, and Westchester has made four LACS title games in the last five seasons. It made the Open Division finals in 2019 where it fell 59-49 to Granada Hills Charter. Dominic Grimes' Comets are the only upper-division team in the City with four finals appearances since 2019, and they might be one game away from topping off that streak with the crown jewel of City Section hardware.