Coronado girls roll past Tech, clinch berth in postseason

Coronado’s girls basketball team took the floor Thursday with a full understanding of the situation at hand. A win over Tech would propel the Cougars into the playoffs, and a loss would end their season.

The suspense lasted about four minutes, as host Coronado rattled off the first 14 points and cruised to a 69-27 Southeast League victory.

Senior guard Sarah Dexter scored 14 points to lead the Cougars, who will open the Sunrise Region playoffs on the road Wednesday against the Northeast League champions.

“We’re pretty excited about this,” Dexter said. “We didn’t make it last year, so this was our goal. We’ve got five seniors, and we’ve all wanted it for a while.”

Playing without standout player Mesha Phillips, Tech looked lethargic from the start. Though the Roadrunners (10-12, 6-8 Southeast) won the first meeting between the teams this season, they committed five turnovers in the first 4:02 while allowing Coronado (16-12, 8-6) to go ahead 14-0 on a layup by Caitlyn Trost.

The Cougars’ defense, which forced 29 turnovers on the night, held Tech to four first-quarter points and took a 41-10 lead into halftime.

Coronado coach Bill Crego said his squad’s defensive intensity was part of the game plan.

“That’s one of the things we’ve really focused on,” he said. “We try to make (opponents) beat us with jump shots instead of letting them get to the basket.”

The Roadrunners scored the first basket of the second half when Adriana Heredia drove to the hoop for a layup.

But Nicole Ruffino’s layup moments later started a 16-0 scoring run for Coronado, which took a 57-14 lead into the fourth quarter.

Tech held its own against Coronado’s reserves in the final period, but the Cougars led by at least 40 points the rest of the way.

Crego, whose team has endured multiple injuries this season, said it was good to be back at full strength.

“We’ve been hurt all year,” he said. “This is the first game we’ve had everybody back.”

Trost helped the Cougars with 12 points and five steals, and teammate Sofie Cruz added 11 points, five rebounds and three steals in just more than two quarters of play.

Kristena Wilson had 13 points and five rebounds to lead the Roadrunners.