WARDSVILLE - It took a little over a quarter for California to solve Blair Oaks on Thursday night as the Pintos struggled passing the ball against the Falcons' zone in a turnover-filled first frame.
But as the first half progressed, California started hitting shots, made a 10-0 run midway through the second quarter and kept it going from there to take home a comfortable 64-42 win.
"We didn't make a lot of X's-and-O's adjustments, just some play-good-basketball adjustments," California coach Bobby Sangster said. " We had a lot of bounces not go our way. We were playing good basketball, shots just weren't falling and we weren't getting good bounces."
After Cameron Meyer scored California's first four points of the game on a pair of lay-ups, the Pintos struggled getting in their offense for the rest of the first quarter. California took its first lead of the game on an Elizabeth Lutz 3-pointer early in the second quarter.
Lutz ignited the Pintos' offense with 11 of her game-high 27 points in the second frame. The junior outscored Blair Oaks in the quarter and made six of California's nine 3's in the game. Meyer and Kayla Allison had eight points apiece for the Pintos.
Blair Oaks was led by forwards Kellie Fredendall and Brooke Boessen, who finished with 12 and 10 points, respectively. But with California attacking inside, both got in some foul trouble, and the Pintos took advantage on the offensive glass.
"As good as Blair Oaks is on the boards, that was something I didn't expect tonight," Sangster said. "I challenged the girls to attack and box out. The girls did a fantastic job of using our speed and quickness to just get to the basketball."