SAN JOSE—What Angel Harper and Melanie Tanaka lack in size, they make up in tenacity.
Harper, who stands at 5 feet, 2 inches tall, and Tanaka, standing at 5-foot, are Christopher’s shortest ballers but also the team’s biggest playmakers. Both created crucial opportunities, which helped the unseeded Cougars blast past No. 11 Leigh 62-38 Tuesday in the first round of the Central Coast Section Division II playoffs.
“Melanie and Angel both are my sparkplugs on the team,” CHS coach Robert Otis said. “They’re my shortest girls, but they bring the most intensity and energy to the team. When I can, I try to get them both on the floor at the same time to kind of pick up the pace and get in the other team’s face and try to make them make mistakes.”
Christopher held a narrow 11-6 lead after the first, but took full control of the game in the second quarter. Baskets from Christa Arroyo, Pati Soria and Teresa Guerra allowed the Cougars to score 11 unanswered points to build a 25-10 lead.
Leigh finally broke the rally with a score at 3:03 and maintained possession. It pulled down four consecutive rebounds, but the Cougars’ pressure gave the Longhorns fits and didn’t allow them to score.
The hosts picked up a pair of baskets before halftime, but a steal by Harper gave Christopher one last opportunity to widen its lead to 27-16 at the half.
“(I was thinking) we’re going to win,” Harper said. “They didn’t really do anything special. They got a couple rebounds and a couple second shots, but I think we handled them pretty well.”
The Cougars kicked off the third quarter with five unanswered points. The two teams exchanged baskets until Tanaka shut the door on Leigh for good. Midway through the quarter, a shot from Guerra fell just short but Tanaka swooped in for the rebound and scored. She stole the ball on the next play and fed it to Guerra, putting Christopher ahead 42-25.
Christopher went on a 9-0 run to start the final frame, thanks to steals from Harper and Soria. The Longhorns, who were held to six points in the fourth, first scored at 4:28 off a Jaden Anderson basket, and they were held scoreless again until the 1:41 mark. In that time, the Cougars scored seven unanswered points thanks to Tanaka and Trinity Stark.
The game held a special meaning to the team, which started the season 0-7. Tanaka said the Cougars didn’t expect to even make the playoffs, so they did whatever it took to extend their season.
“I think all season we’ve been that team, the one people don’t really expect to be all that great,” said Tanaka, who score nine points for CHS. “I think that just sort of fuels our fire.”
Both teams were disciplined on offense and had limited turnovers—especially in the second half. While Leigh was drastically taller than the Cougars, Christopher was quicker. It capitalized off the speed of Harper and Tanaka to create opportunities.
Tanaka was so quick, in fact, it was impossible to tell she’d missed the last two weeks of the season due to pneumonia.
“This is first game where I’ve actually been able to run up and down the court without being super winded,” she said. “It’s good to be back and playing. It was a good game to come back to.”
The Cougars had four players score in double digits. Arroyo led her team with 16 points and Stark was close behind with 11. Harper and Guerra both scored 10.
Christopher will take on No. 6 Pioneer in the second round of the playoffs at 7 p.m. Thursday in San Jose. Otis said his team needs to stick to its game plan to find success against the Mustangs.
“Our game plan for Pioneer is to play our game: do what we do well and impose our will on the other team,” the Cougar coach said. “We’ll try to be the aggressor and try to limit our own mistakes.”
