League title in hand, Warriors look to step it up for the playoffs

By Stephen Dorman
Special to The Acorn

WELL-GUARDED-Westlake senior Christina Nelson tries to manuever around an Agoura defender during Monday's game at Agoura High. With the 64-51 victory over the Chargers, the Warriors wrapped up their first Marmonte League title in 14 years.

The Westlake girls’ basketball team has all the momentum it needs heading into the CIF Division II-AA playoffs next weekend. Now the challenge for the Warriors will be parlaying their results from the regular season into postseason play, where the competition is tougher and the margin for error diminishes.

Prior to Wednesday’s match-up against Simi Valley, Westlake (18-4, 12-0 in league) had won 17 consecutive games dating back to Dec. 11. Earlier this week they captured the program’s first Marmonte League championship since the 1991 season, when most of the players on the current squad were still learning to walk and talk, let alone dribble a basketball.

"We really need to keep up the momentum, otherwise the playoffs are going to be a lot harder," said senior shooting guard Megan Ackerman. "We can’t get back into the thought that it’s okay to lose. When you have three seasons of losing and just winning a game is really big to you, sometimes you fall back into the mindset that losing is (accepted). That’s why we have to keep winning and not mess with the streak."

Sophomore center Lindsey Williams, who currently leads Marmonte in blocks (49), rebounds (247), and is third in scoring with 327 total points, agreed with her teammate.

"It felt good to win the title but we’re not done yet ... we’re not satisfied," said Williams. "We were like ‘Yeah we won league,’ but we want to continue to challenge ourselves and continue to push ourselves to finish undefeated in league."

Williams has averaged a double-double (14.9 points and 11. 2 rebounds) this season, good for tops on the team in both categories.

Another major contributor to the Warriors’ success has been junior point guard Kathryn Scardino, a three-year starter at the varsity level who is currently enjoying her finest season, ranking second in the Marmonte in assists (108) and steals (98), while averaging 13.3 points per game.

"We have had really good chemistry this year and we all get along," said Scardino. "I think that helps us a lot on the court."

Westlake wraps up its regular-season schedule on the road against Moorpark Friday night. Head coach John D’Agostin is anticipating a raucous, sold-out crowd, as the Musketeers will open the doors to its new gymnasium for the first time.

"That game should be a good tune up for the playoffs in front of a hostile crowd," said D’Agostin. "We’re anticipating a big crowd and I think Moorpark will be ready for us. That will be an important game for this team."

As a whole, the Warriors remain confident that they can build on last season’s playoff performance where they defeated top-seeded Santa Fe on the road before losing to Santa Barbara in the second round.

However, the players are aware that this time around they—like Santa Fe a year ago—will be the league championship team that must protect its turf in an early-round game against a hungry lower-seeded opponent.

"The one thing that we can draw from that win is that just because you are a league champion, it doesn’t guarantee you a first-round win," said D’Agostin. "In the playoffs every team starts over and all of the teams will be quality teams. If we don’t show up ready to play, the playoffs could be over really quick."

Said Williams: "We definitely know more of what to expect out of the playoffs since a lot of us hadn’t really had any experience before last year. Now that we know what it’s like, we can prepare for it even more and prepare for it better than we did last year, and know what we have to do to (advance) further this time."

Playoff seeding and official game locations will be announced early next week.