GIRLS’ BASKETBALL ROUNDUP : Rancho Alamitos Still in Hunt With Victory

Rancho Alamitos, trying to win its fourth consecutive Garden Grove League championship, kept its hopes alive Friday by defeating Kennedy, 63-49.

“I’m going to get my first league championship this year,” Rancho Alamitos Coach Peter Pyle said. “And some of the girls on the team will be winning their fourth.”

Those are lofty expectations for the Vaqueros, who need to beat first-place La Quinta (12-0 in league) Tuesday at La Quinta and then Santiago on Thursday. If they succeed, they still need La Quinta to lose its final game against Kennedy for an outright title.

“We are going to beat (La Quinta),” Pyle said. “We have nothing to lose.”

The Vaqueros started slowly in their victory over Kennedy (15-9, 8-4), leading 27-26 at halftime. But behind the play of Akilah Rodgers and Sally Vasquez, Rancho Alamitos (17-6, 11-1) went on a 14-2 run in the third quarter, giving the Vaqueros a 45-31 lead. Rodgers finished the game with 17 points, 19 rebounds and six blocked shots. Vasquez added 16 points and seven rebounds.

Karin Kitagawa led Kennedy with 19 points and Erryn Gutjahr had 11.