Lack of offense plagues Toros’ basketball team

The Matilda Torres Toros girls basketball team took plenty of shots in their loss to the Minarets Mustangs, but finding the bottom of the net was another problem.

The Toros shot just 11 percent from the field (8-of-68), including 4 percent from 3-point land (1-of-24) in a 49-19 loss to Minarets on Friday. Torres also went 0-for-5 from the free throw line.

“We’re young. One of the things we struggle with is the short memory-thing,” head coach Jose Villalobos said. “Our girls will make a mistake and it will linger with them for a few plays. They don’t play in the moment. We had great shots. We played a team identical to this the other day. They packed the paint, but we couldn’t get a shot. We got shots today from the outside. We have to do a better job of finding the inside pass. They are getting better.”

Karina Sandoval led the Toros with eight points, all in the fourth quarter. She also had five rebounds and four steals. Sabrina Cerillo filled up the stat sheet with seven points, seven rebounds, four offensive, four steals and four blocks.

Layla Webster didn’t record a point, but pulled down eight rebounds. Point guard Sheng Lee scored four points with eight rebound and three steals before leaving the game with an injury in the third quarter.

“I thought our girls hustled and played decent. There were some positive things,” Villalobos said. “We had trouble scoring. The ball just wouldn’t go in. One of the things I talk to them about is we’re trying to build a culture. One of those things is our style of play like non-stop, full-court pressure. We’re introducing those concepts little by little. We lost a few girls because of different reasons. We went from nine to seven players.”

Melia Kamalani led all scorers with 24 of Minarets’ 49 points, including going eight-for-eight from the free throw line.

Minarets scored the first 11 points of the game and led 12-2 at the end of the first quarter. Torres’ lone field goal was a Lee offensive putback. The Toros also went 0-for-8 from 3-point range.

After Minarets made a layup to open the second quarter scoring, Cerillo hit her team’s lone 3-pointer to cut the lead to nine.

Minarets scored the next four points while the Toros missed their next nine shots.

Lee finally broke the drought by getting a steal and making a layup. After a Minarets layup, Cerillo made one of her own.

However, Minarets closed the first half on a 7-0 run for a 27-9 lead.

Unfortunately, the Toros went cold in the third quarter. While they took 20 shots, including three free throws, and they missed all of them while Minarets scored 11 points to open a 38-9 lead.

Minarets opened the fourth quarter with an offensive putback, but it would take about three minutes before either team scored. Sandoval stopped the drought with a layup.

The Mustangs scored the next seven points for a 47-11 lead.

Sandoval stopped the run with a pull-up 14-foot jumper, but Minarets added a pair of free throws.

Sandoval answered with a layup. Then, Cerillo came up with a steal and short jumper. Sandoval closed the scoring with a layup after a steal.