Kendal Alloway powers Eastlake past La Costa Canyon in playoff opener

In the first meeting, back on Dec. 10, senior forward Kendal Alloway was one of three starters who did not play against La Costa Canyon.

And Eastlake suffered a 19-point loss in a tournament game.

On Wednesday, Alloway returned from her broken ankle, which was bad news for No. 7-seeded La Costa Canyon.

Alloway’s 25 points led No. 10 Eastlake to a 61-52 upset victory in the first round of the San Diego Section Division I girls basketball playoffs at LCC.

“Our record is not the best,” said Alloway, noting the Titans are just 10-14 now. “We had no energy early on, but we’re excited now.”

Eastlake advances to Saturday’s quarterfinals at No. 2 Imperial, which is 24-4 this season.

Eastlake ran out to a 17-point lead in the first minute of the third quarter.

Then, La Costa Canyon (14-13) appeared to catch fire just in time, running off 13 consecutive points to close the gap to 38-33 with 3:57 left in the quarter.

Freshman Ebony Taylor-Smith led the charge with 11 of her 26 points.

“I just knew we had to pick it back up,” Alloway said. “We couldn’t let it get in our head again.

“We let that happen too many times this season.”

La Costa Canyon’s Ebony Taylor-Smith shoots past Eastlake’s Sophia Flores during a Division I playoff basketball game Feb. 15, 2023 in Carlsbad, Calif. (Photo by Denis Poroy)

(Denis Poroy/For The San Diego Union-Tribune)

Eastlake has struggled on the road this season with just two wins against five losses, but the Titans hassled the Mavericks into 17 turnovers and aided the cause by converting 20 free throws.

La Costa Canyon could answer back with just 11 free throws, 10 of which came from Taylor-Smith.

The Mavericks cut the deficit to three points in the second half, but the last lead for the home team was at 7-6 in the first quarter.

A basket by Alloway put the Titans ahead to stay with 4:40 to go in the opening quarter.

Eastlake was averaging just 46.1 points a game until running into the Mavericks for a second time, this time with all its players.

“We gave up too many second shots last time,” Alloway said. “It took us a while to get it going this time.”

Besides Alloway’s point total, the Titans also got 13 points from Alana Byler and 11 points with 10 rebounds from Naaz Jensen.

Alloway also collected 12 rebounds.

Junior Keira Colestock added 12 points and five rebounds for the Mavs.

“We just weren’t healthy the first time and you saw the difference tonight,” Eastlake coach David Koopman said. “We got the ball down into the post and Alloway made them pay.

“When LCC made that big run in the second half, I almost called a timeout, but we have five seniors on this team and they know what to do.”

Monahan is a freelance writer.