LONG BEACH —The Jordan girls basketball team came up against a seasoned opponent in its CIF-Southern Section Division 3A quarterfinal Wednesday night against St. Monica.
Jordan lost 66-45, and its playoff run ended in the same place — the quarterfinals — for the second consecutive season.
Still, the Panthers are trending up.
They moved up from Division 4AA to Division 3A this season and made it just as far as a year ago.
Jordan coach Wesley Rosenbaum looked back on Jordan’s season with positivity.
“We held down a top-five ranking in our division for most of the season,” Rosenbaum said. “We finished in the top 3 in league and that’s growth from the year before. We fell short tonight in the quarterfinals against a really good team.”
Asia Edwards led Jordan (21-9 overall) with 15 points, two rebounds and a steal. Micah Lemons and Janiah Lorn each had six points for the Panthers, while Lemons led Jordan with five rebounds.
Savannah Hernandez added four points, along with four rebounds, two assists, a steal and a block.
Sydney Ghobrial had 18 points, three rebounds and an assist for St. Monica (22-9). She made a game-high five 3-pointers.
Jordan scored first thanks to back-to-back steals from Breana Patu. She fed the ball first to Lemons and then Bryanna Moran for layups and a 4-0 lead.
From there, St. Monica went on a 10-point run on five points from Kimberly Macias, including a 3-pointer.
St. Monica finished the first quarter leading 16-9 after a 3-pointer from Edwards and a rebound from Lemons.
St. Monica started the second quarter on fire, building a 28-11 lead on baskets from Kaya Ghobrial and Melina Werhle.
Jordan cut into the lead with a more aggressive approach to end the half, and that led to free throws for Edwards, Hernandez and Moran.
Jordan entered halftime down 32-23.
St. Monica padded its lead in the third quarter to a 50-32 after Ghobrial heated up from 3-point range.
With Jordan trailing 56-33, Lorn sank two 3-point shots, alternating with Ghobrial, who also hit two to bring the score to 62-39.
Jordan would also get points from Edwards and Marlene Hernandez in the fourth to bring the final score to 66-45.
Although Edwards played her final game for Jordan on Wednesday night, she sees a team on the rise.
“I feel amazing,” Edwards said. “Even though we lost, we still made it far, and we still held it down as a team. We have a handful of returners. We feel like we will have a stronger team next season.”