Comets rock G-House 79-23 in semis, to play East L.A. for title

SAN MARCOS (11-17-2018) – The Palomar women's basketball team, a 79-23 winner over Grossmont College in the feature championship semifinal game of the Comet Classic Tournament Presented by the Fegan Family, will play East Los Angeles, a 79-71 winner over Riverside City College in the other semifinal, for the tourney championship on Sunday at 4 p.m.

The Comets came out of the gate fast, leading 15-0 to begin the game and 53-10 at halftime, then cooled off but continued on to the victory over the G-House.

Once again, Palomar spread out the scoring, led by Imari Cooley, their 5-foot-8 freshman guard out of Vista Murrieta High School, with 12 points, 13 rebounds, a steal and a blocked shot, and Julie Saelee, a 5-foot-4 freshman guard from Monterey Trails High in Elk Grove, with 12 points, 4 rebounds (all on the offensive board), 3 assists and a steal.

Other big contributors for the Comets statistically were Mackenna Gentry (9 points, 2 rebounds, 4 assists, 4 steals), Dee Dee Valenzuela (9 points), Morgan Heise (8 points, 2 assists, 1 steal, 1 block), Keiara Barton (5 points, 6 rebounds, 1 assist), Sarah Ahmadpour 7 points) and Lauren hecker (5 rebounds).

Drew Mendoza tallied 11 points to lead the Griffins.

Sunday's third-place game will match Grossmont and Riverside at 2 p.m., following the consolation championship game between West Los Angeles and Santa Monica at noon.

In the consolation semifinals on Saturday, West Los Angeles defeated West Hills-Lemoore 50-40and Santa Monica turned back Orange Coast 59-52.