Comets bury Cerritos with 18 three-pointers in 98-47 rout

SAN MARCOS (1/04/2018) – Palomar jumped out to early leads of 13-0 after 2 minutes, 47 seconds and 22-2 on Friday evening and continued on to a 98-47 victory over Cerritos in The Dome in the White Bracket of the Southern California Crossover Challenge Tournament.

Coach Leigh Marshall's Comets (13-3) will play Los Angeles Trade Tech (11-2), a 121-44 winner on the road over Grossmont, next Wednesday, Jan. 9 at Trade Tech at 6 p.m. in the second round.

Palomar buried Cerritos in a barrage of 18 three-point baskets and led 28-11 after the first quarter, 52-14 at halftime and 77-29 after three quarters.

Julie Saelee (Monterey Trails High School in Elk Grove, just outside Sacramento) led the Comets with 19 points, going 7-for13 from the floor, and 4-for-9 from behind the 3-point arc and also contributed 2 rebounds, 2 assists and 2 steals.

DeDe Valenzuela (San Marcos High) scored 15 points, going 4-for-7 from the field, 4-for-6 on three-pointers and 3-for-4 on free throws with 2 rebounds, an assist and a steal.

Other double-figure scorers for the Comets were Morgan Heise (San Marcos High), who scored 10 points with 2 three-pointers, 5 rebounds, 2 assists and a steal; Makenna Gentry (Mt. Carmel High), who tallied 11 points  on 4-for8 shooting from the field, a three-pointer and 2-for-2 shooting from the free throw stripe along with 5 assists and a steal); and Imari Cooley (Vista Murrieta High), who tallied 10 points on 5-for-9 shooting from the field, 5 rebound and an assist.

Nalei'a Brackett (Carlsbad High) added 9 points, 4 assists and a steal.

Palomar's biggest lead was 56 points with 5:35 remaining in the fourth quarter.