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WEST HILLS — Chaminade girls basketball’s Payton Montgomery was met with applause when she came out of the locker room. It’s not a common greeting for a freshman, but Montgomery’s 26 points and 16 rebounds in the Eagles’ 75-66 win over Mira Costa necessitated it.
“I had a slow couple games before,” Montgomery said. “So coming back out here, it’s playoffs, you know? I felt great, so good.”
Chaminade found an advantage in Montgomery’s post play in the first round of the CIF Southern Section Division 1 playoffs on Thursday night at Chaminade. The Eagles will play at Riverside King on Saturday in the second round.
Chaminade (17-12) shut down a Mustang offense that was thriving on 3s to earn victory. Mira Costa (17-10) hit 10 3-pointers in the first half to build a 44-38 lead at halftime. With 6:30 left in the first quarter, the Mustangs already held a 9-5 advantage, and Chaminade didn’t catch up until Amia Witt let a shot fly from downtown to cut the deficit to 20-19.
Rebounding kept the Eagles in the game even when their shots weren’t falling. Hunter Hudson finished with 15 rebounds, and also wasn’t afraid to take on some dirty work on defense.
“We call her Dennis Rodman for a reason,” Eagles coach Megan Kelso said of Hudson. “If she scores it’s great, but she will always give you grit, rebounds and defense. She’s the log jam in the middle that we need.”
Chaminade gained an edge in the third quarter after a scary moment roughly three minutes into the frame. Senior Laila Carrillo had a hard fall in which the back of her head hit the hardwood, momentarily silencing the gym.
Carrillo got up and walked to the bench, and later returned to the game. She also sparked something in the Eagles.
“I think they wanted to fight for a senior,” Kelso said. “I think the girls knew if Laila can’t go, we need to win for her. was proud of the…
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