Downey’s Natalie Gomez (5) drives past Long Beach Poly defenders to score in the 48th Annual Downey Classic girls basketball tournament at Downey High School on Wednesday. Downey defeated Long Beach Poly 51-42. (Photo by Keith Durflinger)

DOWNEY – A big first half gave the Downey High School girls basketball team all they needed as the Vikings defeated visiting Long Beach Poly, 51-42, in a pool game in the 48th Annual Downey Classic Wednesday (Nov. 26) night.

Leading 34-14 after the first half, the Vikings (3-1) held off Poly in the second half.

The Jackrabbits (0-2) outscored Downey, 28-17, in the second half and got as close as nine points but fell short at the end in the eight-team tournament.

Downey concludes pool play Friday (Nov. 28) against Frontier High of Bakersfield.

The championship and remaining games will be played Saturday beginning at 1:30.

Friday’s games feature Crean Lutheran (2-0) vs. Lakewood (1-1), 3:00pm, El Dorado (2-0) vs. LB Poly (0-2), 4:30pm and Frontier (1-1) vs. Downey (1-1), 6pm.

Downey was led by a game-high 20 points by sophomore guard Natalie Gomez. Three players – senior guard Jennifer Marroquin (2 3’s), freshman guard Veronica Mejia (1 3) and senior guard Emily Carbajal (2 3s) – all had seven points.

With five points each was junior guard Amaya Hernandez (2 and a 3 pointer) and sophomore guard Bella Mejia (5 of 8 FTs).

Mejia had multiple assists in the game, as she opened the game with a nice pass to Gomez for the 2-0 lead.

“It really means a lot to me because if you think about it, assists are my points too,” said Mejia with a smile. “They’re huge and I count them too.”

Mejia also talked of the importance of an early season tournament and its experience moving forward.

“(This tournament) means a lot to us, because we’re getting good experience and these teams are good. It’s going to help us when we play Lynwood, Paramount and teams like that.”

Long Beach Poly was led by a team-high 16 points from Eliana Mao, followed by Jovahnah Dalton with 10 and Ana Villamar with 9.

“Our primary mission is the girls would have a great experience and build life-long friendships,” Downey coach Nate Harris said. “Their physical, mental and emotional well being is more important than wins and losses. We try to live that every day.

“The other interesting thing about our team is that everybody can contribute. Everybody is involved which makes it fun.”

That was true in the opening quarter, as six Vikings got in the scoring column.

Carbajal opened the game in the first minute with the first of her two three-pointers, while Gomez added a pair of buckets and Veronica Mejia added consecutive scores with a driving layup and a long-range basket to give Downey a 17-4 lead with 2:40 left.

Carbajal talked of her long-range shots for the team.

“I think (my outside shots) are really important because Nat (Gomez) gets her points and she’s really impactful with that,” Carbajal said. “And with my shots it just adds on, especially when I get hot, I can hit maybe five or more in a game.”

Hernandez finished the one-sided quarter for the Vikings with a short jumper to lead, 19-4 after the first quarter.

The Vikings had relentless defensive boards and great teamwork to highlight the quarter.

“We’re not the tallest team, so we know if we get low enough and push them back, then we’re we going to get the rebounds,” Gomez said. “It’s all about our intensity and being aggressive.”

Gomez had her second consecutive 20-plus game, as she had an early season-high 21 points in their opening tournament game in a close, 49-45, loss to El Dorado on Monday (Nov. 24).

The second quarter was more of the same, after a single free throw by Poly’s Nevaeh Johnson, to trail, 19-5, the Vikings ran off 10 consecutive points in the first four minutes to lead 29-5. It was their largest lead (24 points) of the game.

Highlighting the Downey run was a three-pointer by Morroquin and six points by Gomez.

After two consecutive baskets by Poly to trail, 29-9, the Jackrabbits went to the line and converted only two of six free throws on three trips to the charity stripe.

In the first three quarters Poly was only 5 for 11 at the line. The fourth quarter was better for the Jackrabbits, as they went to the line 10 times, converting eight times. They were 13 of 21 for the game.

Downey was 50% going 9 for 18.

The Vikings finished the half with a 5-2 run, highlighted by a turn-around pull up jumper by Gomez and a long-range score by Hernandez to lead, 34-14.

“When (Gomez) hits that little pull up, it’s nice” said Harris, of Gomez’ shot.

In the third quarter, the Jackrabbits outscored Downey, 13-10, highlighted by an early, 6-0 run. Gomez was the only Viking to score with six points.

The fourth quarter saw the Jackrabbits outscore Downey again, 15-7.

Entering the quarter trailing by 17 points, Poly started with a 7-0 run in the first 2:30. It was a 10-0 run to trail by 10 points, 44-34. It was the closest the Jackrabbits came since early in the game. It started with a 3-pointer to end the third quarter by sophomore Sohl Vadecha.

Downey stopped the run as Marroquin connected with a 3-pointer to lead, 47-34, midway through the quarter. Marroquin and Gomez were the only two players to score from the field for Downey in the quarter.

Poly closed to within nine points 49-40 on two free throws by Mao, who had a big quarter with 11 of her 16 points.

A big addition to the Downey staff to help Harris was former player and All-CIF player was 2020 grad Ilani Avila.

“I’ve been playing basketball since I was four years old,” said Avila, who led her team to a championship appearance for the Vikings in 2018 in the CIF 2A Division. “It’s always been a big part of my life. When I stopped playing it was pretty abrupt, so I never thought that I’d get back into it.

“When I was approached by coach Harris this past summer when I just made a joke if you ever need an assistant, he asked me if I wanted to help. I also sub (at Downey). It’s really important for me that I’m able to give back to them.”

Harris, who has led his team to the quarterfinals four times, including last year, is glad Avila is a part of the team

“I’m blessed to have her,” he said. “This is like a dream come true for me. I would like to have an alumni as an assistant coach, but to have her she’s always understood basketball and she sees the bigger picture and cares about the kids.

“These qualities that I see her have with the girls now, I saw them in her as a player. She was a good leader.”

In addition to Ilani, her dad Julio Avila has been with Harris as an assistant since her daughter played.

Other tournament scores from Wednesday were Lakewood defeating Wiseburn, 43-32 and King Drew defeating Crean Lutheran, 58-56, in double overtime.

Downey defeats Long Beach Poly, 51-42, in 48th Downey Classic