N.H. BEATS ECR, GETS ITS REMATCH : N. HOLLYWOOD 61, ECR 53.

Byline: Chris Branam Daily News Staff Writer

One outstanding career ended and two continued Wednesday night at North Hollywood High. Without an untimely twist of a knee, the outcome may have been reversed.

The Huskies girls' basketball team beat El Camino Real 61-53 in a City Section Championship bracket playoff game that befitted two of the area's top teams.

Fourth-seeded North Hollywood (22-5), which got a game-high 24 points from senior Markia Derby and 12 points and six assists from hobbled senior Tashean Thomas, gets a semifinal rematch against top seed Palisades on Saturday at a site and time to be determined.

The Huskies, who beat ECR for the second time this season, were eliminated by the Dolphins last year in the semis, 73-50.

``We're not going on a field trip, we're going there to beat (Palisades),'' Huskies coach Rich Allen said.

If North Hollywood has the same kind of luck it had against ECR, it has a chance.

The Conquistadores (22-4) lost starting guard and second-leading scorer Christina Aguinaga to a knee injury in last week's first-round victory over Locke. Aguinaga, a sophomore, averaged 15.1 points per game during the regular season.

Conquistadores coach Lori Chandler said the preliminary diagnosis on Aguinaga's right knee is a torn ACL.

``To be at that disadvantage,'' Chandler said, ``and make it a great game . . . I could not be more proud. I think we proved something.''

Cara Blumfield certainly did. Playing in her final game, ECR's standout senior guard scored 20 points - 10 in each half - and had four assists.

``We wanted to beat North Hollywood,'' Blumfield said. ``This is the rivalry game. We came together and showed what we could do.''

When the Conquistadores went down 47-31 early in the second half, Blumfield came out of a timeout and uncharacteristically spoke up.

``Somebody set a pick for me,'' she said.

Her teammates listened. They rallied to cut the lead to 49-42 on Karen Shun's 3-pointer with 6-1/2 minutes left. North Hollywood continually missed shots or turned the ball over, and Chrissy McClain's rebound and basket had ECR within 49-44 with 5-1/2 minutes left.

But Derby responded. She had five points in the fourth quarter after getting only six in the game's previous 16 minutes.

``I had to take over,'' she said. ``(The Conquistadores) really played their hearts out. We just wanted it more. We didn't want to come out on our home court and lose. We were the better team.''

But the more inconsistent team. When North Hollywood is good, it is very good. But when the Huskies fall into lapses like they did late in the third quarter Wednesday night . . .

``We kind of got too flighty, too cute,'' Allen said. ``Luckily we had a 15-point lead and not a six-point lead. If we do that against Palisades, we'll get buried.''

Shun scored 16 points and 5-foot-2 guard Leslie Lara had six rebounds, six assists and five steals for the Conquistadores. Angelle Hill had 14 points and Richelle Sherman had six and 13 rebounds for the Huskies.

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2 Photos

PHOTO (1--2) North Hollywood's Markia Derby (4) rushes onto a shot by ECR's Chrissy McClain, above, and Tashean Thomas (25) battles with Cara Blumfield, left, during the Huskies' 61-53 victory Wednesday.

Michael Owen Baker/Daily News