Girls’ Basketball: Sea Kings fall in semis

TORRANCE — A North Torrance High trainer asked Corona del Mar High girls’ basketball Coach Mark Decker if his team needed ice after the game Saturday night.

When the woman asked how many bags, Decker couldn’t help but grin a little.

“Five, six [bags],” he said. “You know, you guys beat us up pretty good. Six, seven?”

From the opening whistle, North put pressure on CdM with its shooting. The Saxons showed the Sea Kings why they are the top-seeded team in the CIF Southern Section Division 3AA playoffs, blasting No. 5-seeded CdM, 56-26, in the semifinal game at North High.

North Torrance (26-2) will play No. 2-seeded El Dorado in the Division 3AA championship game on Friday or Saturday, at a time and place to be determined. CdM, meanwhile, hopes to make the CIF State Southern California Regional Division III playoffs for the second straight year. The Sea Kings (22-8) will find out if they’re in when brackets are released on March 8.

North advances to the CIF finals for the third time in program history, the first since 2002. The Saxons have never won the crown in program history. They’re favorites this year, due to a balanced scoring attack.

Junior guard Megan Takata led the way Saturday with 15 points off the bench, including a trio of three-pointers. Senior Kylie Oshiro had 12 points, and sophomore Brittany McPherson had 10.

CdM had the clear height advantage, with 6-foot-4 Natalia Bruening and 6-2 Krista Anderson. But North came out on fire. Oshiro had 10 of her points in the first quarter, which ended with the hosts up, 18-4.

“We came out a little unsure about how they were going to play,” said Bruening, who led CdM with 18 points and nine rebounds. “They kind of just smacked us in the face. They were just making all their shots, and we had trouble adjusting.”

Bruening basically was the CdM offense in the first half. No one else could score until Bruening assisted senior guard Brianna Westrup’s layup with 3:05 remaining in the second quarter. By then, North had a 24-6 advantage.

“We didn’t put any pressure on them, offensively or defensively,” Decker said. “We didn’t do anything to take them out of their game, so they were the better team.”

The Sea Kings trailed big at halftime, 31-13, after making just five of 23 field goal attempts. For the game, they made just eight of 41 shots. Besides Bruening, no other player scored more than three points, and the 26 total points was a season-low.

Junior forward Kat Hess was a rare positive for CdM, with seven rebounds off the bench. Westrup contributed four steals.

“Well, we were consistent, we scored 13 in each half,” Decker said. “But no, we couldn’t score. We had some makeable shots, I felt like, in the first half especially, and we didn’t make them. It was not a good offensive performance. [Their press] sped us up; we were out of our comfort zone a little bit. But again, I thought there were some shots we could have made from a lot of people, and we didn’t finish them.”

Third-year North Coach Lauren Kamiyama said that in practice this week, she stressed bounce passes to her team to combat CdM’s size. North had seen size like that before, she said, when it faced Mater Dei in a nonleague game in early January. The Saxons lost to the Monarchs, who are ranked No. 1 in the country by espnW, 74-31. Their only other loss this season has come to Fairfax of the Los Angeles City Section.

“It’s always hard to see how tall they are until you see them in person,” said Kamiyama, whose team has won the first four playoff rounds by an average of more than 34 points per game. “I thought the girls were prepared, and not shocked that they’d never seen somebody that tall. Obviously, out in the South Bay, we don’t really see players around here that are 6-4 and 6-2.

“A lot of people, when I first scheduled it back in September, were like, ‘Why are you scheduling Mater Dei?’ They were questioning me. I’m like, ‘Hey, they’re supposed to be the best team in the nation.’ I feel like you have nothing to lose and everything to gain out of something like that. It turns out that it helped us down the road.”

CdM hopes for a return trip to the state playoffs down the road. Decker said he expects the Sea Kings to get in, after advancing to the CIF semifinals for the second straight season. This year, CdM also claimed a share of its second Pacific Coast League title in program history.

“It was a great season, absolutely,” Bruening said. “I’m really proud of our team, with our new additions and everything. Everyone gave so much to this team and produced. I thought we had a really well-rounded team. Everyone wanted that common goal of winning, and I thought we did a great job by winning league. Hopefully, we’ll be able to continue in state playoffs.

“It’s a luxury to be able to know [about state]. Last year, we were just devastated after the [semifinal] loss [at Elsinore]. This year, we’re sad, but we’re still hopeful that we’ll be able to get into state and do well.”

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CIF Southern Section Division 3AA playoffs

Semifinals

North Torrance 56, Corona del Mar 26

SCORE BY QUARTERS

CdM 4 – 9 – 10 – 3 — 26

North 18 – 13 – 13 – 12 — 56

CdM – Bruening 18, Tam 3, Westrup 2, Anderson 2, Hess 1.

3-pt. goals – Bruening 2, Tam 1.

Fouled out – None.

Technicals – Coach.

North – Takata 15, Oshiro 12, McPherson 10, Taualii 8, Kamiya 6, Mataalii 5.

3-pt. goals – Takata 3, Oshiro 2, Kamiya 2, McPherson 1.

Fouled out – None.

Technicals – None.