Girls’ Basketball: CdM bows out

ORANGE — An Orange Lutheran High girls’ basketball team playing without its leading scorer worked hard Saturday night to limit Corona del Mar’s leading scorer.

Lancers Coach Tom Howard has been without junior guard Taelor Griffin, who averages 12 points per game, for four games now due to a concussion. To Howard, that just means his squad has had to further ratchet up the defensive pressure.

Orange Lutheran succeeded in that regard Saturday in its own gym. In the process, the No. 4-seeded Lancers ended the No. 5 Sea Kings’ breakthrough season, earning a 37-24 win in the CIF State Southern California Regional Division III quarterfinal game.

Orange Lutheran (25-8) will play at top-seeded Brea Olinda on Tuesday night in a SoCal Division III semifinal match. Brea Olinda got by South Hills, 66-49, in another quarterfinal game Saturday.

Junior forward Gloria Bates led the Lancers against CdM with 14 points, 10 rebounds, three steals and a pair of blocks. Sophomore guard Jessi Matson added nine points for the Lancers, the CIF Southern Section Division 3A champions who really won the game on defense.

“I think that was one of the keys,” Howard said of trying to stop 6-foot-4 CdM junior forward Natalia Bruening. “[We wanted to] try and limit her touches, throw as many bodies as we could at her, give her a number of different looks, just try not to let her be comfortable. That’s a hard thing to do. She’s very good, so we tried to throw the kitchen sink at her and hope, at that point.

“It’s the way we’ve done it all year, with our defense. Playing without our leading scorer the last two-and-a-half weeks, points are a lot harder to come by for us. We’re still very young … we have to constantly make adjustments in games, and that’s hard for a young team that’s not as confident and not as sure of what to do in certain circumstances. We have to just play as stingy defense as possible, keep games low-scoring and then just try to score enough.”

Bruening scored all 10 of her points in the first quarter, including a pair of three-pointers. It was a good start for the Sea Kings (23-9), who trailed just 13-12 despite senior point guard Brianna Westrup picking up two early fouls.

Westrup’s substitute, junior guard Melody Yoo, nailed a three-pointer to give CdM a 15-13 advantage with 7:10 left in the first half. But it was the last time the visitors would lead. CdM wouldn’t score again in the quarter, as Orange Lutheran rattled off 10 straight points to take a 23-15 halftime advantage.

Corona del Mar missed all 11 of its shot attempts in the third quarter as well, only getting a free throw each from Westrup and senior Maria King. The deficit grew, to 30-17 entering the fourth quarter. By the time Westrup made a layup with 7:10 remaining in the fourth quarter, it had been two full quarters since the Sea Kings’ last field goal.

“We were too anxious to get [Bruening] the ball right away, instead of moving the ball like we had worked on,” CdM Coach Mark Decker said. “I think that made it a little bit easier [for them]. But they’re a really good half-court team. They cover a lot of ground … a lot of credit to them. They’re a very good defensive team.”

The 10 points was the fewest for Bruening since a win at Woodbridge on Feb. 8, though she did have seven rebounds and two blocked shots. Junior center Krista Anderson added a basket, six rebounds and three blocked shots.

Orange Lutheran junior guard Jada Reed led the defensive effort with five steals for the young Lancers, who have just one senior in guard Brooke Hutto. Howard said his team matched the longest postseason run in program history; the 2011 team also made the regional semifinals.

CdM narrowed the deficit to 10 points in the fourth quarter, when Kelly Tam’s steal led to a layup by Kat Hess with 2:15 left. But the Sea Kings couldn’t get closer.

For CdM, it was the end of an impressive season, which included a share of just the second league title in program history. Wednesday’s CIF State-opening win over Kearny of San Diego was also the first time the program had won a CIF State game.

The Sea Kings had a unique mix of multi-sport athletes, including soccer stars Westrup and Hess. But they made it work.

“I’m extremely proud of everyone,” Bruening said. “We had a really talented team this year, with huge depth, and everyone contributed. Our defense was phenomenal. I thought we did a really good job of feeding off the energy from last year, and just building up on that and getting better and better every day.”

King, one of three seniors along with Westrup and Alexa Pridemore, also took pride in the team’s accomplishments.

“It was definitely a unique group of people and a unique team dynamic, but I think it was all good unique,” King said. “We were a lot stronger at playing together this year. I think we all had overall goals that we were sticking to … and I think we really accomplished that in the second half of league and on. I think last year was a little more sporadic, where everyone kind of had their own little agenda, but this year was a lot of working together and feeding off of each other.”

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CIF State Southern California Regional Division III Playoffs

Quarterfinal

Orange Lutheran 37, Corona del Mar 24

SCORE BY QUARTERS

CdM 12 – 3 – 2 – 7 — 24

OLu 13 – 10 – 7 – 7 – 37

CdM – Bruening 10, Hess 3, Yoo 3, Westrup 3, Anderson 2, Tam 2, King 1.

3-pt. goals – Bruening 2, Yoo 1.

Fouled out – Westrup.

Technicals – None.

OLu – Bates 14, Matson 9, Edwards 4, Adams 4, Hutto 3, Reed 3.

3-pt. goals – Matson 1, Edwards 1, Reed 1.

Fouled out – None.

Technicals – None.