Second half spurt gets Edison past Marina

Mike Sciacca, Independent

If only the Edison High girls basketball team could put together

two solid halves of basketball, they’d be one hard team to beat.

As has been the case most of this season, Edison only got it half right

during Thursday’s Sunset League opener with visiting Marina, yet had

enough in the second half to pull away and successfully open defense of

its title with a 57-41 victory.

The Chargers, now 9-7 overall, led by just three at the half but in the

third quarter, they turned up the defensive pressure and took advantage

of a Marina dry spell to take command of the game.

“We just can’t seem to put together two good halves of basketball, and

that’s frustrating,” Edison Coach Dave White said. “Our shots were off

and we forced a lot of the action in the second half, but we came out and

played a little harder in the second half, and things began to go our

way. When we get to running, that’s our style of basketball.”

Neither teams shot well in the game, and Edison’s 24-21 halftime lead was

indicative of the fact that the outcome was still in doubt.

Marina, which fell to 10-5 overall, actually grabbed a 25-24 lead at the

outset of the third quarter on consecutive lay-ins by Nikki Lee and

Miranda Emde, but Rachael Ziemann’s lay in off a feed from her twin,

Bianca, and a pair of free throws, gave Edison the lead for good, 28-25.

Marina again sliced its deficit to three on a Cara Congelliere free

throw, but that was the end of the scoring for the Vikings in the period.

They went scoreless the final 6:09 of the quarter, and didn’t score again

until Congelliere hit another foul shot at the 7:01 mark of the fourth

quarter.

Turnovers (five) and forced shots (six) doomed the Vikings during that

dry spell and by the Congelliere hit her free throw, Edison had used a

14-0 run to establish command.

“We forced way too many shots, had poor floor position, and rushed a lot

of the action, and you can’t do that against a team of Edison’s caliber,”

Marina Coach Butch Fredlow said. “This was a big league opener for a lot

of these girls on this team, who had never played on varsity before. To

play the defending league champion, on their home court, may have

intimidated some of these girls. But, they never gave up, and that was

great to see. We shot so poorly, but other than that dry spell, we hung

right in there with the seventh-ranked team in the county.”

Poor shooting performances also affected the showdown inside the key

between Edison’s Michelle Zylstra and Marina’s Lee.

Zylstra, a 5-foot-11 senior center who is bound for Northwestern next

fall, had just two points at the break and finished with six overall.

Lee, meanwhile, scored just two points after the break and fouled out

early in the fourth quarter, exiting with eight points overall.

Senior forward Kate Monteleone tied for game-high scoring honors with 16

points and Rachael Ziemann, a sophomore guard, scored 11 second half

points and finished with 13, to pace Edison.

Emde scored 16 points to lead Marina.

Both schools step aside from Sunset League play Saturday to take on a

pair of nonleague opponents. Edison will entertain Mater Dei in a rematch

of the Woodbridge Tournament final, won by the Monarchs during the first

week of December. Marina, meanwhile, will travel to Mission Viejo.

Both games tip off at 7 p.m.