Girls baskteball: CdM comes alive to salvage second

Barry Faulkner

CORONA DEL MAR - After a volatile postgame chat with his players

following Tuesday’s loss that dropped his team out of the Pacific Coast

League championship hunt, maybe Corona del Mar High girls basketball

coach Elbert Davis had no energy left to give.

Or maybe he simply knew things would somehow turn out well for his Sea

Kings, despite a 14-2 deficit to visiting Costa Mesa in a PCL battle for

a share of second place Thursday.

Either way, Davis’ calm exterior was appropriate, as he witnessed a

46-36 CdM victory to complete the regular season.

The triumph propelled the Sea Kings (13-13, 7-3 in league) into a

second-place tie with Estancia, which fell to University Thursday in the

league title showdown.

Having won a coin flip with Estancia, CdM, last year’s PCL champion,

is the league’s No. 2 playoff representative in next week’s CIF Southern

Section Division III-AA playoffs.

“I knew we couldn’t play that poorly the entire game,” Davis said of

the opening 10 minutes, during which the hosts managed only two foul

shots, while the Mustangs (15-12, 6-4) appeared intent on shoving CdM

into the fourth-place hole in which Mesa eventually landed.

Costa Mesa, however, will receive an at-large invitation to the CIF

Division III-AA playoffs, for which pairings will be announced Sunday.

“We were kind of floating,” CdM senior Kristin McCoy said of the early

going. “We talked at halftime about just executing.”

McCoy netted her team’s first field goal with 5:59 left before

halftime, but the Sea Kings converted 9 of 14 from the foul line to

remain in striking distance, 22-14, at the break.

McCoy, one of the Sea Kings’s two players recognized on senior night,

was just 1 of 7 from the field in the first two periods. But, Davis said

later, he wasn’t worried in the least.

“I knew she would start hitting those shots,” Davis said.

McCoy fulfilled her coach’s prophecy by scoring 18 of her season-high

26 points in the final 16 minutes. She was 5 of 9 from the field after

intermission and also made 8 of 9 second-half free throws to finish 14 of

17 from the line.

CdM took advantage of Mesa’s physical play, converting 20 of 30 foul

shots. The Mustangs shot just nine free throws, sinking four.

The visitors committed 22 fouls and had two players foul out.

Mesa, however, found an even bigger problem generating offense the

final 12 minutes.

After senior point guard Nancy Hatsushi’s three-point play put the

Mustangs up, 30-20, with 4:05 left in the third period, the Mustangs

added just two more field goals. They finished 5 of 21 from the field in

the second half (24%) and wound up connecting on just 14 of 54 field-goal

attempts (26%).

McCoy, who also added a game-high 10 rebounds, began a 19-2 run

spanning the end of the third and beginning of the fourth quarters by

netting a pair from the foul line.

“Naz Alateha came off the bench and helped us make an adjustment

defensively on Hatsushi (who had 10 points at halftime),” Davis said. “We

wanted to make the other girls beat us.”

Davis also credited Luu’s contribution off the bench. She added nine

rebounds and two blocked shots to her two points.

Jackie McCoy added eight points, four rebounds, three steals and two

blocks for the winners.

PACIFIC COAST LEAGUE

Corona del Mar 46, Costa Mesa 36

Score by Quarters

Costa Mesa 9 13 10 4 - 36

Corona del Mar 2 12 15 17 - 46

Costa Mesa - Hatsushi 16, Marshall 4, Naff 4, Trejo 3, Muniz 3, Caron

2, Lazos 2, Grewal 2, Carich 0, Cooper 0.

3-pt. goals - Hatsushi 2, Trejo 1.

Fouled out - Caron, Muniz.

Technicals - none.

Corona del Mar - K. McCoy, 26, J. McCoy 8, Gruber 5, Kawata 3, Luu 2,

Aleteha 1, Hawkins 1, Pham 0, Marks 0, Klien 0, Snell 0.

3-pt. goals - Kawata 1, Gruber 1.

Fouled out - none.

Technicals - none.