Drought leads to Tars loss

Patrick Laverty

If Jen Thompson, the Newport Harbor High girls basketball coach, can

bottle the way the Sailors played in the first five minutes of

Thursday’s contest against Foothill, Harbor should have no trouble

competing for one of the top spots in the Sea View League.

If the Sailors can play like they played in the final four minutes

against Foothill, the same is possible.

It’s just the part in the middle that Newport Harbor needs to work

on.

The Sailors scored just eight points in the second and third

quarters combined, losing an early lead and leaving themselves too

large of a margin to make up despite an impressive late rally.

Harbor’s drought allowed the visiting Knights to escape with a 43-37

victory in the league opener for both teams.

“We have to play a full 32 minutes of basketball,” Sailors Coach

Jen Thompson said. “I told the girls that I probably sound like a

broken record right now, but we haven’t played a complete game yet.

The closest we have come was against CdM and that was back on Dec.

5.”

Harbor (8-7) began the contest like championship contenders. It

made five of its first eight shots, forced turnovers on Foothill’s

first four possessions and took an 11-2 lead.

But after a Foothill timeout with 3:19 remaining in the first

quarter, the Sailors went cold and the Knights closed out the half on

a 17-4 run to take a 19-15 lead.

“We’ve been starting the last couple games really strong,”

Thompson said. “Then we have lapses and other teams go on runs.”

After playing turnover-free basketball prior to Foothill’s

timeout, the Sailors turned the ball over nine times in the final 11

minutes of the first half and they made just two of 12 field goals in

that time.

Compounding the drought was the absence of senior court leader

Jillianne Whitfield who picked up her second and third fouls within a

21 second span and sat out the final 5:04 of the half.

Whitfield remained on the bench for the first 4:34 of the third

quarter as Foothill extended its lead to 24-17.

“In the past we’ve played her with three fouls and she picked up

her fourth very quickly,” Thompson said.

Even with Whitfield back in the game, the Sailors still struggled

to score, making just two of 10 shots as the Knights extended their

advantage to 30-19.

Harbor finally got back in rhythm in the fourth quarter, scoring

18 points, one shy of what they had in the first three quarters

combined and making six of 14 shots. But the Sailors could never get

closer than four points.

Junior Kristi Eddington led the Sailors with 11 points and nine

rebounds and senior Victoria Swigart added seven points and 10

rebounds.

Vanessa Miller scored 10 points, six in the fourth quarter, for

the Sailors and played stifling defense against Foothill’s leading

scorer, Jenna Horton, limiting her to nine points.

*--*

Sea View League

Foothill 43, Newport Harbor 37

Score by Quarters

Foothill 7 12 11 13 -- 43

Harbor 11 4 4 18 -- 37

Foothill -- Karcher 4, Horton 9, Herman 3,

Hoffman 9, Batley 6, Ayres 2, Bagley 10.

3-pt. goals -- Horton 1. Fouled out -- Bagley. Technicals -- None. Newport Harbor --

Swigart 7, Stoltz 6, Whitfield 3, Miller 10,

Eddington 11, Trobman 0, Koon 0, Slater 0,

Lawrence 0. 3-pt. goals -- None. Fouled out

-- None. Technicals -- None.

*--*