CdM back in semis
To advance one step closer to the treasure of a CIF Southern Section title, the Corona del Mar High girls’ basketball team had to worry about a girl named Treasure on Wednesday night.
Ocean View senior forward Treasure Robinson tried to bring her team back from a big deficit in the CIF Southern Section Division 3A quarterfinal game, with nine points in the fourth quarter. A 16-point CdM lead was cut to three, and the home fans — and the CdM players — got a bit antsy.
But the Sea Kings hit enough free throws down the stretch to escape for a 56-50 victory on their home court and advance to the CIF semifinals for the third straight year.
No. 3-seeded Corona del Mar (23-6) will play at No. 2 La Cañada in the semifinals on Saturday night. La Cañada got past Leuzinger, 55-40, in another quarterfinal game Wednesday.
“We’re really trying to make sure the crowd is excited,” CdM Coach Mark Decker said wryly after the game, after his team also scored the final five points Saturday night to break a tie game at Paso Robles in the second round. “They did a good job holding and grabbing and the refs didn’t call it. We just have to deal with it. It was pretty ridiculous, the hands and the arms grabbing, but we’ve got to fight through that. We’re used to that. I thought we did a good job all game, and then some strange calls in the last couple of minutes and we made some mental mistakes.”
The Sea Kings, though, will take the victory. Senior co-captain Natalia Bruening consistently overcame double-teams to score 21 points, adding seven rebounds and four blocks for the winners. Senior forward Kat Hess scored all 13 of her points in the first half, which ended with CdM up, 30-20, after scoring the final 10 points before intermission.
“She played big for us in the first half,” Bruening said of Hess, who also shined as goalie with 10 saves in CdM girls’ soccer’s upset at No. 4-seeded Westlake on Tuesday. “The posts were really on [senior center] Krista [Anderson] and I and we couldn’t do much, so I thought she did a really good job of stepping up when she needed to and playing big. I think the soccer win really carried over to this game for her.”
A 10-2 run in the third quarter, capped by Bruening’s layup on an assist by senior point guard Kelly Tam, gave CdM its biggest lead of 43-27. But Ocean View (18-9), which finished tied for second in the Golden West League, started making the game more interesting. Junior point guard Jackie Moss led her team with 18 points and four three-pointers.
CdM still led by eight, 53-45, after sophomore Tia Grippo made one of two free throws late. The Sea Kings called timeout with 52 seconds to go, the game seemingly in hand, especially after Robinson fouled out just moments earlier.
Not so fast. After an Ocean View steal, Seahawks senior Sally Morris drilled a three pointer. Another steal by Ocean View’s Danelle Almiranez nearly produced another Morris triple, but it spun out. Ocean View’s Kaylie Knowles was there for the rebound, however, and CdM’s lead was trimmed to 53-50 with 21 seconds left. Decker again called timeout.
To Ocean View Coach Kim Morris, this was the defensive effort she expected all game.
“We were trying to full-court man-to-man and take them out of their game,” Morris said. “I could not get my perimeter players to understand that their girls were not going to penetrate on them, and to get up in their face, until too late.”
This time Tam inbounded the ball to the biggest target on the court, the 6-foot-4 Bruening. In the double-bonus, she missed the first free throw but made the second, making the lead four points. Ocean View had two more three-point tries, but both missed, and Tam grabbed the rebound and was fouled with two seconds left. She made both free throws to produce the final score.
Kim Morris said that her senior guard Almiranez had made eight three-pointers in Ocean View’s 54-47 overtime win over Barstow in the second round. It was a different story Wednesday, as Almiranez was held scoreless and missed all eight of her shots from downtown.
“Our perimeter shooting was not here tonight, and that’s basically what has won us games up until now,” Morris said.
Tam had 11 points for CdM, while Anderson had four points and six rebounds. Senior guard Melody Yoo hit a three-pointer, and freshman Sami Uehara made two big free throws in the fourth quarter.
Overall, the Sea Kings made 13 of 17 free throws in the final frame and overcame Hess fouling out with less than three minutes to go.
Now they will hit the road for the semifinals for the third straight year. Decker hopes this one goes better than the last two, when CdM lost at Lake Elsinore Lakeside two years ago and at North Torrance last year.
“It’s a great accomplishment,” Decker said. “It’s a great feeling. There’s four teams left in the division, and we’ve been there before. I’m excited for another chance to try to fight through it.
“I know one thing,” he added, before learning that La Cañada was the next opponent. “Whoever we play, I know we’ll have the best player on the floor [Bruening]. And that’s a good feeling to have.”
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CIF Southern Section Division 3A Playoffs
Quarterfinal
Corona del Mar 56, Ocean View 50
SCORE BY QUARTERS
OV 10 – 10 – 10 – 20 — 50
CdM 11 – 19 – 13 – 13 — 56
OV – Moss 18, Robinson 15, Morris 11, Reynolds 2, Knowles 2, E. Almiranez 2.
3-pt. goals – Moss 4, Morris 3.
Fouled out – Robinson.
Technicals – None.
CdM – N. Bruening 21, Hess 13, Tam 11, Anderson 4, Yoo 3, Grippo 2, Uehara 2.
3-pt. goals – Tam 1, Yoo 1.
Fouled out – Hess.
Technicals – None.
