Girls basketball: CdM hangs on to beat Mesa

Tony Altobelli

COSTA MESA - Amazing what a trip to the woodshed can do to spark a

girls basketball team.

Corona del Mar High, lethargic in the first half, came out smoking in

the second half, took control of the game and hung on for dear life to

win, 40-37, over girls basketball host Costa Mesa Tuesday night.

“We just threw a monkey wrench in it,” CdM Coach Elbert Davis said

about the Pacific Coast League standings. “We’re going to need some help

from other teams, but we’re right in this thing again.”

“That help came by way of University. With the Trojans’ 45-38 win over

first-place Estancia, the Sea Kings (8-12, 3-2 in league) and Mustangs

(12-9, 3-2) are tied for third place, one game behind the Trojans and

Eagles.

According to Davis, it was no more Mr. Nice Guy for his players,

following the Sea Kings’ lethargic performance in the first half.

Turnovers, wild shots and soft defense gave Davis the green light for

a flavorful discussion at halftime.

“I’ve been saving it all up until now,” Davis said. “We are no longer

going to tolerate a lack of effort and execution on our part. It’s so

frustrating at times. I told our team to get the ball down low to Kristin

(McCoy) and she will take control, either by scoring or dishing it out to

an open player. She did just that.”

McCoy did take control, scoring 15 of her 19 points in the second

half. She also grabbed seven rebounds to help give life to visitors.

Fortunately for the Sea Kings, despite their sloppy play early, they

were only down by one point to the short-handed Mustangs after two

quarters of play.

Mesa was missing three players, including starter Leigh Marshall, as a

result of an altercation with Laguna Beach Thursday. But Mustangs’ Coach

Jim Weeks wasn’t about to use that as a crutch.

“No excuses on our side,” he said. “I’m proud with the players we had

out there. They played hard right down to the end. We just missed too

many open shots. You can’t win unless you hit your open shots.”

Rhondi Naff led the Mustangs with 18 points, 10 in the fourth quarter,

while Nancy Hatsushi added seven points and nine assists.

Mesa’s cold shooting started early as Corona del Mar jumped out to a

12-7 lead after one quarter.

A Carrie Hawkins hoop pushed the lead to seven, but from there, it was

all Mustangs in the second quarter. Four points from Naff and baskets by

Maria Lazos and Christine Caron sparked an 8-0 run, giving Mesa a 15-14

halftime lead and sending Davis to the locker room seething.

The message got across to the Sea Kings as they opened up the second

half with an 8-0 run, led by Kristin McCoy.

“Kristin stepped up tonight and took control,” Davis said. “You could

tell that she didn’t want to lose this this game and she even got on the

players out on the floor. It was very nice to see her take that

leadership.”

The Sea Kings outscored Mesa, 14-2, in the third quarter and led,

28-17. The lead stretched to 15 in the fourth before Mesa turned on the

jets.

A 13-2 run cut CdM’s lead to 34-30 with 1:13 left in the game. Naff

scored the last eight points of that run, while Hatsushi led a Mustangs’

defensive blitz.

From there, CdM settled down and the McCoys stopped the bleeding at

the free-throw line, which is ironic since the Sea Kings missed all 10

foul shots shots in the first three quarters.

Fortunately for the Sea Kings, their free-throw touch came back in the

final quarter as they hit 10 of 13 from the line and pushed their lead

back up to eight with 20 seconds left.

A quick 5-0 run by Mesa gave the Mustangs one last breath, but two

free throws from the elder McCoy put the game away.

“That’s what we’ve been looking for from her,” Davis said of Kristin.

“But we were still very fortunate to come out of here with a win.”

PACIFIC COAST LEAGUE

CdM 40, Costa Mesa 37

Corona del Mar 12 2 14 12 - 40

Costa Mesa 7 8 2 20 - 37

Corona del Mar - K. McCoy 19, J. McCoy 9, Pham 6, Gruber 4, Hawkins 2,

Marks 0, Kawata 0, Alathena 0, Luu 0, Otterbein 0, Klien 0, Snell 0.

3 pt. goals - none.

Fouled out - none.

Technicals - none.

Costa Mesa - Naff 18, Hatsushi 7, Trejo 6, Caron 4, Lazos 2, Cooper 0,

Muniz 0, Poncher 0, Grewal 0, Carich 0.

3 pt. goals - Trejo 2.

Fouled out - Muniz.

Technicals - none.