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Girls’ Basketball: CdM stops rallies

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IRVINE — It was a clash of styles Tuesday night, with the post game of the Corona del Mar High girls’ basketball team against the outside shooting of Northwood.

And, when the host Timberwolves scored five quick points early in the third quarter to cut their deficit to 10, CdM Coach Mark Decker quickly called timeout.

“Wake up,” Decker told his players. “They’re going to get back in it and fired up.”

Northwood guard Erin Matsutsuyu hit a three-pointer out of the timeout, trimming the deficit even further to seven points. But from there, the Sea Kings responded, using some precise passing to score 12 unanswered points.

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CdM was on its way to a 53-40 Pacific Coast League victory. With one league game remaining, the Sea Kings (19-6, 7-2 in league) clinched at least a second-place finish and remained one game behind Woodbridge.

The Warriors easily won at Beckman, 57-34, on Tuesday to improve to 8-1 in league. They can wrap up the outright league title with a win at home against University on Thursday night.

CdM, ranked No. 4 in CIF Southern Section Division 3A, finishes league at last-place Irvine. The Sea Kings, who shared the league title with Woodbridge last year for just their second league crown in program history, know they don’t control their own fate this year. But they can take positives from the way they responded on Tuesday night in a game of runs.

Matsutsuyu’s three-pointer out of the timeout, one of three she hit in the second half, cut CdM’s lead to 33-26. Northwood (11-13, 4-5 in league) appeared to have the momentum. But CdM stayed composed.

After a Krista Anderson put-back and a drive by freshman Sami Uehara, the Sea Kings used three straight good entry passes to the post to net three layups. First it was senior forward Kat Hess finding Anderson, then senior point guard Kelly Tam finding senior post Natalia Bruening.

Bruening found Anderson for another easy layup, and the lead was back up to 43-26. Northwood Coach Ryan Bettencourt was forced to call timeout.

“I thought that run was really good because everyone was playing really selflessly,” said Bruening, who led everyone with 18 points, 14 rebounds and four blocked shots.

Northwood, led on its senior night by senior guard Kaitlyn Hsu and her 16 points, again pulled within seven points in the fourth quarter. This time, it was Matsutsuyu’s triple from the corner at the shot-clock buzzer with 4:30 left, cutting Northwood’s deficit to 47-40.

But the Timberwolves would not score again.

“I thought we did a better job near the end stopping their shooters and knowing where they were,” Bruening said. “It’s difficult to shut them down entirely, but you have to force them to do something that they’re not comfortable with. I thought we did a better job of letting [Hsu] just drive in and try to shoot the ‘float-aways,’ rather than just having the wide-open threes.”

Anderson had all 10 of her points in the second half for CdM, adding 11 rebounds. Hess had nine points and eight boards, while senior guards Melody Yoo and Tam scored seven and five, respectively.

Decker has preached consistency. The Sea Kings had a strong second half Saturday night at home against Edison, but the Chargers held on for a 49-45 nonleague victory.

“It’s a work in progress,” Decker said. “We’re not where we want to be yet, but we’ve still got time to build that momentum and continue to improve. I do still feel that our best games are ahead of us.”

Pacific Coast League

Corona del Mar 53, Northwood 40

SCORE BY QUARTERS

CdM 17 – 14 – 14 – 8 — 53

Nor 16 – 4 – 11 – 9 — 40

CdM – N. Bruening 18, Anderson 10, Hess 9, Yoo 7, Tam 5, Uehara 2, T. Bruening 2.

3-pt. goals – Hess 1, Yoo 1.

Fouled out – None.

Technicals – None.

Nor – Hsu 16, Matsutsuyu 9, Ta 5, Huskisson 4, Yoshinaka 3, Danilychev 2, Ibrahim 1.

3-pt. goals – Matsutsuyu 3, Hsu 2, Ta 1, Yoshinaka 1.

Fouled out – None.

Technicals – None.

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