3-A Girls : Monte Vista Gains Respect, but Point Loma Wins Title

Point Loma High School won the San Diego Section 3-A girls’ basketball championship Saturday night at the Sports Arena. That was expected.

How the Pointers won it, and how much they won by, was not. While Point Loma, the two-time defending state champion, won its third straight section title, Monte Vista won some respect.

The Monarchs’ 65-42 loss came against a 27-1 Point Loma team that has been winning by an average of 56.5 points.

It was far from a rout, although Point Loma took a 22-6 lead with 6:47 left in the first half.

Monte Vista (25-3) scored 11 straight points to make it 22-17.

Point Loma led, 28-20, at halftime and was ahead, 47-34, with 7:40 remaining before the Pointers ran off 11 unanswered points.

“They did a good job against us,” said Lee Trepanier, Point Loma coach. “They set good picks and took good shots. We didn’t play that well early, but that was partly due to the way was Monte Vista playing. But we got the job done when we had to.”

Terri Mann and Michelle Collum got the Pointers going. Mann scored 18 of her game-high 24 points in the second half. She also had a game-high 11 rebounds, 3 blocked shots and 3 steals.

Collum had 18 points and 6 rebounds.

No one on Point Loma called it a great effort, but no one was complaining, either.

“You’re never unhappy when you win a championship,” Trepanier said. “Sure, we could have played better, but it doesn’t matter how much you win by.

“Our girls might have been looking a little ahead to the (state) tournament. They haven’t had much competition lately.”

And there were no tears in the Monte Vista locker room.

“I’m very proud of our girls,” Coach Manny Silva said. “Realistically, they played as well as they could.

“We played a good, smart game. We weren’t intimidated and we never gave up. You never like to lose, but nobody on this team feels bad about our effort.”

Paula Mascari, who led the Monarchs with 22 points, was pleased despite ending a brilliant four-year career on a losing note.

“My high school career couldn’t have ended any better than it did,” she said. “I’m just grateful we got a chance to play a team like Point Loma to show what we could do.

“I think our team played well and put some different thoughts in people’s minds about our team. I’m not sure a lot of people respected us before this game. I think they do now.”

Point Loma’s size proved to be the difference. The Pointers outrebounded the Monarchs, 38-27, and shot 49.2% (31 of 63) from the field. Most of their shots came from within 12 feet.

Meanwhile, the Monarchs shot only 28.8% (19 of 66).