SOUTHERN SECTION GIRL’S BASKETBALL PLAYOFFS : 3-A : Los Alamitos Goes Inside to Beat Tustin, 60-45

The Los Alamitos High School girls’ basketball team defeated Tustin, 60-45, Saturday in the first round of the Southern Section’s 3-A playoffs. Which all sounds very easy and very efficient, but the game, played at Tustin, was unbalanced and a little lacking in control.

Two sidelined players, one on each team, were big reasons.

Los Alamitos was playing without senior point guard Mary Reis, who contracted hepatitis. Without Reis to handle the ball, Los Alamitos committed 18 turnovers.

Tustin played without senior guard, and leading scorer, Tricia Andres, who has pneumonia.

Tustin is a relatively small team, its offense depends heavily on the outside shot. Without Andres, Tustin had to look to others for points. It worked for three quarters as Tustin’s outside shots counter-balanced Los Alamitos’ strong inside game. After three quarters, Los Alamitos led by only two, 37-35.

But the Griffins outscored Tustin, 23-10, in the fourth. Los Alamitos center Jennifer Ensley and forward Diane Sanda led the way, each scoring six points in the quarter and all from inside the key.

Ensley, a 6-foot 2-inch junior, led all scorers with 22 points. Her points came almost exclusively close to the basket, on lobs to the low post, and on follows of missed shots. The same was true for Sands, who scored 12. Guard Kelli Moore had 19 points, the majority from the outside. The three combined for 53 of Los Alamitos’ 60 points.

“It’s been like that all season,” said Al Gragnano, Los Alamitos coach. “We were really forced to depend on them even more with Mary here.”

The Griffins hope to have Reis back for the second-round game against fourth-seeded Mission Viejo. Mission Viejo beat its first-round opponent, South Torrance, by a score of 69-17.

Los Alamitos and Tustin played to a 18-18 tie at the end of the first quarter. Moore scored eight first-quarter points, but both teams played consistently and each committed five turnovers.

Los Alamitos seemed ready to put the game away in the second quarter when it took a 26-19 lead with 3:45 to go. Tustin didn’t score a field goal in the quarter until Jennifer Kline’s jump shot with 1:06 left. That set off an unlikely Tustin rally in which the Tillers came to take a 27-26 halftime lead.

In the third quarter, Ensley scored eight points, all layups, to give Los Alamitos its 37-35 lead.

“There wasn’t much we could do when they started getting the ball inside,” said Rick Falk, Tustin coach. “I actually thought if we were close after three quarters we might have a good chance, but . . . “

In other 3-A action:

El Toro 59, Torrance 56--The Chargers lost a 12-point lead in the fourth quarter and were tied at 54-54 before junior guard Rae Andrews scored two baskets in the final minute for the victory at El Toro. The Chargers (20-7) made only 11 of 26 free throws. Elaine Youngs had 23 points and 8 rebounds, and Andrea Young added 17 points for the Chargers. Torrance (14-7) was led by Liz Acevedo’s 19 points.

Mission Viejo 69, South Torrance 17--Colleen Amaya scored 20 points to lead the Diablos to the victory at Mission Viejo. Mission Viejo (24-2) also got 12 points each from Michele Reid and Lori Totosz. South Torrance (11-12) was led by Chrisse Dahl’s 13 points.

Everyone played for Mission Viejo, which used a fast-break offense and a pressure defense to build a 47-7 halftime lead.

Los Alamitos 60, Tustin 45--The Griffins (17-6) won at Tustin. The Tillers, first-place finishers in the Sea View League, finish at 20-7.