ORANGE COUNTY GIRLS’ BASKETBALL PLAYOFFS : 4-A : Buena Outruns Mater Dei, 70-59

Mater Dei High School’s 70-59 loss to Buena in the quarterfinals of the Southern Section 4-A girls’ basketball playoffs Saturday night produced the usual amount of tears and sympathetic hugs for the Monarchs, but really, the final result was unavoidable.

Mater Dei (23-7) was a victim of its own strength, done in by what it has always done best: Run.

The Monarchs have been one of Orange County’s most successful teams in the 1980s, and they’ve done it with pressure defense, good outside shooting and running, running, running.

The problem Saturday night at Mater Dei was, well, Buena also runs and does it just a little bit better.

Joe Vaughan, Buena coach, has lived by full-court presses and fast breaks for the past 12 seasons. In that time, his teams have made the playoffs every season, appeared in four 4-A finals, won two 4-A championships and two state championships.

Mater Dei led, 16-12, after the first quarter, with forward Geri Gainey scoring nine points. Gainey ended the game, and her career at Mater Dei, with a game-high 26 points.

Buena committed seven turnovers in the first quarter--four on steals by Mater Dei.

“We knew it would be an up-tempo game,” Vaughan said. “We were ready for that. A little too ready. We made a lot of mistakes in the first quarter because we were trying to go too fast. We were going so fast that I thought the flesh was going to come off their bodies.”

Buena gained control of their break in the second quarter and the Bulldogs outscored Mater Dei, 20-11, to take a 32-27 halftime lead.

Buena’s sideline break was especially effective, taking advantage of Mater Dei’s tendency to go for steals of outlet passes. More than a few of Mater Dei’s unsuccessful steal attempts ended up as uncontested layups for Buena.

In the second half, Buena’s deeper bench began to tell on Mater Dei’s legs. Buena increased its lead to 50-43 after three quarters. Center Teresa Palmisano scored 14 of her 22 points in the quarter. Four of her seven third-quarter field goals were layups.

Palmisano, a senior, was a member of the 1984 Buena team that won the 4-A and state championship. That team defeated Mater Dei, 69-49, in a second-round game at Mater Dei.

“It was a game a lot like this,” Vaughan said. “We managed to run them down.”

Said Mater Dei Coach Carolyn Campbell: “We have to play that way. Running, going for steals . . . that’s what we do. But they do it, too. Their bench is a little deeper than ours. They wore us down.”

Buena (25-1) will play Morningside (27-2) in the semifinals.