Pacific Coast League Girls’ Basketball : Woodbridge Wins League Title, 69-32

The Woodbridge High School girls’ basketball team clinched the Pacific Coast League title Tuesday night by defeating Orange, 69-32, at Woodbridge.

The Warriors (20-5 overall, 8-1 in league play) were led by junior forward Angie Hubner, who scored eight straight points midway through the first quarter to give them a 16-5 lead. Hubner finished with 15 points to lead all scorers.

“We were up for the game,” Hubner said. “We wanted to play strong inside, and we wanted to have a good shooting percentage.”

They had that. Woodbridge shot 48% from the floor. Senior guard Randee Mahony was 6 for 6 from the field and converted both her free throws for 14 points.

Orange (8-9, 6-3) was frustrated by a Woodbridge zone that limited Orange to two points in the second quarter.

“I think defense really was the key,” Woodbridge Coach Eric Bangs said. “I think our bench was deeper.”

Defensively, Orange had problems stopping Hubner and Kathee Mallat (12 points) inside the key. Offensively, the Panthers could not break the Woodbridge press. The result? Orange never threatened after its only lead, 3-2, with 6 minutes 30 seconds remaining in the first quarter.

“They were hot,” Orange Coach Bob Gunther said. “We had 32 turnovers during the game and you can’t win that way.”

Mallat had 10 steals, and Woodbridge scored 16 fast-break points after Orange turnovers.

When Mallat and Hubner were not doing the job on the break or from the key, Mahony and sophomore guard Leslie Rathbun were effective from the perimeter. Rathbun had her eight points in the first half and Mahoney scored 12 of her 14 points in the third quarter to put the game away early. Orange was down by 40 several times in the fourth quarter.

“We’re not looking past Thursday (Laguna Beach),” Bangs said, “but it will be nice to have the banner.”

Costa Mesa 46, Laguna Hills 34--The Mustangs’ pressure defense forced 19 turnovers in each half as Costa Mesa improved to 6-14 and 5-2. Moe Moore scored 12 points, Tracy Scofield 10 and Sue Nuechterlein had 7 points, 9 rebounds and 6 steals for Costa Mesa.