THE PREPS : Girls’ 4-A Basketball Playoffs : Mater Dei Goes Cold in Fourth Quarter, Loses to Lynwood

Mater Dei High School scored only two points in the fourth quarter as Lynwood defeated the Monarchs, 49-35, Wednesday in a Southern Section 4-A second-round girls’ basketball game at Rancho Santiago College.

Lynwood (26-3) scored the last two points of the third quarter and 11 unanswered points in the fourth to break open a close game. Lynwood will play Marina on Saturday night in the quarterfinals.

Mater Dei (20-7) had six turnovers and seven missed shots in the last quarter. Mater Dei did not score in the fourth quarter until Kelly O’Brien scored a layup with 19 seconds remaining.

So what happened to Mater Dei in the fourth quarter?

“Besides not scoring?” Mater Dei Coach Brenda Yecke asked. “They played more intensely than we did.”

Mater Dei shot just 13% from the field in the fourth quarter and 34% for the game. Mater Dei did not have any players score in double figures.

And Lynwood took advantage of Mater Dei’s poor shooting, scoring six fast-break points after Mater Dei misses. Natasha Norris had a game-high 8 rebounds for Lynwood. Lynwood’s Linda Watson and Lisa Rogers each had five.

Offensively, Trise Jackson scored 9 of her game-high 16 points in the second half and led the Lynwood fast break. Jackson scored four fast-break points and had three fast-break assists.

“We wanted to run,” Jackson said. “We rotated our defense (in the fourth quarter).”

So what was the difference between Lynwood in the first three quarters and in the fourth?

“Intensity,” Jackson said.

With Mater Dei leading, 29-28, and 3:04 left in the third quarter, Lynwood went to a full-court press that started Mater Dei’s collapse. Lynwood outscored Mater Dei, 21-6, from that point.

Lynwood shot just 34% from the field in the game, but improved to 45% in the fourth quarter.

Balanced scoring kept Mater Dei from shutting down any part of the Lynwood game as Norris, Rogers, Candice Boyd and Linda Watson all scored eight points.

“We can’t make mistakes like we did against Lynwood,” Yecke said. “We were fortunate (to be close) in the first three quarters.”

In other 4-A playoff games:

Marina 67, Lakewood 62--Marina center Dawn Charroin set a school single-game scoring record with 36 points at Lakewood. Charroin, a 6-foot 1-inch senior, made 13 of 21 shots and was 10 for 14 from the free throw line.

Charroin scored 20 of Marina’s 25 first-half points. Lakewood led, 44-40, by the end of the third quarter, but Marina, led by Charroin, outscored Lakewood, 27-18, in the fourth quarter. Charroin had 10 in the fourth quarter. Marina’s Dee Dee Stigar added 11 points, all in the second half. Marina (22-5) plays Lynwood Saturday in the quarterfinals.

Thousand Oaks 62, Fountain Valley 61--Fountain Valley ends its season 17-12. Thousand Oaks advances to the quarterfinals against Buena Saturday.