Division II Girls’ Basketball Playoffs : Defending 2-A Champion La Jolla Falls, 53-47 : Kathy Weathers Struggles at Start But Leads a Madison Surge to Victory

La Jolla’s girls didn’t have to play a team like Madison on its way to the San Diego Section 2-A championship a year ago.

However, with the state playoff system changed from the usual three divisions to five this season, Madison, a 3-A school, and La Jolla were placed in Division II.

Madison struggled early but pulled away at the end to defeat La Jolla, 53-47, in a Division II quarterfinal game at Madison.

At the start, it looked as if La Jolla (19-6) on schedule for another title. It held a 12-3 lead with 59 seconds left in the first quarter as Hedvig Lindquist scored 6 of her eventual 12 points.

Madison’s Kathy Weathers, an All-County selection last season and a 22.0 point per game scorer this season, had such a lethargic first quarter that Madison Coach RaNae Seaman benched her midway through the period.

“We start out that way a lot,” Seaman said. “I wasn’t worried. I just told the kids to be more patient on offense, to make less turnovers and to work on our offense.”

As for Weathers, Seaman said she wasn’t hustling on defense.

“That’s why I took her out,” Seaman said. “I have to do that with her.”

Seaman said that Weathers, the team’s best athlete, sometimes tries to be too much of a team player and not enough of an individual.

“She doesn’t always shoot when she’s open,” Seaman said. “She tries to make that extra pass when she has an open shot.”

In the second quarter, Weathers, who had only one point in the first period, began to find her touch. She scored 8 of her 10 points in the quarter during an 11-5 run that gave Madison its first lead of the game, 19-17.

From there, it wasn’t going to be easy for either team. While Weathers was on her way to a 23-point, 9-rebound game, La Jolla junior Nicole Anderson, the county’s second leading scorer (24.7 points per game), was matching Weathers basket-for-basket, on her way to a 29-point, 11-steal performance.

The game was tied 23-23 at the half and La Jolla led 40-38 after the third quarter. But in the fourth, Madison (13-10) and Weathers took command.

Weathers scored a layup 30 seconds into the final period to tie the score, 40-40. After Kim Lester made a free throw, Weathers, a 5-foot, 10-inch senior, passed to Wendy Choisser alone under the basket for a layup to put Madison ahead 43-40 with 5:31 to play. Lester then made two more free throws for a 45-40 Madison advantage with 3:19 to play.

In the final two minutes Weathers outscored La Jolla, 6-3, and Madison had advanced to meet defending 2-A runner-up San Pasqual (24-2) in Tuesday’s semifinals. San Pasqual defeated Serra, 54-26, in a game at San Pasqual.