Morningside Girls Rout Ventura, 72-39

The only thing Morningside High girls basketball Coach Frank Scott knew about Ventura was that the Cougars are not a team of speed demons.

“They have a lot of beef,” Scott said before Saturday night’s CIF 4-A quarterfinal-round game, “a lot of wide bodies.”

Ventura, the Channel League’s third-place team, couldn’t keep up with top-seeded Morningside in a physical and fast-paced game. The Lady Monarchs won, 72-39, at home even though their top scorer, 6-foot forward Shaunda Greene, didn’t play most of the first half because of foul trouble.

Greene had three fouls at the end of the first quarter, but came back in the second half to score 20 points.

“It was just an off night for me,” she said.

Greene’s absence in the first half wasn’t a problem for the Lady Monarchs. They still had an inside game with 6-4 center Lisa Leslie, who scored a game-high 26 points. She had 22 in the first half when Morningside opened a 38-18 lead.

The Lady Monarchs (28-1) will play fourth-seeded Buena (24-2) in the semifinals on Tuesday night. The home team will be determined today by a coin flip.

Last season, Buena eliminated Morningside from the playoffs. Buena advanced on Saturday night with a 44-30 win over Thousand Oaks.

Morningside’s aggressive defense forced Ventura into a poor offensive performance. The Cougars had nine turnovers in the first quarter and scored only five points, while Morningside had 17.

Ventura was held scoreless for four minutes in the first period, and for stretches of two and three minutes in the second half.

“We knew that to beat them we had to be tenacious as hell on defense and extremely disciplined,” said Ventura Coach Rex Kochel.

That never materialized, as Morningside dominated from start to finish.

“There’s not anybody who can stop us as long as we play our game,” said Morningside guard Jo Jo Witherspoon, who scored 12 points. “Anytime we play as a team, we know we can beat anybody.”

Ventura, which finished at 16-11, was led by 6-0 center Karry Wagoner with 15 points.