SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA REGIONAL BASKETBALL FINALS : San Pasqual Comes Up a Little Too Short : Palos Verdes’ 6-4 Burge Twins Help Terminate Season and Era, 44-37

This wasn’t the way co-coaches Brad Merrill and Lori Becker, who are leaving San Pasqual High School, wanted it to end.

And those weren’t tears of joy on the faces of seniors Nicole Rothey and Julie Doria.

There are surmountable odds, and then there are the Palos Verdes twins, Heidi and Heather Burge, each 6-feet 4-inches tall.

The Burges combined for only 15 points but prevented many more as Palos Verdes won the Southern California Regional Division II girls’ basketball final, 44-37, Saturday at the Los Angeles Sports Arena.

San Pasqual missed its first nine shots. Overall, it made just 15 of 61. All agreed that the 24.6% accuracy had to do with the Burges, who moved San Pasqual farther from the basket than usual and made the arc of their shots higher than usual.

“I think we did intimidate them. I don’t know how much,” said Heidi Burge, who had two of the sisters’ six blocked shots.

How much?

“I couldn’t jump (to be) as high as her head,” said Cari Young, at 5-11 San Pasqual’s tallest starter. “They were just too tall for us.”

After Heather Burge spiked two attempts, Doria, usually bold, admitted, “I was kind of scared.”

Still, superior quickness, a full-court press and Nikki Gannon seemed to give San Pasqual a chance to make it to Oakland, site of the state championship.

With her team down by nine, Gannon hit three three-pointers in a 13-2 run that gave San Pasqual its only lead of the game, 17-15, with 4:59 left in the half.

But Heather Burge scored 5 of her 11 to steady Palos Verdes, which led by five at the half.

“I never thought we’d lose,” Heidi Burge said. “But I thought at the time they tied us we’d fall behind. See, Heather was out of breath. But she couldn’t get our coach’s (Wendell Toshida’s) attention.”

The other key juncture was early in the fourth quarter. After her seven third-quarter points, Doria stole a pass and laid it in, cutting the lead to 33-32.

Excited coach?

“I thought we had the game,” Becker said. “I thought it was going to be an ending just like the other night (when Rothey’s late shot beat Fresno Sanger by two). I had all the confidence that the girls could do that.”

But Doria missed a jumper and two Eagles committed turnovers. Then Heather Burge hit two free throws to start No. 1-seeded Palos Verdes (27-7) on an 8-0 run that made it 44-34 with two minutes left.

Except for Katherine Longfellow’s jumper, San Pasqual missed six shots after Doria pulled to within one. Four shots were from beyond 15 feet, and Heather Burge blocked another.

“It was hard to try to figure out what you should do on offense--they’re so darn big,” Doria said. “I didn’t know what to expect. You hear ‘6-4,’ but unless you see it, you don’t realize . . . “

Numbers translation: Doria and Rothey, the team’s top two scorers, combined for 7 of 31 shooting.

Pleasant numbers: San Pasqual finished 28-3, a school best. Not bad, considering that when Becker played for Orange Glen in 1977, she helped beat San Pasqual by 50.

“It was a great year,” said Young, one of eight seniors. “We had a lot of fun. That’s the most important thing.”

But an era ended.

Next year, Becker will coach at Escondido, where she teaches. Merrill, 55, is retiring.

Last year, Becker left San Pasqual for a teaching job at El Cajon. This year, she returned to teach at Escondido. When San Pasqual Athletic Director Gordon Marsh asked her to assist Merrill, she said yes.

Becker likened her rebuilding task to what she and Merrill have achieved at San Pasqual.

Escondido did not win a game this year. The idea, she said, is to bolster feeder programs throughout the city.

“I came to San Pasqual six years ago,” Becker said. “Maybe we’ll be back (to the regional) with Escondido.”