Prep Roundup : Mission Viejo Girls Battle Back to Remain Unbeaten

Jennifer Rohring scored 3 of her 25 points in the final 42 seconds to give Mission Viejo High School a 52-50 victory over Marina Thursday in a semifinal game of the Cypress girls’ basketball tournament.

Mission Viejo (9-0), which led, 46-36, after three quarters, saw Marina (8-2) use a pressing defense to score 14 consecutive points in the first 6 minutes of the fourth quarter to take a 50-46 lead.

The Diablos, who made 12 fourth-period turnovers, didn’t score until Derrie Nauta hit the front end of a 1-and-1 free throw opportunity with 1:32 left to narrow the Marina lead to 50-47.

With 1:11 left, Tina Ranker brought the Diablos within one point with a jumper. Then, with 42 seconds left, Rohring hit a short bank shot to give the Diablos a 51-50 lead.

After Marina’s Lisa Orosco missed the front end of a 1-and-1 with 19 seconds left, Rohring, who also had 9 rebounds, made a free throw to make it 52-50.

Melisa Sortino, who led Marina with 19 points, missed a jumper with 9 seconds left that would have tied it, and the Diablos ran the clock out.

“We just went to sleep in the fourth quarter,” said Steve Asay, Mission Viejo coach. “We just didn’t play very smart basketball. Instead of aggressively going for the ball, we were waiting for the ball to come to us, and you just can’t play that way.”

“We missed our opportunities,” said Marina Coach Mike Thornton, whose team made only 18 of 59 field goal attempts. “We played well defensively, but we couldn’t put the ball in when we had to.”

Allison Krause had 10 points and 7 assists for Marina.

In the other semifinal game:

Mater Dei 46, Cypress 35--Mary McCarthy scored 13 points and Melissa McDonald added 10 to lead the Monarchs (6-2). Stacie Kosaka led Cypress (7-3) with 11 points. Mater Dei and Mission Viejo play for the title at 7 tonight.

In other Cypress tournament games:

Woodbridge 55, Orange 54--Leslie Rathbun’s two free throws with 9 seconds left gave Woodbridge (8-3) the victory. Rathbun scored 10 of her 19 points in the fourth quarter. Nicole Chapion led Orange (5-5) with 21 points.

Ocean View 38, Foothill 31--Jenny Sullivan scored 14 points and Fabiola Nunez scored all 12 of her points in the second half to lead Ocean View (8-2). Sandi Rasmussen led Foothill (3-6) with 10 points.

Cerritos 48, Savanna 34--Shannon Haraga scored 19 points for Cerritos.