Thousand Oaks Routs El Camino Real, 64-39

Standing in his team’s gym before a quarterfinal game of the Thousand Oaks girls’ basketball tournament Tuesday night, Thousand Oaks Coach Chuck Brown was apprehensive.

“We had two easy games which told us very little about where we stood in this tournament,” Brown said.

Brown’s fears proved unfounded as the Lancers defeated El Camino Real, 64-39. But Thousand Oaks did appear sluggish early.

Although Thousand Oaks surged to a 16-9 lead at the end of the first quarter, foul trouble and mistakes let El Camino Real back in the game and the Lancers led only 27-21 at halftime.

Brown had to turn to his reserves early after forward Shani Smyth, who is averaging 26 points a game in the tournament, got into foul trouble and had to be benched.

“With the early personnel changes, we had trouble executing the fundamentals,” Brown said.

In the third quarter, however, Thousand Oaks (11-1) took control with Smyth scoring 12 of her 20 points. Guard Amy Chandler had 22 points for Thousand Oaks.

Lisa Huffaker led the Conquistadores (4-2) with 12 points.

Thousand Oaks plays Rancho of Las Vegas at 8 p.m. Thursday.

Channel Islands 44, Mt. Carmel 41--Trailing by 8 points with 6 minutes left, the Raiders came back in the championship quarterfinal game. Channel Islands tied the score, 39-39, on Tina Taylor’s 3-point shot with 2:32 remaining. After a Mt. Carmel miss, Taylor scored again to put Channel Islands ahead, 41-39.

With 1:37 left, Mt. Carmel tied the score, 41-41. Taylor, however, hit her second 3-point shot of the quarter. Channel Islands plays Camarillo at 6 p.m. Thursday.

Camarillo 57, Westlake 54--Behind 21 points each from Nichole Victoria and Angie Long, the Scorpions held off a late rally by the Warriors in the championship quarterfinal game. Long, a senior center, also had 13 rebounds.

Westlake (7-3) pulled to within 3 points with 27 seconds left on Lauren Goldstine’s 3-point shot but Camarillo (8-1) ran out the clock.