Simi Valley Comes Back for Victory

Simi Valley received a big scare but rallied from a 9-point, third-quarter deficit to squeak past Foothill of Bakersfield, 60-58, Wednesday in the Thousand Oaks girls’ basketball tournament.

Leading, 17-14, after the first quarter, the Pioneers began looking like a team that had played 3 games in as many nights. The Lady Trojans (1-6) outscored Simi Valley, 24-14, in the second quarter and led, 38-31, at halftime.

However, in the third quarter, Simi Valley Coach Dave Murphy went to a taller lineup, and behind 6-0 center Josie Kosanke’s 6 points, the Pioneers pulled to within 51-48 entering the fourth quarter.

With 2:48 remaining, Kosanke’s 6-foot jump shot tied the score, 54-54. With 38 seconds left, Caline Kosanke sank a free throw to put Simi Valley (10-4) ahead for good.

In other tournament games:

Mt. Carmel 69, Westlake 55--Despite senior Kacy Salmina’s 19 points, the Warriors could not stop Sun Devils center Heidi Piper, who had 20 points and 22 rebounds.

Lynwood 68, El Camino Real 67--Lisa Huffaker scored 23 points and El Camino Real (4-3) built an 8-point lead by halftime, but Lynwood’s Linda Watson scored 24 of her 39 points in the second half.

La Reina 41, Notre Dame 22--Amy Alarian, a 6-3 senior forward, scored 10 points to lead the Regents (3-5) to the consolation-bracket win.

Rio Mesa 59, La Canada 41--Forward Jackie Neder scored 39 points to lead Rio Mesa (5-5) in a consolation-bracket game.

Pasadena 40, Louisville 38--Despite Dani Delpit’s 17 points, Louisville (4-7) fell short in the consolation-bracket game.