Division II Girls : Muir Stops Easterly, but Not Katella as Knights Rally to Win Semifinal

Muir High School focused its defensive efforts on Katella’s high-scoring shooting guard, Joni Easterly, in the semifinals of the Southern California Regional Division II girls’ basketball playoffs Thursday.

And why not? Easterly had scored 34 points to lead the Knights over Muir for the Southern Section 4-A championship last week.

And in the first round of the regional playoffs, Easterly led Katella to a victory over San Marcos with 36 points.

The Mustangs stifled Easterly on Thursday, holding her to five points in the first half. But the rest of the Knights rallied to give Katella a 50-43 victory at Katella in front of 1,100 spectators.

The Knights (28-3) will play Vista in the final at 3 p.m. Saturday at the Sports Arena.

Angie Gomez and Margaret Harker took turns hitting 12-foot jump shots from the corners of the free-throw line as the Mustang zone sagged inside on Easterly.

Gomez scored 14 points and Harker had 10.

“Last time we played them, the other girls didn’t have that aggressive shooting desire, so we felt we would try to make the other girls shoot it,” Muir Coach Mel Sims said.

“They did what they were supposed to do. They wheeled the ball around, shot it and made it.”

Katella point guard Gomez in particular made her shots. She sank five of 11, including a three-pointer, and some key free throws down the stretch.

“I had a bad game (against Muir) last week,” Gomez said. “I’m glad I did now, because they laid off me from the beginning and I took my shot.”

Muir led at halftime, 23-19, on the strength of 5-foot-2 point guard Rose Jong. Jong scored seven unanswered points to give Muir a 21-15 lead with less than 3 minutes to go in the half.

Jong led all scorers in the first half with 13 points, most on layups after she breezed through the Katella full-court press.

But in the third quarter Muir fell apart. On their first seven trips down the court the Mustangs were not only unable to score, but they turned the ball over six times. Three of the turnovers were credited to Jong.

Muir (24-5) seemed unwilling to work the ball inside to it’s 6-foot-3 center Lisa Salsman, opting instead to shoot from the wings. Salsman finished with eight points.

Katella outscored Muir, 16-6, in the third quarter with the help of Harker, who had three field goals.

Katella Coach Barb Bausch was pleased with what she called a “team effort.”

“Teams think that if they take Joni out of the game, that’s the game,” Bausch said.

“That’s not the case. We’ve proved that time and time again.”

Easterly finished with 19 points on six-of-18 shooting.

“I’ve never had to work so hard to score points in my whole entire life,” she said.

Muir’s Jong led all scorers with 22 points.