MARINA GIRLS’ TOURNAMENT : Titus Is a Tower of Strength as Loara Holds Off Marina, 51-45

Center Tracy Titus didn’t get much scoring help in the first half of Loara’s opening-round game of the Marina girls’ basketball tournament Wednesday.

The 6-foot-5 Titus scored all 11 of Loara’s first-quarter points and 15 of her team’s 18 first-half points as the Saxons trailed Marina at halftime by three points.

In the third quarter, teammates Liz Redman, Kristin Thibodeau and Traci Berven combined for 10 points and Titus added eight of her own as Loara (4-6) outscored Marina, 18-9, on its way to a 51-45 victory.

Marina (8-3), which has lost three in a row, doesn’t have a player that stands more than 5-10 and, thus, had trouble against Titus inside. And the Vikings couldn’t get their fast break or shooting game going, not even when Titus fouled out with more than four minutes to play.

“We just didn’t shoot the ball well,” Marina Coach Pete Bonny said. “We had about 13 to 14 shots in the key the first half. If we had hit half of those, we would have been up by 13.”

Marina’s high-scoring guard, Melissa Sortino, had 19 points, including four three-pointers. The Vikings hit two three-pointers in the fourth quarter, the second cutting Loara’s lead to 49-44, but that was as close it would get.

Marina was forced to foul to stop the clock, and though Loara missed of 13 of 22 free throws, the early impact of Titus proved too much to overcome.

“They had one kid who could score,” Bonny said. “They got it to her every time and we just couldn’t stop her.”

In other first-round games:

Lakewood 68, Estancia 60--Melody Earle, a 5-9 junior, scored a game-high 27 points for Estancia. Charon Johnson led Lakewood with 24.

Mission Viejo 53, Huntington Beach 46--Carrie Burt scored 14 points and Dina McKinney added 12 to lead the Diablos (10-3), who were without leading scorer Jennifer Rohrig. Her flight was fogged in at Seattle. Jana Davis led the Oilers (4-6) with 10 points.

Edison 54, Katella 43--Bronchitis kept Debbie Fischer on Edison’s bench to start the game, but she came in early in the first quarter and hit back-to-back three pointers to spark the Chargers (6-2). Fischer finished with four three-pointers and 26 points. Ruth Harker and Karen Jensen each scored 16 for Katella (3-6).

Ocean View 68, L.B. Wilson 28--Ocean View played its second string for most of the game. Fabiola Nunez led the Seahawks (11-0) with 16 points. Dawn Scruggs had 10 for Wilson (3-8).

Valencia 56, La Quinta 54--La Quinta led, 18-12, after one quarter, but behind the shooting of Hollie Keeton and Cathy Sweet, who each had six points in the second quarter, Valencia (5-4) outscored the Aztecs, 20-13, to take a lead they never gave up. La Quinta drops to 6-2.

Hart 59, Mater Dei 53--Anjanette Dionne had 18 points and Sarah Wilson 17 to lead Hart. Joan Maurer had 16 points for Mater Dei.

Fountain Valley 54, Foothill 47--Julie Workman had 15 points to lead Fountain Valley.