5-A GIRLS : Marina Plays Game Coach’s Way, Rolls Past Canyon Springs, 61-49

Marina High School did everything Coach Pete Bonny figured it would Wednesday night against Canyon Springs.

The Vikings forced some early turnovers and steered the ball away from the Cougars’ leading scorer, Vanessa Harris.

Then the Vikings built a 10-point lead in the second quarter and held on for a 61-49 victory over Canyon Springs in the first round of the Southern Section 5-A playoffs at the Marina gym.

Bonny said he wanted the Vikings to pressure Canyon Springs’ guards and keep the ball from Harris, who averages 16 points and 11 rebounds a game.

No problem. The Vikings forced 27 Cougar turnovers, including 17 in the first half, and held Harris to eight points on four-of-10 shooting.

“I was happy with our press,” Bonny said. “It caused them problems the entire game. I watched the film of their game against Edison and I noticed they had problems with the press.”

Marina forced eight early turnovers, but led by only 13-11 at the end of the first quarter.

“We got a lot of turnovers and the game should have been over,” Bonny said. “We didn’t get rattled though. We took a lot of good shots.”

Those good shots started to fall in the second quarter.

With the score tied, 16-16, Melisa Sortino made two consecutive three-pointers to spark a 16-6 run and give Marina a 32-22 halftime lead. Sortino finished with 18 points.

“That was a big run for us,” Bonny said. “Those three-pointers are momentum starters. That’s what got us going.”

The Vikings scored the first six points of the third quarter to push the lead to 38-22. They led by as many as 19 in the fourth quarter and Canyon Springs came no closer than 11 the rest of the way.

Tina DeMarsh scored a game-high 19 points for Canyon Springs (16-10). Christa Yorke had 14 points and Gillian Bean added 10 for Marina.

The Vikings (19-7) advanced to the second round Saturday night against Ontario (26-0), which had a first-round bye.

And that meant one more scouting report for Bonny.

“I’ve been making some calls about them,” he said. “I know they know about us, because they’ve been here to scout us. I heard they walk it downcourt and pound it in. Scouting them will be my job for the next couple of days.”

In other 5-A games:

Esperanza 71, Corona 39--Host Esperanza (19-4) led, 26-4, in the first quarter.

Kim Kordik had 22 points and Jennifer Harney added 15 points and eight assists to lead Esperanza. Andrea Warmus had 11 points for Esperanza.

Orange 53, Diamond Bar 29--Orange led, 21-19, at halftime, but outscored Diamond Bar 19-6 in the third quarter and 13-4 in the fourth.

Nichole Champion scored 14 of her game-high 28 points in the third quarter. She also made 10 of 10 free throws and had 13 rebounds in the game.

Laurie Sallinger had six assist for the Panthers (17-6).

Amy Fu scored 10 points, eight in the first half for Diamond Bar (12-12).

El Toro 71, Moreno Valley 39--El Toro used a full-court press to build a 23-8 lead in the first quarter and led, 43-19, at halftime. The Chargers cleared their bench in the fourth quarter.

Karie Yoshioka had 16 points, six assists and seven steals for El Toro.

Sara Bone added 19 points and nine rebounds and Danielle Silva had 15 points for the Chargers (23-5).

Natanya White had 25 points for Moreno Valley (8-13).

Rubidoux 52, Huntington Beach 48--Darlene Wilson, Rubidoux’s 6-foot-5 forward, scored 17 points at Rubidoux.

Jana Davis and Dana Jahr each had 15 points for Huntington Beach (9-16), which made its first playoff appearance since 1982.