Toon Sparks Semifinal Win for Van Nuys : Girls’ basketball: Senior center scores 26 points as Wolves dispatch Narbonne, 60-43, and earn City final berth.

Van Nuys High Coach Tony Magnante took something less than an optimistic stance before his team faced Narbonne in a girls’ City Section 4-A Division semifinal Friday night.

“At least we can say we made it to the Sports Arena,” he said.

Well, he can say more than that. The Wolves surprised even themselves by pounding Narbonne, 60-43, at the Sports Arena to become the school’s first girls’ basketball team in seven years to advance to a City final. The 1983 team advanced to the championship game where it was defeated by Fairfax. Van Nuys (22-3) will play for the title next Friday at the Sports Arena against top-seeded Washington, which routed Carson on Friday, 73-34.

Stacie Toon, a 6-foot senior center, carried the Wolves into the final, scoring 26 points and grabbing 17 rebounds against Narbonne, both game-high totals. She converted 10 of 15 field-goal attempts and was perfect on six free throws.

“I can’t even describe how great it feels to win here,” Toon said. “Just to say that we won this game is enough to cap my senior year.”

But Magnante’s gloomy pregame forecast appeared accurate after the Wolves started slowly and trailed, 15-8, at the end of the first quarter. Van Nuys, however, rallied in the second period and took a 21-19 lead on a basket by Toon with 1 minute 42 seconds left before halftime. Van Nuys made six of six free throws in the quarter.

“That really helped us,” Toon said. “We were nervous in the first quarter, but after the ball started going in, we were more confident.”

Van Nuys took control in the third quarter behind Feltina Means, a 5-foot-3 senior guard who scored 10 of her 18 points in the period. The Wolves expanded a 23-22 halftime lead to 42-33 and started the fourth quarter with an 8-4 run.

Means finished the game seven of 11 from the field and made four of four free throws.

Van Nuys helped its cause at the free-throw line, sinking 17 of 22 attempts (77%). Narbonne hit only 10 of 22 (45%).

Huong Thai, the Wolves’ 4-foot-10 point guard, played with a sore neck and back she sustained in a car accident this week. Regardless, the diminutive dribbler scored six points and had 12 assists.

“Huong is the key to our offense,” Magnante said. “I don’t care if she scores zero points, she passes the ball to our scorers. She is the key to our team.”

Thai had problems early in the game when Narbonne (18-8) forced eight turnovers in the first quarter.

“I didn’t know that they had so many short girls like me,” Thai said. “Usually the other team has to reach down to catch me.”

Narbonne’s Shasta Paris scored 13 points and had 10 rebounds.

“Washington is going to be the toughest game we’ve ever played,” Means said. “It’ll be depressing if we lose after we got this far.”