GIRLS’ BASKETBALL DIVISION V : La Jolla Country Day Wins Third in a Row

It is not often a basketball team can boast of having half its players in double-figure scoring.

And seldom can a team talk of winning three consecutive championships.

La Jolla Country Day pulled off both in Friday’s San Diego Section Division V girls’ final at Golden Hall.

LJCD defeated Christian, 70-63, and has now won all three Division V titles since the section went to the divisional format in 1987-88.

LJCD (22-2) was led by junior Isabel Schoepflin, who had 22 points and 11 rebounds. Senior Julie Corbo added 15 points and five steals, sophomore Lisa Liguori 15 points and four steals and senior Edy Coleman 12 points and 13 rebounds to give the Torres four scorers in double figures.

LJCD has just eight players, half of which are underclassmen.

Christian, which was playing in its first final, was paced by sophomore Tiffany Stutz with 24 points. Senior Erika Jonte had 16 but fouled out with 3:04 left. Just 12 seconds earlier, junior Stacey Patsko (11 points, 12 rebounds) had been eliminated with five fouls.

But their departures were not that significant. A 15-1 run over the previous two minutes was what buried Christian.

After baskets by Stutz and Sarah Dawson had given Christian a 54-53 lead with 5:20 left, LJCD scored 15 of the next 16 points to pull ahead, 68-55, with 3:04 left.

Christian (12-11) fought back again with an 8-2 run--Stutz getting six of those points--but LJCD’s experienced players were able to run out the clock.

LJCD had threatened to run away with it earlier, but Christian scored 11 in a row midway through the third quarter to go from eight down to a 44-41 lead with 2:40 left in the period.

“It was looking pretty good there for a while,” Stutz said. “We tried to run there like we usually do. But they’re a great team, a great team to play. I really enjoyed playing them.”

Said Schoepflin, the Coastal League co-player of the year: “When we first came on to the court, we thought we could run with them. We thought we were quicker.”

You get the feeling this was an up-tempo game. It was.

LJCD players, who seldom were rested, looked exhausted in the second quarter.

“I was really tired,” Liguori said, “so I had to concentrate on staying motivated.”

LJCD’s chance to “three-peat” seemed a good motivator.

“We’ve had a saying every year,” Schoepflin said. Two years ago it was ‘To the top,’ last year it was ‘All the way,’ and this year ‘CIF, 1, 2, 3.’ ”