SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA REGIONAL BASKETBALL PLAYOFFS : GIRLS’ ROUNDUP : Brown Gets Point Loma Off to Good Start(s)

Tyeast Brown has it all worked out. She scores points until she gets tired of it, and then she lets her teammates in on the fun.

Brown, a center/forward, scored a game-high 30 points to lead the top-seeded Point Loma girls’ basketball team to an easy 66-36 victory over eighth-ranked West Torrance Tuesday night in the first round of the Division II Southern California Regionals at Point Loma.

With the victory, the Pointers (28-3) advanced to a second-round meeting with fourth-seeded La Quinta (28-3), a 44-38 winner over Sanger.

Now, about Brown. She collects those points in a funny way.

In the first quarter, she scored the Pointers’ first 10 points and then took a coffee break of sorts until halftime, when Point Loma held a modest 28-22 lead.

During the first half, the Pointers struggled to break West Torrance’s press and commited a host of turnovers that helped keep the Warriors (23-6) in the game.

Early in the third quarter, Brown got back into the act, sinking an assortment of layups and bank shots to once again score the Pointers’ first 10 points. She finished the quarter with 12 of Point Loma’s 20 points.

So what’s all this about, Tyeast? Coach’s game plan to get the ball to you?

“It was my plan,” she said.

And about the bursts of scoring at the beginning of each half?

“It always starts off with me,” she said. “As the game goes on, everybody else starts scoring.”

Everybody else in this case was just three other people: forwards Ericka Crittenden (15) and Stacy Wainwright (17) and center Robin Rabello (four). But once Point Loma figured out the press, things were simple.

“We just did a hell of a job in the second half,” Point Loma Coach Lee Trepanier said. “It was just a matter of settling down.”

On the court, the starters settled down quickly, taking a 48-30 lead by the end of the third quarter and gliding the rest of the way. On the bench, the Pointer starters didn’t settle down until less than two minutes remained and Trepanier finally decided to give his subs a taste of the action. Brown came out with 29 seconds to play and Point Loma leading by 28.