North’s Sullivan, Sortino Meet the Challenge : Girls: Sunset League’s co-most valuable players whittle the South’s height advantage down to size in 95-76 victory.

Jennifer Sullivan and Melisa Sortino, the Sunset League’s co-most valuable players, led the North to a 95-76 victory Saturday in the 12th Orange County All-Star girls’ basketball game at Cal State Fullerton’s Titan Gym.

Sullivan, a 6-2 1/2, 180-pound center from Ocean View High School, was voted the game’s most valuable player. She scored 16 points on seven-of-13 shooting, grabbed 10 rebounds and blocked a record nine shots.

Sortino, a guard from Marina, led all scorers with 19 points. She hit only four of 15 shots from the field but continually drew contact in the lane to get to the free throw line, where she made 11 of 13 shots.

Sortino, who will play for the University of San Diego in the fall, tied teammate Debbie Fischer (Edison) and the South’s Kari Yoshioka (El Toro) for game-high assists with four.

The South, projected as a runaway winner by many because of its superior depth in the post, fell behind early under an avalanche of Sullivan moves.

Sullivan executed down low against 6-3 Jennifer Rohrig, 6-0 Erin Schimeneck, 6-0 Kim Kordik, 6-0 Allison Bickel and anybody else who tried to get in her way.

“Jenny Sullivan likes a challenge,” said North Coach Ollie Martin of Ocean View. “I think she takes a lot on her shoulders. She knows the other team has big players inside and she responds to that.”

Her response Saturday? Nine points in the North’s 19-0 run to start the game.

“It’s one thing to have four big ones, but when their one big one dominates the other four, it doesn’t matter,” South Coach Rick Falk of Tustin said.

The North seemed to gel as a team, but the South had trouble establishing continuity.

“We had really good teamwork for an all-star team,” Martin said. “We played outstanding (man-to-man) defense for only five practices and two scrimmages.”

The North kept the South from running and handled the full-court pressure with relative ease.

The South outrebounded the North, 78-74, and shot better from the free throw line (64% to 70%), but the statistics are deceiving.

Most of the North’s rebounds were on the offensive boards and the North was able to get to the free throw line 56 times--making 36. The South was 20 of 27.

The South trailed, 52-35, at halftime, but opened the third quarter with a 17-4 run to cut its deficit to 56-50 with about six minutes to play in the quarter.

El Toro’s Sara Bone led the surge, scoring the first 11 points of the third quarter. She led the South in scoring with 14 points, hitting six of 12 from the floor.

Then Sortino took over. Francesca Rumps of Santa Ana Valley broke the North’s cold spell with a basket, followed by one by Sortino that increased the North’s lead to 10 points. After a Bone free throw, Sortino stole the ball from Rohrig and took it in for a layup, then tied up Rohrig for a held ball that went to the North on the next possession.

“We climbed back in,” Falk said. “At halftime we decided we weren’t having enough fun. We were just all so tight. I can’t explain it. I can’t get inside their heads. But we put in fresh five kids and got within six, but we seemed to tighten up every time we got close.

“We were facing that mountain of the original (deficit). We would make a run, look up and we would still be 10 down. The whole game was the first four minutes.”

Four minutes that Sullivan dominated.