DIVISION III GIRLS : Santana Wins--That’s the Size of It

Desiree Weimann and her Santana teammates looked at the newspaper Monday and did a double-take when they saw the height of the players on Costa Mesa girls’ basketball team.

“We looked at the heights of their players and our mouths dropped,” said Weimann, a 5-foot-4 guard. “6-2, 5-10, 5-9. I thought, ‘This is going to be a good game to end the season on.’ ”

Santana Coach Wade Vickery said before the game he hoped that the Sultans would outplay if they couldn’t outsize Costa Mesa.

The Sultans defeated Costa Mesa, 70-62, in a Southern California Regional Division III playoff game Tuesday at Santana. The Sultans will play host to Lompoc, which defeated Lemoore, 66-62, Thursday.

But the Sultans were forced play catch-up, something they’re not used to doing.

“I was a little concerned in the first quarter,” Vickery said. “It looked like they could blow us out but it was too early to panic.”

The Sultans trailed until 2:50 left in the first half but did not secure the lead until 5:27 left in the third quarter.

Santana opened up a 49-39 lead with a minute left in the third quarter and did not allow the Mustangs to get closer than nine points until the final minute of the game.

After closing the game to 32-31 at halftime, Santana came out more aggressive in the second half. Not knowing a thing about the Mustangs other than that Olivia DiCamilli, who finished with was the 34 points, was their leading scorer, Santana was surprised when Rachel Ward started the game with six consecutive points. By the third quarter the Sultans were able to shut Ward, who finished with 14 points, down.

Weimann finished with 25 points and Stephanie Thompson led the Sultans with 31 points.

Teresa Stippey finished with just 10 points but scored at key times in the game giving the Santana the lead twice.