Cold-Shooting Night Freezes Out Woodbridge

After shooting a school-record 57% from the field during the season, the Woodbridge High School girls’ basketball team couldn’t find the basket Tuesday night. Instead, the Warriors found themselves out of the Southern California Regionals.

Bakersfield North (24-5), the Central Section Division II runner-up, sent the Warriors (25-6) packing with a relatively easy 57-47 victory at Woodbridge.

The Stars used their trademark, man-to-man full-court press to turn a 15-14 first-quarter lead into a 27-20 edge at halftime and a 45-26 advantage at the end of three quarters.

“He (Woodbridge Coach Russ Davis) knew it was coming,” North Coach Curt DeRossett said. “That’s our game. If we rotate well on the press, we’re tough.”

Rotate they did, all right, especially the points on the scoreboard.

North’s defense gave Woodbridge fits in the second quarter. The Stars went on an 8-0 run to start the quarter and held Woodbridge scoreless until senior center Deanna Harry hit on the front end of a one-and-one with 3 minutes 22 seconds remaining in the half.

Woodbridge, the Southern Section Division II-A champion, didn’t connect on a field-goal attempt in the quarter and had to settle for six free throws. North senior center Amy Elkins did a superb job of defending Harry, who entered the game with a 20-point average. She was limited to a pair of free throws in the second quarter and seven points in the first half.

“Our game plan was to try to take away that inside game of hers (Harry’s),” DeRossett said.

With Harry not much of a factor around the basket--she finished with 13 points--Woodbridge went to its outside game but without much success. The Warriors repeatedly missed shots from the perimeter, finishing the game at 27.9% from the field (12 for 43). Even point guard Florencia Luppani, one of her team’s offensive sparks all year, missed several driving layups.

“She played her heart out,” Davis said of Luppani. “She battled the press by herself all night.”

The Warriors made a run at North in the fourth quarter with a 19-8 blitz to pull to within eight with 1:40 left, but senior guard Lorraine Ash kept North at a safe distance by scoring six of her game-high 15 points in the quarter.

Ash, a sharpshooting left-hander whose twin sister Alexis (six points on the night) is the Stars’ other starting guard, kept dashing Woodbridge’s comeback hopes with timely baskets.

“She’s now rounding into 100% shape after a stress fracture on an ankle (earlier in the season),” DeRossett said of Ash.

Unfortunately for Woodbridge, her timing couldn’t have been worse.