ORANGE COUNTY ALL-STAR BASKETBALL GAMES : GIRLS : Ruiz’s 20 Spark North to Victory

This was not the place to look for defense.

The Orange County All-Star girls’ basketball teams didn’t show much D in their 14th annual meeting Saturday, but the North mustered enough offense to win, 82-68, at Saddleback College.

It was the third consecutive victory for the North and fifth in the past six games.

Neither team shot well; the North was 38% from the field, and the South, 35%. The North rallied after trailing, 19-6, with 9 minutes 15 seconds remaining in the first 20-minute half, during which they shot 25%.

The poor shooting, combined with 12 turnovers, nearly buried the North in the early going. And it got worse for the North, although Coach Denise Selbe of Cypress High substituted freely, looking for someone with a hot hand.

“We were doing everything we wanted to do but we just kept missing the shots,” said Selbe, who played on the North team that lost the 1982 game, 76-72.

But with about 7 1/2 minutes left in the half, Kennedy’s 5-foot-2 guard Valerie Ruiz, the game’s most valuable player after scoring 20 points, began to spark the North. After a three-pointer by Rancho Alamitos guard Melinda Lira cut the South lead to 19-9 at the 9:32 mark of the first half, Ruiz scored on a couple of fast-break layups to pull the North within eight, 21-13.

Two free throws by Estancia guard Melody Earle at 3:30 left to play in the half gave the South a 29-23 lead, but the North tied it, 31-31, two minutes later on a baseline jumper by Magnolia’s Yolanda Hearvey. A jumper by Costa Mesa forward Rachel Ward with four seconds left gave the South a 35-34 lead at the half.

The North built a 46-37 lead during the first five minutes of the second half on a couple of baskets by La Habra’s Leslie Ferguson, a jumper by Loara’s Tracy Titus, a layup and a pair of free throws by Savanna’s Carrie Frederick and another fast-break layup by Ruiz.

It was the South that suddenly went cold after intermission.

“We needed someone who could hit,” said South Coach Lisa McNamee of Estancia. “I don’t think it was our defense that was a problem. It was our offense.”

The South, however, did threaten in the second half. Corona del Mar forward Heather Flaherty pulled the South within 50-48, with two free throws midway through the period, and Trabuco Hills forward Shelly Calhoun cut the North lead to 63-62, with 5:20 to play on a layup off a stolen inbounds pass, but the North cranked it up again and cruised the rest of the way.

Ruiz was the 14th player to score at least 20 points in an All-Star game. The scoring record is held by Corona del Mar’s Heather Estey with 35 points in the 1983 game.

The North got 14 points from Ferguson and 11 from Frederick. Earle led the South with 13 points, followed by Ward with 10.