BEN FISHER TOURNAMENT : Poway Gets Big Win Against Point Loma

The long faces that slowly made their way out of the locker room told the story.

Only this time, the girls that wore them were Point Loma players and not their opponents.

Pointer basketball teams have a long and impressive history. Going into Saturday’s final of the Ben Fisher Tournament at Point Loma, the Pointers (10-0) weren’t exactly a charity case.

But none of that mattered to Poway, which seemed determined to write a little history of its own. The Titans didn’t let up for a minute of the 32 minutes it took to whip Point Loma, 74-35.

Kara Milling, who had a game-high 17 points for Poway (9-2), said the Titans gave more thought to Point Loma’s record than to its winning basketball tradition.

“We had our confidence up,” she said. “Since we knew they didn’t have any losses, that made us want it all the more. We know about their past history, but that’s not what we were thinking about.”

While Poway thought about victory, Point Loma thought about the game in terms of a learning curve. Pointer Coach Shannon Anderson, who coached under the watchful eye of the late Lee Trepanier last year, said her team needed a game like this to be chart its progress and be humbled.

“This is exactly what we wanted,” Anderson said. “We haven’t played a top-10 team and we’ve wanted to. So we got to play No. 1, and it put us in our place. If we want to beat the best teams, we have to find out what it’s like to play them.”

Point Loma found out right away as Poway took only three minutes to take an 11-2 lead, on a three-pointer by Jamie Shadian (12 points). The Titans continued their dominance for the duration.

After what Coach Jay Trousdale described as Poway’s best game of the year against San Pasqual Friday night, he was feeling lucky for the championship.

“They were probably pretty similar games,” he said. “We came out right at the start, took a big lead and went from there.”

From here, Point Loma goes back to work and Poway hopes to go first to a San Diego Section championship, then onto the state playoffs.

The Titans are banking on the experience they gained from their two losses in the Santa Barbara tournament earlier this season, where top state-ranked teams played. There, Poway lost to Brea-Olinda and Palos Verdes Peninsula.

“That helped us a lot,” Milling said. “It was a different level of play up there. That will help us a lot when state playoffs roll around. It’s some of the same caliber of teams.”

Point Loma might not have been in Poway’s league Saturday, but Anderson said a week or two more of practice would have narrowed the victory margin.

“Today they were 40 points better than us, but next time, I doubt it,” she said.

Allison Brady was Poway’s second leading scorer with 16 points. Sharinda Hunter led Point Loma with 14 points.

Granite Hills 34, Chula Vista 33--Chula Vista (3-7) had to return to Point Loma for the third-place game in the afternoon and led the entire game before Brady Wray scored the game winner with eight seconds left. Wray scored 20 points for Granite Hills. Allison Hines led the Spartans with 10 points. Chula Vista had to play the added game because Lincoln dropped out of the tournament.

Chula Vista 46, San Marcos 34--In the ninth-place game, 4-foot-9 guard Jennifer Benitez scored 16 points for Chula Vista. Allison Hines, a sophomore guard, added 12 points, all in the first half. Tammy Hinrichs had a game high 18 points for San Marcos.