HIGH SCHOOL ROUNDUP : Carlsbad Overcomes Deficit to Trample Rancho Bernardo

Rancho Bernardo might have led by 12 points early, but concern was not even an option for Carlsbad Coach John Duberville and his team.

“I have a lot of confidence in the girls,” he said. “We have a game plan and we stick to it. We’ve been doing it that way for three years now.”

The game plan was pretty basic: beat the other team down court and pound the ball inside to center Holly Gerdes and forwards Vanessa Nygaard and Renee Demirdjian. Third-ranked Rancho Bernardo had no answers for it and lost to the second-ranked Lancers, 55-45, at Carlsbad in an Avocado League game.

But Nygaard said she wasn’t aware of any game plan.

“We just wanted to win,” said Nygaard, a 6-foot-1 junior. “We were going to do whatever it took to win.”

Carlsbad’s victory was its second in row over Rancho Bernardo after being down 12 points.

“I don’t think we would have been able to win tonight if we had come back to beat them at their place,” said Nygaard, who scored 15 points, grabbed 13 rebounds and blocked four shots.

Gerdes had 16 points and seven rebounds and Demirdjian added 12 points and 16 rebounds.

“They took it to us,” Rancho Bernardo Coach Peggy Brose. “They dominated us on the boards.”

The Broncos were outrebounded, 50-29.

Rebounding didn’t matter much in the first quarter as Rancho Bernardo came out blazing and led, 18-8. Point guard Carol Pajarillo scored 10 of the Broncos’ 18 points on drives and jumpers.

But Pajarillo’s jumper stopped falling and Stephanie Blalock, RB’s second-leading scorer, stayed cold. Carlsbad sent Nygaard, Gerdes and Demirdjian--all juniors--to the boards, while the guards took off running.

Carlsbad outscored RB, 19-7, in the second quarter and led, 27-25, at half. The second half was more of the same.

“We did not do a good job of getting back,” Brose said. “But when you have a front line like that, it’s easy for your guards to release.”

RB fell to 18-3 overall and 9-2 in legaue. Carlsbad (16-2, 11-0) has a chance to go undefeated in league for the second consecutive year.