SEA VIEW LEAGUE GIRLS’ BASKETBALL ROUNDUP : Needham Finds Her Shot; Tustin Wins Another Title

A few weeks ago, Tustin girls’ basketball Coach Rick Falk said he was trying to get All-County forward Shari Needham to look for her shots while opponents keyed on senior center Christine Garner, the team’s other scoring threat.

Thursday night, Needham looked repeatedly and found often.

The 6-foot senior scored 25 points as the Tillers (18-7, 8-2 in league), the seventh-ranked team in the county, defeated visiting Newport Harbor, 60-50, to win their fourth consecutive Sea View League championship.

Needham, who also had 11 rebounds, camped in the low post all night and scored several of her points on easy layups. Neither the man-to-man nor the matchup-zone defenses used by Newport Harbor (15-8, 7-3) did much to stop her.

“We didn’t feel they had anyone who could handle Shari one-on-one,” Falk said. “We knew they were going to try to deny Christine the ball. The difference tonight was that our guards now know how to get them the ball inside.”

The Tillers jumped to a 16-8 lead after the first quarter when Garner scored eight of her 15 points and Newport Harbor committed nine turnovers.

Tustin went ahead at the half, 31-23, with Needham scoring 11 points. The Tillers held their biggest lead of the game, 45-29, with 2:31 remaining in the third quarter and never allowed the Sailors to get closer than 10 points the rest of the way.

Garner finished with a game-high 14 rebounds and sophomore guard Sara Davis had nine points for the Tillers. Forward Michaela Ross led Newport Harbor with 14 points and guard Genevieve Evarts had 12 points and nine rebounds for the Sailors before fouling out late in the final quarter.

In other league games:

University 71, Corona del Mar 45--Christie Loud scored 14 points for University (16-8, 7-3), winner of 14 of its past 17 games. The Trojans finished tied for second in league with Newport Harbor.

Woodbridge 96, Saddleback 32--Belinda Taub had 26 points and 12 rebounds, Jenny Fenton had 14 points and Jamie Oenning had 13 points for Woodbridge (18-7, 6-4). Shalane Martinez had 12 points for Saddleback (1-15, 0-10).