HIGH SCHOOL BASKETBALL CHAMPIONSHIPS : Wood, Thousand Oaks Rout Buena

In a battle between girls’ Southern Section basketball superpowers that emphasize defense, Saturday night’s Division I-A final between Thousand Oaks and Buena highs came down to firepower.

And with reserve Melissa Wood repeatedly bombing the Buena defense from three-point range, Thousand Oaks (28-1) won its second consecutive division title over the Bulldogs, 76-46.

Wood, a junior forward, was replaced in the Lancers’ starting lineup Saturday by Marion Jones. But she responded with the performance of her life, scoring 25 points and hitting seven of 10 attempts from beyond the three-point line.

“I knew I had to get my vengeance up,” Wood said of returning to a reserve role.

Wood took it out on Buena, hitting four three-point shots and scoring 14 points in the first half to guide the Lancers to a 33-28 lead. And she added three more three-point baskets and 11 points in the second half to help break the game open.

Thousand Oaks Coach Chuck Brown said Wood had come to his office earlier in the week, despondent about her play. He told her: “You just wait, we’re going to get into that championship game and we are going to need some three-pointers.”

Wood said she also was encouraged by her teammates Saturday night.

“Sometimes when I make a few shots, I start worrying that I will miss one, but everybody was telling me to just keep shooting.”

Wood and the Lancers needed all of the confidence they could muster after blowing a 24-7 lead in the second quarter. Led by sophomore forward Michelle Giordano’s 11 second-period points, the Bulldogs battled back to tie, 26-26.

But Thousand Oaks built a five-point lead before the intermission as Wood hit Sasha Scardino inside for two points and Michelle Palmisano drilled in a three-point shot with eight seconds left.

Buena (26-3) cut the lead to 33-30 to start the second half before the Lancers went on a 17-2 run to tuck the championship away. Any hope that the Bulldogs had of coming back again was dashed when Giordano fouled out with a team-high 19 points late in the third period.

“We’ve said all year, the third quarter is our quarter,” Brown said. “The team believes when they come out for the third quarter, it’s going to be a good quarter.”

Palmisano turned in a gutsy effort in the second half to lead that Lancer surge. Playing on a badly bruised knee, the senior point guard scored 11 of her game-high 26 points. She was 14 for 16 from the free-throw line, going seven of eight in each half.

It was Buena’s third consecutive appearance in a divisional final--all losses.