Tustin Takes a Plunge and Gahr Takes a Title : II-AA girls: Garner gets into foul trouble and the Tillers lose to top-seeded Gladiators, 63-37.

Even with center Christine Garner on the floor, the Tustin girls’ basketball team was walking the plank against powerful Cerritos Gahr in the Southern Section II-AA championship game Saturday in the Bren Center.

When Garner picked up her fourth foul midway through the second quarter and was forced to sit the remainder of the first half, the Tillers were already on the edge of the board. By the time she fouled out with 2 minutes 25 seconds left in the third quarter, Tustin had gone overboard.

Gahr (25-4), the top-seeded team in the division, took advantage of its strength inside and Garner’s foul trouble to defeat Tustin, 63-37, for its first section title since 1981. The Gladiators won the 3-A championship that year.

“I wasn’t surprised they were able to handle us inside,” Tustin Coach Rick Falk said. “Basically, we dominate when Christine is in. We have trouble when she’s in foul trouble.”

Tustin (21-8), seeded third in the tournament, had a promising start by taking a 7-4 lead with 3:01 to play in the first quarter on a free throw by Garner. But then Gahr unleashed a tenacious full-court press that forced 13 Tustin turnovers in the first half.

Gahr outscored Tustin, 19-4, in the second quarter, and that pretty much sealed the outcome by the time fans headed for the snack bar at halftime.

“The game plan was to pressure full court and go from end line to end line,” Gahr Coach Tom Pryor said. “The pressure just got to them (in the second quarter). They got a little tired.”

The Gladiators turned the press into quick points after the Tustin turnovers. They opened with a 15-0 run in the second quarter, capped by a three-pointer by point guard Kris Waldorf that gave Gahr a 29-13 lead 3:38 before halftime.

Tustin didn’t manage to score in the second quarter until Kristin Kirkwood hit the front end of a one-and-one free-throw situation at the 2:52 mark.

Gahr kept pounding Tustin inside in the third quarter, with forward Stefanie Harp scoring 10 of her 14 points in the period. Two of her baskets came on layups, one on an offensive rebound and the others on close-range jumpers.

Garner was then called for her fifth foul while trying to prevent Gahr’s 6-foot-2 center Allison Arredondo from scoring.

Falk said he decided to leave Garner in the game despite her four fouls because he thought she could avoid fouling out, and because without her, the Tillers are not nearly as effective. Garner averaged 17.8 points and 13.0 rebounds for Tustin this season.

“In the Ventura (semifinal) game, she played the entire second half with four fouls,” Falk said. “She’s usually a very smart player with four fouls . . . We feel it hurts us more to take her out, so we leave her in.”

Garner finished with 12 points in her 14 minutes. Needham led the Tillers with 13 points and eight rebounds.

Forward Shannon Gale had a game-high 16 points for Gahr. Arredondo and Harp each added 14.