PLAYOFF ROUNDUP : Julian Scores Big Upset On the Road

Julian’s drive to San Bernardino for its Southern California girls’ Division V regional basketball opener Tuesday was much longer than the drive into San Diego for the San Diego Section championship four days earlier.

But the trip back Tuesday seemed twice as fast. Probably because they were floating on air.

With a 69-61 victory against second-seeded and undefeated San Bernardino Christian, Julian redeemed itself from its 27-point loss to Christian Saturday.

“We completely collapsed against Christian,” Julian Coach Carl Focarelli said. “To be honest, some of the things I saw shocked me (Saturday). There’s nothing more than these girls would like to do than to get a chance to play (Christian) again and prove they aren’t 27 points better. It was a long bus ride and we just concentrated on the things that got us there.”

Against San Bernardino Christian, Julian neutralized powerful Audrey McMurray, who had scored 30 points in its recent section championship. Julian held McMurray to 14 points, but her sister Kelly had 28.

Jennifer Hekel scored 19 points and had 19 rebounds and Brandie Taylor had 18 points for Julian (20-10). Taylor was 8 for 10 in field goal shooting in the first half. April Ahrens scored eight points and pulled down 10 rebounds.

The game was never closer than 10 points after the first quarter. SBC (26-1) hit two free throws with one second left to go down by 10.

In another Division V game:

Christian 65, Encino Holy Martyrs Armenian 41--Tiffany Stutz scored all 21 of her points in the second half for Christian, which was tied at halftime. Stutz also had seven steals, seven rebounds and seven assists. Stephanie Chadwell had 11 points and 15 rebounds and Jenny Culbertson added 19 points and 10 rebounds for the top-seeded Patriots (21-4). Aline Altamckin had 20 points to lead the Holy Martyrs (24-4).

Division II

Carlsbad 60, Tustin 47--Top-ranked Carlsbad (24-2) trailed by a point after the first quarter, but outscored Tustin (21-9), 35-10, in the second and third quarters to run away with the game. Guard Dawn Laukes led a balanced Carlsbad attack with 20 points. Center Holly Gerdes scored 13 points and forward Vanessa Nygaard and guard Renee Demirdjian added 11 apiece.

Division III

South Hills 70, OLP 54--The sixth-seeded Pilots (19-7) stayed competitive with South Hills (25-3) in all but the second quarter, in which they were outscored, 24-13. OLP’s loss is tempered with the comfort that Coach Yvonne Sanchez will have starters freshmen Susie Erpelding (11 points) and Kathleen Murphy (12 points) and junior Amy Kunde (18 points) back next season.

Stephanie Cude, South Hills’s 6-1 standout, scored 23 points. Teammate Tiffany Hall added 19.

Brea-Linda 96, West Hills 16--West Hills (8-17) never had a chance against top-seeded Brea-Linda (29-2).

Division IV

Woodlake 51, Coronado 34--Held to just two field goals for the first 24 minutes, Amanda Renteria made six in the fourth quarter. Woodlake (26-2) led, 32-27, heading into the final period at Woodlake, then outscored Coronado, 19-7, the rest of the way as the Islanders (18-8) made only one of eight free throws.

Coronado was led by Kristie Lukenbill’s 12 points and Kris Skaalen’s 11 points and 10 rebounds. Renteria finished with 17 points.

BOYS’ BASKETBALL

Division IV

Santa Clara 94, Clairemont 48--Santa Clara (26-3) led 25-9 after one quarter and 51-21 after two. Art Barron had three three-point baskets in the first quarter, and Chris Cole scored 10 second-quarter points.