MARINA GIRLS’ BASKETBALL TOURNAMENT : Huntington Beach Cruises to Victory

Huntington Beach’s zone press made a mess of the Mission Viejo offense and carried the Oilers to a 48-15 victory in a championship semifinal of the Marina girls’ basketball tournament Tuesday night at Marina High School.

Huntington Beach (9-2), ranked seventh in the county, had little trouble with the fourth-ranked Diablos (10-2), and will play Rancho Bernardo in the title game at 8:30 tonight.

“We came out especially to work on that (press) tonight,” Oiler Coach Nick Bartlett said. “That was our goal, to make the press work.”

And did it work.

The Oilers forced Mission Viejo into 26 turnovers and held the Diablos to seven points in the first half, including a lone basket by Maggie Gorska in the second quarter. Gorska finished with 10 points.

While Mission Viejo couldn’t crack the press, Huntington Beach found plenty of scoring opportunities, particularly guards Deana Itow and Renee Kimoto. Each scored 14 points and each had two three-point baskets.

Huntington Beach’s stellar forward Clare Walker, who scored 23 points against Ocean View in the quarterfinals Monday, scored only seven points Tuesday but had a team-high eight rebounds and six steals.

In other tournament games:

Rancho Bernardo 58, Marina 39--Lorraine Watson scored 22 points to lead Rancho Bernardo (8-1) to a semifinal victory. Junior guard Martita Emde had 11 points for Marina (6-3), which plays Mission Viejo in the third-place game at 7 tonight.

Ocean View 49, Estancia 39--With a three-point lead after the third quarter, 34-31, Farah Magee scored eight of Ocean View’s 15 points in the fourth to help the Seahawks (6-4) to victory in a fifth-place semifinal game. Magee also had 15 rebounds. Kerri Umehira led Ocean View with 11 points and Karla Dominguez had 12 for Estancia (9-4).

Newport Harbor 63, Lakewood 54--Michaela Ross scored 31 points before fouling out with six minutes left as the Sailors (4-5) won a fifth-place semifinal game. Melissa Schutz had eight points and nine rebounds for the Sailors, who led, 21-11, after the first quarter.

Rancho Alamitos 78, Marina JV 30--Akilah Rodgers scored 24 points to pace the Vaqueros (7-4) in a consolation championship semifinal. Rancho Alamitos outscored the Vikings, 23-2, in the first quarter.

Katella 51, Fountain Valley 46--Chris Carrillo and Rachel Davis each scored 20 points to lead Katella in a consolation championship semifinal. Robynn Kuhlman and Nicole Strange each had 12 points for the Barons.

El Toro 42, Valencia 33--The Chargers (2-9) outscored Valencia, 11-2, in the second quarter of their consolation game victory. Wendy Watson had 14 points for El Toro and Valencia’s Nikki Kubota led all scorers with 15 points.

Bishop Montgomery 85, Connelly 18--Shelley Dungo led the Knights with 22 points in a consolation game.