Roaring Start Enables Thousand Oaks Girls to Roll

After four days of deciding when and where to play its second-round Southern Section Division I-A playoff game against Palmdale High, the host Thousand Oaks girls’ basketball team couldn’t wait to break out of the gate Saturday night.

When post time finally arrived, the Lancers scored the first 11 points and sprinted to a 56-29 victory.

Led by 22 points and 16 rebounds from senior center Marion Jones and an aggressive full-court press, Thousand Oaks (27-0) limited Palmdale (19-7) to a season-low offensive output and held the Falcons to 14 points over the final three periods.

“We had a goal to hold (Palmdale) under 40 points and we held them under 30,” Thousand Oaks Coach Chuck Brown said. “This team is probably as good a team as I’ve had at following a game plan.”

The game had originally been scheduled for Saturday night at Thousand Oaks, but officials agreed to switch it to Friday at Palmdale to accommodate a senior formal dance at Thousand Oaks. Thousand Oaks administrators decided Friday that stormy weather conditions made it unsafe to travel to Palmdale and the game was switched back to Saturday.

A first-round bye kept the top-seeded Lancers from playing for nine days, but that didn’t slow them down in the early going.

Samantha Clarke scored five of her 13 points in the first 1 minute 15 seconds, and Jones and Melissa Wood each added three points for an 11-0 start.

Kim Schielke, who led Palmdale with 18 points, hit a three-point shot to bring the Falcons within 11-7 midway through the first period. But that was as close as Palmdale would get.

“When you get off to a start like we did, it’s easy to have a mental lapse and that’s what we did,” Clarke said. “We just got more focused after that and started playing with more discipline.”

Palmdale, a team that lacked depth all season, was hindered even more when Schielke and Latisha Beam, its top two players, each picked up four fouls in the first half. Beam was limited to four points, but added 15 rebounds.

The Falcons were also hurt by turnover flurries in each half, finishing with 23 turnovers. In the first quarter, Palmdale committed five turnovers in a seven-possession sequence.

It was even worse in the third period: The Falcons threw the ball away on five consecutive possessions.

“Thousand Oaks is a very disciplined team,” Palmdale Coach George Corisis said. “Everyone plays their roles.”

Jones, the three-time defending state champion in the girls’ 100 and 200 meters, was expected to run in the Sunkist Invitational track and field meet during the day, but she did not compete, choosing to devote her energy to the basketball game.