DIVISION III-A GIRLS’ BASKETBALL : Costa Mesa Wards Off Comeback

Olivia DiCamilli had seen enough.

After watching Santa Fe Springs St. Paul mount an unbelievable third-quarter comeback against DiCamilli and her Costa Mesa teammates, DiCamilli decided to take the matter into her hands.

DiCamilli dominated the fourth quarter as top-seeded Costa Mesa went on to a deceptive 73-49 victory Saturday in the first round of the Southern Section Division III-A girls’ basketball playoffs.

“I thought the game was getting out of hand,” said DiCamilli, who scored 20 fourth-quarter points en route to a game-high 33-point performance. “I needed to do something to get us back into it.”

That wouldn’t had been necessary if the Mustangs (24-4) hadn’t blown their big early lead. The Mustangs scored the game’s first 17 points and led by 19 at intermission against what appeared to be the overmatched Swordsmen.

But St. Paul (14-11) had a revelation at halftime--the Mustangs don’t like to be pushed around. The Swordsmen got physical. Behind bruising play--and the shooting of Gina Monte--they went on an 18-1 run to cut the deficit to four points with less than a minute left in the third quarter.

“It was surprising,” DiCamilli said. “You would think with them being a Catholic school, they would all be nice. That was the roughest team we played all year.”

DiCamilli put an end to all the pushing and shoving with her superb fourth-quarter play.

“It was a tremendous second-half effort, to come back,” St. Paul Coach Paul Zeko said. “I think the girls were shellshocked in the first half.”

Costa Mesa Coach Lisa McNamee hopes St. Paul’s comeback will serve as a reminder to her team that no lead is safe or that no opponent can be taken lightly in the playoffs.

“I felt when we came to the gym today, we didn’t have our game hats on,” McNamee said. “Everyone is shooting for No. 1. You have to be careful every night. Everyone is gunning for you.”

In another Division III-A game:

Rancho Alamitos 90, Santa Paula 61--Akilah Rodgers scored 25 points and Timerie James added 20 for Rancho Alamitos (24-4), which will play the Covina-Monrovia winner. Vanessa Nicholas scored 21 points for Santa Paula (14-11).