End of the Road for Seahawk and Toro Women’s Teams : Harbor: Top-ranked Lassen breaks open a close game in final 90 seconds and wins, 96-91.

The Harbor College women’s basketball team was poised to upset Lassen in the quarterfinals of the state tournament Thursday, but three turnovers proved costly to the Seahawks down the stretch in a 96-91 loss at Ventura College.

“Harbor is the best team in this tournament,” Seahawk Coach Louie Nelson said. “The best team didn’t win today. We played about 30 minutes out of 40.”

Fifth-ranked Harbor (28-4) was down by only two points with 1:29 to play before committing the first of its three turnovers. Top-ranked Lassen (33-1) converted each turnover into a basket for a 96-88 lead. The Seahawks’ LaKeisha Melinger made a three-point basket with 12 seconds left for the final score.

Melinger, a sophomore forward and mother of two, led the Seahawks with a game-high 37 points, 16 of them in the first half.

Bridgete Williams, the Seahawks’ leading scorer with an average of 39 points, was double- and triple-teamed throughout most of the game. The sophomore guard was limited to nine first-half points but finished with 25.

“They stayed off of me because mostly they focused on Bridgete,” Melinger said. “Once I got going, I was confident in my shot.”

Defending champion Lassen was led by center Melyssa Batchelder, who finished with 34 points.

“As a team we didn’t want it bad enough,” Nelson said. “We didn’t have a supporting cast. . . . I’ll tell you, we had them. We really had them, and they were scared.”

With 14:55 remaining in the game, Lassen took a 10-point lead, but Harbor responded with a 14-4 run that tied the score, 63-63, with 12:49 remaining.

Harbor’s biggest lead was 73-67 with 9:45 left.

“Heck, if there was another minute in that game they might be up by four,” Lassen Coach Gary Kloppenburg said. “They may be the toughest matchup for anybody in this tournament. . . . Their unorthodox style of play and great quickness caused a lot of problems for us.”