Thousand Oaks Rallies to Win Behind Jones

Rancho Bernardo High girls’ basketball Coach Peggy Brose was going on Tuesday night about how one player can’t win a game alone. Then, a little embarrassed, she caught herself.

“Well, maybe one player,” Brose said.

That player is Thousand Oaks senior Marion Jones, and she did it against Brose’s team in the first round of the Southern California regional Division I playoffs.

Jones scored 13 of her game-high 30 points in the final quarter to lift the Lancers to a 54-47 come-from-behind victory over the Broncos.

The win advances Marmonte League champion Thousand Oaks (30-1) into the second round against the Lynwood-Poway winner. Rancho Bernardo, the San Diego Section Division I champion, concluded its season 25-4.

“That is exactly what I would expect from her,” Thousand Oaks Coach Chuck Brown said of Jones. “She is that kind of player.”

Coming off its only loss of the season--to Buena last Saturday in the Southern Section Division I-A championship--the Lancers struggled against the Broncos for the better part of three quarters. They trailed, 9-1, at the outset and led just once in the first half.

Then Jones took over. After scoring just two points in the third quarter, she roared to life in the fourth period. A three-point basket with 4 minutes 55 seconds remaining cut Rancho Bernardo’s lead to 47-46, and then a minute later, her spinning, reverse layup under the basket gave Thousand Oaks a 48-47 lead.

“That was the basket that really killed us,” said Rancho Bernardo guard Robin Blalock, who led the Broncos with 18 points. “It was like a knife in the heart. . . . It was an unbelievable shot. I’ve never seen anything like that in high school.”

The Broncos didn’t score again, while Jones followed with five more points to clinch the win.

“It just came to me,” Jones said with a smile and a shrug. “We’re not shy. We’re going to take the shot.”

Part of the credit for Jones’ performance should go to senior forward Melissa Wood, who opened up the court by scoring 17 points in the middle two quarters.

Meanwhile, the Lancers held Rancho Bernardo’s 6-foot-1 senior twins, Lorice and Lorraine Watson, to a combined 19 points.

The pair had just eight points in the second half.