DIVISION II-AA GIRLS’ SEMIFINALS : Woodbridge Aided by Weaver’s Effort

The idea was to take Angela Burgess out of the game, and Ollie Martin’s game plan did that Saturday night for Ocean View: Burgess did not score.

In the process, the defense of his top defender, Alison Juroe, held Woodbridge’s leading scorer, Jamie Oenning to seven points.

Every coach in the semifinals would think they could beat the Warriors with that scenario. Every coach but one--Woodbridge’s Eric Bangs.

“Why? Because this is a total team,” Bangs said after his top-seeded Warriors advanced to Saturday’s Southern Section Division II-AA final with a 49-38 victory over Ocean View at Irvine High. “I knew somebody would step up. That’s the way it’s been all year.”

This time, someone stepped up from the bench. Lisa Weaver, a junior who has battled a knee injury her entire varsity career, took the place of Burgess and scored 12 points and pulled down six rebounds.

“I have a lot of trouble stepping up in big games, sometimes,” Weaver said.

Not this time. Weaver showed that the Warriors’ talent doesn’t end with the starters. She carried Woodbridge late in the second quarter with Burgess in foul trouble. With the score tied at 13, she took a nice pass from Melanie Pearson to score inside, then scored easily off Oenning’s inbounds pass and, after Oenning’s 17-footer, Weaver again scored inside off a Pearson assist. That made it 21-13, giving Woodbridge the cushion it needed.

The Warriors remained unbeaten (28-0) and move on to their third section final in seven seasons. They will play Hemet at Cal Poly Pomona on Saturday. Hemet beat Cerritos Gahr, 41-37.

“Whether we win or lose, it doesn’t matter,” Bangs said. “Besides Brea-Olinda, how many teams can go 28-0? It’s amazing.”

The victory broke a nine-game winning streak for Ocean View (23-5), which got 13 points from Dustine Yamamoto. The Seahawks shot 42% from the field this season, but made only 10 of 55 (18%) against Woodbridge.

“We did everything right defensively ourselves,” Bangs said.

Ocean View pulled to 36-34 with 3:09 left, but Pearson (nine points) drove to the basket and made a four-foot jumper, and her drive to the basket moments later made it 42-35. Erin Stovall (15 points) made six of seven free throws to close it out.

“This team has shown a lot of heart the whole season,” Oenning said. “When we’re not playing well, we dig down deep within our character--28-0 says it all.”