GIRLS’ BASKETBALL ROUNDUP : Defensive Switch Helps Capistrano Valley Beat Trabuco Hills

Freshmen Sabina Kissell and Elizabeth Fleming each scored 12 points to lead Capistrano Valley to a 43-38 victory over Trabuco Hills in the championship game of the South Coast girls’ basketball tournament Saturday at University High.

“If someone told me we would win our first four games I would have been shocked,” Capistrano Valley Coach Pete Belanto said.

Jennifer Garrett, the tournament most valuable player, had nine points and 15 rebounds and Kim Ford had seven points and eight assists but it was the defensive work of Nicole Franklin, especially in the second half, which pleased Belanto the most.

Capistrano Valley had built up an 18-9 lead midway through the second quarter before Trabuco Hills (4-2) bounced back. Thanks in part to two three-point baskets by Dyanna Hatch and a three-point play by Sarah Warnick, the Mustangs had tied the score by halftime, 20-20.

Belanto made a defensive adjustment, putting Franklin on Hatch, and Hatch made only one of four shots in the second half.

The score was tied, 34-34, early in the fourth quarter when Ford and Kissell each scored, giving Capistrano Valley the lead for good.

LeShieka Henderson had 16 points and Hatch and Warnick each had 10 for Trabuco Hills.