GIRLS’ BASKETBALL ROUNDUP : Esperanza Upsets Woodbridge

On a historic night for Marc Hill, 300 fans stormed the court at Esperanza and swarmed Leah Combs.

Her basket with two seconds remaining left Esperanza--ranked No. 9 in Orange County--and top-ranked Woodbridge equally stunned.

Combs, a 6-foot freshman, made a little sidestep move around 6-4 senior Angela Burgess and shattered Woodbridge’s air of invincibility with a 46-45 victory over the Warriors in a nonleague game Tuesday.

It was Hill’s 200th victory in his 13-year career at Esperanza--joining his father, Dick, who won his 200th football game this past season at Orange.

But clearly, it was a night for the Aztec players, who trailed by seven points entering the fourth quarter and delivered what most considered a nearly unspeakable upset--Esperanza (12-3) lost as many games last week (two) and Woodbridge (13-1) lost the last two years.

“I know I’m going to wake up in the middle of the night and say, ‘Oh my gosh, we just beat Woodbridge, the No. 1 team in the state,’ ” said Monique Toney (nine points, four steals), who made the critical pass from midcourt to Combs.

The winning basket came after Kim Hayashi (16 points) had pulled Esperanza back into the game with an eight-point fourth quarter; she tied the score at 39 with a free throw; her third three-point basket gave Esperanza a 42-41 lead, and her eight-footer gave the Aztecs a 44-43 lead with 2:18 remaining.

Melanie Pearson’s left-handed layup off a drive up the middle gave Woodbridge a 45-44 lead with 14 seconds left; after a scramble for the ball at midcourt against Woodbridge’s press, Diane Severinsen threw the ball to Toney who threw the ball to Combs (four points, two rebounds).

“I thought we played the last minute well,” Woodbridge Coach Eric Bangs said. “It was a good win for them and it’s definitely not the end of the world for us. I think the girls had forgotten what it’s like to have a close game.”

Woodbridge’s closest game had been a 12-point victory over Belleview (Wash.) Lake Washington, and its first loss of the year, ending a 13-game winning streak, comes 10 days after snapping second-ranked Brea Olinda’s 65-game winning streak, 51-33.

The Warriors shot only 32% (14 of 44), including a two-for-10 performance in the fourth quarter. Esperanza shot 33% through three quarters, but was five for 10 in the final eight minutes.

Krissy Duperron had 15 points and nine rebounds for Woodbridge, and Erin Stovall had 10 points. Burgess also had nine rebounds, but scored only three points against Esperanza’s fronting defense and missed the front end of two one-and-one free throws in the final quarter.

In other nonleague games:

Canyon 63, Katella 42--Robyn Kuhlmann scored 18 points and Dawn Brown added 13 points and nine steals for host Canyon (10-6).

Corona del Mar 52, University 48--Lindsay Warmington scored 15 points for Corona del Mar (7-8).

Costa Mesa 63, San Clemente 48--Koo Kim scored 22 points, including three three-pointers, and Raeme Payne, Chanel Anderson and Corri Lurmann scored 10 points apiece to lead visiting Costa Mesa (10-4).

El Dorado 83, Sonora 28--Michelle deBruijn scored 18 points and Shanna Renken added 17 for No. 7 El Dorado (9-3).

Fountain Valley 68, Westminster 54--Nicole Strange scored 19 points and Jennifer Ludwicki added 17 points and 10 rebounds to lead No. 5 Fountain Valley (11-5). Kristin Schult scored 15 points and Amber Farroux added 14 for host Westminster (7-7).

Laguna Beach 64, St. Margaret’s 61 (OT)--Kelly Dane scored 18 points and Shay Trette added 17 points to lead Laguna Beach (3-8).

Rosary 76, Glendora St. Lucy’s 57--Kathleen Celio scored 36 points for Rosary (8-2).