Murdent Powers Golden West to Victory

Julie Murdent scored a career-high 42 points, advancing Golden West College to its ninth consecutive State tournament berth with a 102-79 victory over Long Beach City Saturday at Golden West.

The Rustlers will face San Mateo Friday in the semifinals at Orange Coast College.

With at least one game remaining, Murdent moves into second place on the Rustlers’ all-time scoring list with 1,302 points. She needs only 12 points to take the top spot from Jill Guthrie.

“I don’t know why (Dick Strickland) left me in the game,” Murdent said. “We have six or seven players capable of scoring in double figures. But I think he knew we were having a great time. Everyone was clicking.”

Murdent scored the first 12 points in four minutes as the Rustlers took a 23-9 lead with 11 minutes left in the half. Murdent then left the game and the Rustlers (29-5) came unglued, missing five shots and turning the ball over three times as the Vikings went on a 7-0 run to pull as close as nine.

Murdent returned three minutes later and Golden West went on a 17-5 run with four minutes left in the half to take a 47-33 lead.

In the second half, the Rustlers put the ball inside and got the Vikings in foul trouble. Guard Deana Itow had nine second-half assists and the team shot 69% to put the game away.

Forward Farrah Magee scored 12 second-half points to finish the game with 20, and she had 11 rebounds. Forward Katie Miner added 15 points and 11 rebounds.