GIRLS’ BASKETBALL SEMIFINALS : Marina Nearly Stops Woodbridge Title Run : Division II-AA: Vikings put up a battle, but then Stovall takes over and leads the Warriors to 44-42 victory.

There was no intimidation, no fear, no give.

There was no scoring for six minutes. Then there was no scoring for four minutes.

And afterward, there were no excuses.

Marina, an underdog in everyone’s eye but its own, very nearly ended Woodbridge’s run for a second consecutive Southern Section Division II-AA girls’ basketball title.

But . . .

“Moral victories don’t get you to the final,” Marina Coach Pete Bonny said.

No, they don’t. So Marina’s season ended and Woodbridge’s goes on for at least two more games after its 44-42 come-from-behind victory in front of a standing-room-only crowd of 1,200 at Irvine High.

The victory gives Woodbridge the right to play for the section title Friday against Mission Hills Alemany--a 63-53 winner over Riverside J.W. North--and also guarantees the Warriors (28-1) will play in the State tournament, and that’s the championship they really seek.

But it didn’t come easy Wednesday.

Marina (21-7) led by three points entering the fourth quarter, 30-27. At 32-30, the game changed for good when Erin Stovall’s three-point shot fell.

Stovall had missed her first seven shots and had only one point. She was “just filling space” on the floor, she said. And then--magic.

Stovall went on a 9-2 run--scoring the last six points in a row--to give Woodbridge a 39-34 lead.

Meanwhile, Marina was having an offensive meltdown. The Vikings traveled. They threw the ball away. They couldn’t get a shot off before the shot clock expired.

Still, Marina battled back. Shandy Robbins’ free throw and eight-footer from the baseline in the final two minutes made it 41-39.

Melanie Pearson answered with a free throw with 16 seconds left, 42-39.

Marina called timeout, then went for the tie. But Sonya Bryant’s pass to Norie Nakase--being hounded by Stovall--went off Nakase’s hands and across midcourt. When she recovered the ball, the Vikings were whistled for a backcourt violation with five seconds left. It was their seventh turnover of the quarter. Stovall made two free throws a second later.

Robbins’ three-pointer at the buzzer was meaningless.

“I just got the adrenaline flowing and had to let it out,” Stovall said.

When did the adrenaline start to flow?

“Right when I let go of the ball on that three-pointer.”

Were you in a zone?

“I was in a zone.”

She was in a zone, all right. From the three-pointer on, she also had three of her five rebounds and her only steal.

Krissy Duperron killed Marina early on, scoring all nine of her points and grabbing seven of her eight rebounds in the first half.

But as much as Duperron hurt Marina, the Vikings (18 for 48 from the field) did themselves no favors. They missed their first eight shots of the second quarter and watched a 14-13 lead turn into a 20-14 deficit; they were lucky to trail by only three at halftime, 21-18.

But after playing its best quarter of the game in the third--outscoring Woodbridge 12-6--Marina went 4:21 without scoring to open the fourth, letting Stovall take control.

“That’s where we fell apart,” said Robbins, who scored 16. “Every possession was important.”

Indeed it was.

“If they miss one shot and we make one more,” Bonny said, “we’re going to the Pyramid and they’re not.”