SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA PREP BASKETBALL REGIONALS : DIVISION II GIRLS : Woodbridge All Business, Wins Easily

Woodbridge took the first step in its run for the State finals with a 76-45 victory over San Diego Scripps Ranch in a Southern Regional Division II girls’ basketball game Tuesday at Woodbridge.

The Warriors (30-1) will be host to Pasadena Muir, a 72-52 winner over Bakersfield North Bakersfield, in the semifinals Thursday.

“This team is real even keel before the game starts,” Woodbridge Coach Eric Bangs said. “You can’t really tell where they’re at, but once the game starts they take care of business. They’re hungry, they want to win a State title.”

Even though the Warriors shot 59% from the field, led by Erin Stovall’s 12-for-13 performance, Bangs thinks his team could have played better.

“We didn’t play all that well, we had some defensive lapses and missed some easy baskets,” he said. “But we figure it’s a four-game tournament and we got one game down and one more to go Thursday night.”

Scripps Ranch (19-13), which lost by 30 points to Brea Olinda to open the State playoffs last season, lacked the size to contend with the Warriors.

With 4-foot-11 guard Lauren Freiser running the Falcons’ offense, Woodbridge was able to force five first-quarter turnovers and jump to an 18-9 lead. Stovall made all five of her shots in the opening quarter, four coming on breakaway layups.

“She did her layups real well,” Bangs said jokingly. “Defense can trigger some easy baskets and that helps our running game, which is not doing that well overall.”

In the middle, Angela Burgess had her way with Monique Motley, who gave up four inches of height to the 6-4 center.

Coming off an O-for-4 performance in the Southern Section finals against Mission Hills Alemany, Burgess made six of 12 shots from inside the paint and grabbed six rebounds.

Burgess scored eight of her 12 points in the second quarter as Woodbridge shot 63% to go ahead, 41-24, at the half.

The Warriors didn’t let up in the second half as Stovall scored 10 of her game-high 24 points in the third quarter. The Falcons, meanwhile, managed only four of 14 field goals.

Alissa Murphy, who was averaging 28.5 points for Scripps Ranch, finished with 12 points as she left the game late in the third quarter with her team trailing, 56-32.

“They presented some problems,” Bangs said. “Their team is different from what we’ve played in the past. They have one player that seems to dominate everything, so we did a pretty good job. I think we held her to about 17 below her average.”