Foul-Ups Costly for the North : Girls: South takes advantage to win county all-star game, 72-69, in triple overtime.

The last time Shandy Robbins played a basketball game, she was inconsolable after Marina lost a Southern Section semifinal to Woodbridge.

Saturday at Orange Coast College, Robbins was all smiles and holding up the most valuable player trophy.

But it took more than Robbins’ 21 points and 15 rebounds for the South to beat the North, 72-69, in triple overtime in front of 250 at the 30th Costa Mesa Kiwanis Club’s Orange County All-Star game.

There was Kortney Okura’s 19-footer at the buzzer to send it into the second overtime and Jennifer Garrett scoring the game’s final six points to give the South the lead and the victory.

There were the free throws too. The South was 39 for 52, and the North was 15 for 24.

“That was the difference,” Mater Dei’s Michelle Meyers said. “When we lose half our team to fouls--it was so lopsided and they shot great from the foul line.”

Meyers (10 points, five rebounds) joined nearly all the North’s post players on the bench: Brea Olinda’s 6-foot-1 Dawn Metz (three points, one rebound), El Dorado’s 5-11 Shanna Renken (two points, two rebounds) and 5-10 Michelle deBruijn (nine points, two rebounds) and Troy’s 6-4 Jennie Gadd (nine points, 13 rebounds).

But the North’s struggles under the basket were due primarily to the strong play of the 6-1 Robbins, 6-3 Garrett (15 points, 14 rebounds) and Westminster’s 6-2 Amber Farroux (nine points, nine rebounds).

The North led by six with 9 minutes 15 seconds left in regulation, but after losing Metz and deBruijn to fouls, needed a 17-footer by Brea Olinda’s Lee Moulin (seven points) with 52 seconds left to force overtime.

There, Troy’s Dinah Shah (17 points, four steals), after rebounding her miss and getting fouled by Moulin, made two free throws with no time left to make it 54-54.

Gadd’s putback gave the North a 64-63 lead with 15 seconds to go in the second overtime, and her free throw made it 65-63 with eight seconds left. But the South’s fast break ended with Mission Viejo’s Okura rushing a shot with no time remaining while trying to find the three-point arc. It tied the score, 65-65.

“I was hoping I could step back behind the three but I guess I missed it,” said Okura (seven points, six steals). “I was surprised I made it--I’m not the best shooter from out there.”

The North scored the first three points of the third overtime, but Garrett--who signed a letter of intent Friday to play at Northern Arizona--scored six points in the final 1:49 off a rebound, two free throws and a turnaround jumper.