Philman Paces Edison Despite Her Bad Back

Marie Philman’s bad back is bad news for Edison, but her teammates are trying to cushion any drop-off in play.

Kerry O’Bric has been staying late working on her shooting. And Becky Loshak, who’s not one for scoring, is one for playing defense and working hard at it.

And Thursday at Edison, the eighth-ranked Chargers used all three to score a 63-47 Sunset League victory over ninth-ranked Esperanza.

Philman still scored her 25 points. O’Bric, who averaged a half-dozen points last year but is averaging 18 in league, scored 15 on five-for-11 shooting. And Loshak (three points) had four blocks, five rebounds and eight steals.

“Everybody needs a goal,” Philman said. “We would have had no chance of winning a league title if we had lost this game.”

The Sunset League has four teams ranked among the county’s top 10. The Chargers improved to 13-7, 3-2 in league; Esperanza (15-4, 2-3) has lost three straight. Both trail third-ranked Fountain Valley and sixth-ranked Marina at the season’s midway point.

Esperanza had its chance to win early on. There were nine ties or lead changes in a first quarter that ended, 18-18. The 10th lead change was the last. Edison outscored the Aztecs, 18-2, the first 6 1/2 minutes of the second quarter. Esperanza made only two of 13 shots--after making eight of 11 in the first quarter.

“We did some good things, but you can’t allow 18 points a quarter in this league,” Edison Coach Dave White said. “So at the break, I challenged them to increase the tempo on the floor. Defense turned this game around. It created some turnovers, created some baskets for us.”

Esperanza’s Lindsay Foss (24 points) was 10 for 13 from the field; her teammates were nine for 35 (25.6%).

Shauna Steward added 10 points and seven rebounds for Edison.

In other league games:

Fountain Valley 83, Huntington Beach 64--Jennifer Ludwicki scored 29 points and Nicole Strange had 16 for Fountain Valley (19-2, 5-0). Phouangmaly Pravongviengkham scored 20 for the Oilers (10-10, 0-5).

Marina 54, Los Alamitos 41--Sonya Bryant’s 16 points and five steals led Marina (16-3, 4-1). Marisa Emde added 14 second-half points--11 in the pivotal third quarter. Kristen Geoffroy’s 13 points and six blocks led Los Alamitos (10-8, 1-4).