Two Starters in Hot Water, Thousand Oaks Goes Under

There are no rainouts in basketball.

But the series of storms this week played a big part in washing away a very good season for the Thousand Oaks High girls’ basketball team, which was eliminated by Edison in the Division I-A quarterfinals, 45-31, Wednesday night.

Coach Chuck Brown benched Jenn Detmer and Courtney Miller for the first seven minutes and by the time they took the floor Edison had a nine-point lead.

The Chargers led, 14-5, with 61 seconds remaining in the first quarter and didn’t let Marmonte League co-champion Thousand Oaks (24-6) cut into that margin.

Edison (22-7), tri-champion of the Sunset League, led by as many as 16 points and no fewer than nine after the opening quarter.

Detmer, a 6-foot-3 junior who averaged 20 points and 10 rebounds during the regular season, and Miller played in a volleyball tournament over the weekend and planned to attend Monday’s practice.

But rain delayed their return, causing the two to miss practice and forcing Brown’s disciplinary hand.

“I felt I had to do it,” said Brown, dejected after the Lancers committed 26 turnovers and made only 27% of their shots.

Detmer had only five points and four rebounds. She missed all seven shots she took in the second half, including three layups, and picked up an intentional foul.

Miller had one point and nine rebounds.

Nicki LaSala had 16 points for Thousand Oaks.

Michelle Stevenson and Alison Stone replaced Detmer and Miller in the starting lineup. Each finished with no points and one rebound.

“I don’t think that’s the reason we lost,” Detmer said. “We just played a poor game. We have a great team and I’m really sad it ended that way.”

Edison didn’t exactly play like it invented the game. The Chargers had 23 turnovers and several of their players were in foul trouble.

Marie Philman, a 5-11 senior forward headed to UCLA on scholarship, had 22 points and eight rebounds for the Chargers. She scored eight of Edison’s 16 in the first quarter.

Late in the third quarter, Philman drove on Detmer for a layup to give Edison a 15-point lead, its biggest of the quarter.

LaSala closed out the quarter with two three-point shots to cut the margin to nine and give Thousand Oaks hope.

But Philman answered with six points in the final quarter, including a baseline jump shot with 4:04 left that made it 41-25 and effectively ended the Lancers’ season.