With Game on Line, Ocean View Steps Up to Win, 63-59

The Southern Section Division II-A girls’ basketball semifinals brought out the worst in Ocean View Saturday night. And the best.

Despite shooting only 27% from the field in regulation, Ocean View came through with the game on the line to defeat Laguna Hills, 63-59, in triple overtime Saturday at Trabuco Hills.

Ocean View advances to its first section championship game next weekend against seven-time champion Brea Olinda.

Ocean View (22-7), second-seeded, has won 12 of 13 games and snapped a 14-game winning streak by third-seeded Laguna Hills (24-3).

The teams played a double-overtime game earlier this season, won by Laguna Hills, 51-46.

It was a big night for D.J. Douty (16 points), who scored Ocean View’s final six points on two three-pointers, including one with no time remaining to tie the score, 40-40. Ocean View was two for 15 from the arc before Douty (averaging 6.0 points) got hot.

“I had to get it over the 6-foot-6 girl,” Douty said, referring to Laguna Hills’ Tayyiba Haneef. “I just threw it up hoping she wouldn’t block it. It was just luck that it happened to go in.”

Said Laguna Hills Coach Lynn Taylor: “It’s frustrating. We had a chance to win it in regulation and we told the girls, ‘Don’t give up a three.” And what happens?”

Douty had been zero for three from the arc to that point. But it wasn’t the night’s only big shot.

Laguna Hills’ Whitney Houser (16 points) sent the game into its second overtime with an awkward three-point shot from the top of the key to tie it, 45-45.

Ocean View trailed by as many as four in the second overtime, but got three-point shots by Jennifer Tuiolosega and Becky Fraser (with 24 seconds left) to force a third overtime, 55-55, a score salvaged by Douty’s steal with nine seconds left.

After exchanging baskets in the third overtime, Tuiolosega’s 16-footer gave Ocean View a 61-59 lead, and Fraser and Tuiolosega added free throws for the final margin.

All that clutch shooting was in stark contrast to the early going. Ocean View was 15 for 56 (27%) from the floor in regulation, then one of 12 in the first overtime. At that point, Ocean View as 17 for 68 (25%), Laguna Hills 15 for 37 (46%). Ocean View made seven of nine shots in the final two overtimes, Laguna Hills made seven of 13.

Ocean View shot 42% from the field this season, 62% from the free-throw line--but was only nine of 24 against Laguna Hills.

Tamara Inoue had a game-high 23 points for Laguna Hills, and Fraser had 18 for Ocean View.