HIGH SCHOOL BASKETBALL CHAMPIONSHIPS : Morningside Girls Smother Nordhoff

The first Nordhoff High girls’ basketball team to play for a Southern Section championship made a 170-mile trek to the Pyramid on Friday.

And when the Rangers reached the arena shaped like one of the Seven Wonders of the World for their Division III-A showdown against Morningside, they must have been awe-struck.

At least they played that way.

Morningside routed Nordhoff, 63-28, leaving the Rangers weary and confused over quickness, rebounding and pressure defense.

Second-seeded Nordhoff shot 15%, only 8% in the first half, and committed 24 turnovers.

Morningside (25-3) shot only 37.7%, but no matter. The Monarchs could have shot all night.

Thanks to a 55-35 rebounding edge, Morningside was able to take 69 shots to Nordhoff’s 46.

Nordhoff, despite its inexperience in section finals, never expected this.

Morningside had beaten Nordhoff by only seven points in a previous meeting this season.

“We should have beat this team,” said Erin Barker, a sophomore forward who leads the Rangers in scoring with a 14.8 average. “Nobody could run the offense. We didn’t run one set play the whole game.”

The first time the teams met, Barker scored 21 points and senior guard Sarah Becker had 17. This time Barker had four, Becker two.

But it wasn’t just those two. Nordhoff made only one field goal in the third quarter after trailing, 32-13, at halftime.

Perhaps the Rangers (20-9) should have seen the writing on the wall. Morningside, despite a narrow 53-50 victory over Notre Dame in the semifinals, came in having beaten its playoff opponents by an average margin of 36.6 points.

But Nordhoff Coach Jack Smith liked his team’s chances, considering it had shot better than 40% in three playoff games.

But Nordhoff fell behind, 14-3, in the first quarter. The Rangers shot air balls, missed layups and couldn’t take advantage of Morningside turnovers.

“In the first half, we had enough makable shots to at least stay focused,” Smith said. “We had been shooting the ball so well.”

The Rangers also had 18 free throws in the first half but could make only nine. Those were the only free throws they would get in the game.

Antoinette Thompson had 15 points and Chanel Neal 11 points to lead the Monarchs, who had only one of 14 players not score.

Senior guard Keyana Stanford led Nordhoff in points and rebounds with nine and seven.

Despite losing, the Rangers have automatically qualified for next week’s state playoffs.

“I’m still thrilled to be here,” Smith said. “And we’re playing on Tuesday.”