Ocean View Relaxes, Upsets No. 2 Scripps Ranch

Ocean View girls’ basketball Coach Ollie Martin was asked if anything concerned him about Tuesday night’s opponent--second-seeded and undefeated San Diego Scripps Ranch.

“Nothing, really,” Martin said after his team upset Scripps Ranch, 60-45, in the first round of the Southern California Regional playoffs. “This is just all a bonus. Maybe because we played it that way, we were more relaxed.”

Martin’s team played as loose as he sounded. The Seahawks (23-8) had four players in double figures and completely frustrated and befuddled San Diego County’s top player, Alissa Murphy, who has signed with Boston College.

Murphy made only eight of 21 shots and turned the ball over six times. She had three shots blocked and scored only four points in the fourth quarter.

“She was the key player,” Ocean View junior guard Jennifer Tuiolosega said. “We mainly focused on her. She’s good, but there’s a lot of guards where we’re at who are as good as she is. Melody Peterson is a great player, so we were ready for [Murphy.]

Ocean View trailed at the half, 29-24, with Murphy, a 5-foot-9 point guard scoring 15 points and dishing out four assists. Ocean View center Anna Lembke kept the Seahawks close with 10 points.

But Ocean View senior guard D.J. Douty (14 points) scored the first five points of the second half on a 12-foot jumper and a three-pointer to tie it, 29-29. Douty scored six more points in the third quarter as Ocean View took a 42-38 lead into the fourth quarter.

Scripps Ranch pulled to 44-42 with six minutes left on two Becky Staubes free throws but that was as close as it got. Lembke (18 points, 12 rebounds) and Becky Fraser (12 points, 11 rebounds) dominated underneath as Scripps Ranch tried to make one last run.

“Against Brea, we weren’t rebounding, so we concentrated on that and we killed them on the boards [Tuesday],” said Tuiolosega, who had 12 points and three assists.

Murphy tried to bring Scripps Ranch back by herself, but she forced three off-balance shots in a row before Ocean View ran off the game’s last nine points.