Woodbridge Does What’s Expected

Woodbridge, which won a State Division II girls’ basketball title last year and fully expected to win another this season, accomplished its task Saturday at Arco Arena.

Woodbridge beat Sacramento El Camino, 51-44, in a hard-played defensive struggle that brought out the worst in both offenses.

“There were a lot of expectations,” said Pat Quinn, Woodbridge’s first-year coach. “Everyone’s been living with those expectations for five months, and it’s been tough on everybody.”

Woodbridge (32-2) was playing El Camino (33-2) for the championship for the third consecutive year. Woodbridge has won the last two games, including last year’s, 55-40.

How tough was it?

There were 58 fouls, 30 by El Camino. Each team took 38 free throws (Woodbridge made 23, El Camino 19.)

Woodbridge shot 28% from the field, El Camino 19.3%. Woodbridge had 36 turnovers to El Camino’s 25.

“Woodbridge played very well--their stars certainly did,” El Camino Coach Bill Baxter said. “But at the same time, they knew they were in a tough game. You have to be tough to beat us. You have to play 32 minutes.”

One of those stars Baxter alluded to, Erin Stovall, was in a self-described “funk” for the first three quarters, frustrated by the Eagles’ defensive rotation and the full-court pressure they applied.

Stovall, a junior, scored a game-high 21 points, making eight of 12 free throws in the final 1 minute 47 seconds when it was a two-point game.

She gave Mater Dei’s Melody Peterson, her best friend, an assist. Peterson, in Sacramento for tonight’s Division I title game, went to the Woodbridge bench late in the third quarter after Stovall picked up her third foul, a flagrant push-off against a defender.

“She told me I had to keep my head in the game, play my game and play with a lot of heart and desire,” Stovall said. “I asked the coach if I could go back in.”

And when the game was on the line, Stovall made the most of her opportunity.

Twelve of her 21 points came in the fourth quarter.

“I didn’t want to let [Peterson] down,” Stovall said. “Hopefully, we’ll be playing together at Stanford in a couple of years.”

El Camino made only one of its first 17 shots and trailed, 17-8, after one quarter and 26-13 with 3:50 left in the half. But Woodbridge couldn’t shake the Eagles and the lead was only 29-22 at halftime.

“We felt pretty fortunate,” Baxter said. “If you play that poorly, you should be getting buried.”

But Woodbridge had its own troubles on offense--17 turnovers.

Then came Woodbridge’s woeful third quarter.

“We needed some people to come off the bench for us,” Quinn said. “We didn’t lose too much ground--we didn’t gain any. We were looking to circle the wagons a little bit.”

Leading, 31-27, UCLA-bound senior Melanie Pearson (16 points, 18 rebounds) scored four of Woodbridge’s first six points, but after extending the lead to 40-32, the Warriors hit a dead spot. El Camino, one of 19 from the three-point line, got its three-pointer to make it 40-39 with 3:00 left.

Woodbridge’s Krissy Duperron, playing her first game since Dec. 29, made a free-throw with 2:40 to go, setting the stage for Stovall’s free-throw performance down the stretch.

Stovall and Pearson were the only Woodbridge players in double figures in scoring, but Carly Moss had five steals and eight rebounds, and Cathy Joens had nine rebounds. Stovall (eight rebounds, five in the fourth quarter) had a game-high seven steals.

“This was one of the most athletic teams we’ve faced,” Stovall said. “It was different for me to play against someone of such high caliber. . . . In the fourth quarter, I came back to myself.”