San Clemente Loses to Capistrano Valley

Seventh-ranked San Clemente went into Thursday’s game against 10th-ranked Capistrano Valley with a chance to make a statement and put itself in position to seize the South Coast League title.

Instead, it suffered a seizure.

San Clemente blew a nine-point lead, made only two of its last 15 shots and lost, 61-56, to visiting Capistrano Valley. Both teams are tied for second place and play first-place (and fourth-ranked) Mater Dei next week. Whichever teamwins twice next week will get a share of the league title. If either loses, it’s at least second place.

Jenny Jennings led Capistrano Valley (17-7, 6-2) with 25 points and seven rebounds. Natasha Combs scored 16, and Mary Anderson scored 12. They played with the intangibles that San Clemente Coach Mary Mulligan said cost her team the game.

“There’s a winning attitude that can be developed that we have not developed yet,” Mulligan said. “You put two talented teams on the floor and that intangible force decides the winner of the game.

“I wouldn’t say we gave this game away--Capo Valley took it away from us. That’s a problem we’ve had--five losses have been fairly close games.”

San Clemente (17-7, 6-2) led by nine points, 29-20, with 3 minutes 25 seconds left in the first half, but went into the break tied, 31-31. After shooting 50% in the first half, the Tritons shot 27% in the second half, including their miserable stretch at the end of the game.

At that point, San Clemente had a 50-49 lead with 3:36 remaining, but Jennings hit her fourth three-point basket, and Combs followed two free throws with a basket off an inbounds pass. Capistrano Valley made five of its next seven free throws, and closed the final quarter five for nine from the field.

Mulligan had hoped this would be a coming-out party for her junior-laden team. Instead, it exposed an intangible weakness with the playoffs around the corner.

“I’ve got four kids getting letters from Division I colleges, and we can’t win a big game,” Mulligan said. “I thought the future was today. Maybe I expect too much from this group, but I always have.”

Sophomore Colleen Turnbull (17 points, 14 rebounds) and Kirsten Quade (16 points, seven rebounds) led San Clemente.

“We just didn’t have the heart to finish,” Turnbull said. “It seemed like something was missing.”

In other South Coast League games:

Mission Viejo 50, Dana Hills 37--Christina Carcich scored seven of her 15 points in the fourth quarter, and Tami Higham had 11 points, nine rebounds and five blocks for Mission Viejo (11-8, 4-4).

Mater Dei 80, Trabuco Hills 30--Host Mater Dei (16-6, 7-1) outscored Trabuco Hills, 44-13, in the second half.