With Detmer Out, Hart Misses Chance

Jenn Detmer, Thousand Oaks High’s go-to girl inside, found herself strangely outside the loop at the climax of the Lancers’ 51-45 victory over Hart in a Southern Section Division I-A quarterfinal Wednesday night at Thousand Oaks.

After leading the Lancers into the lead during a third-quarter rally, the 6-foot-5 Detmer fouled out with 1:49 to play and Thousand Oaks clinging to a 45-42 lead.

But Thousand Oaks (20-6), which faces Buena, a 73-40 winner over Keppel, in the quarterfinals, managed to hold off Hart (22-6) to end the Indians’ 14-game winning streak.

“You gotta give the girls credit,” Thousand Oaks Coach Chuck Brown said. “If a lot of teams lose their big gun, they don’t play as well. But we had some real big shots.”

Andrea Terada made two three-point baskets, the second giving the Lancers a permanent lead midway through the third quarter, 28-25.

Melissa Simonetti added another three-pointer.

Brown pointed to an earlier game in which Thousand Oaks defeated Westlake without Detmer.

“That just might have been a preparation for this,” Brown said.

For Detmer, who scored eight of her 21 points in the third quarter, fouling out was foreign.

“That’s the first time this season,” Detmer said. “I’ve been a pretty good girl this year.”

Some bad free-throw shooting by Hart helped the Lancers’ cause. The Indians made only 15 of 28 and were one for four after Detmer’s exit.

“That’s been our Achilles’ heel all season,” Hart Coach Dave Munroe said. ‘You shoot that way, you don’t deserve top win.”

Senior center Candace Boller, who scored 19 points for the Indians, made seven of nine free throws. But Boller didn’t score after Detmer’s exit.

Junior forward Melissa Harrison added 16 points for Hart.

“We definitely tried to take advantage when [Detmer] did go out,” Boller said. “But we missed--I missed--a few shots. We’ve been up and down.”

Detmer scored five points in the fourth quarter before she fouled out.

“They gave us a lot of trouble tonight,” Detmer said. “I’m just glad we were able to play good defense.”