Laguna Hills Easily Handles Moorpark

Coach Lynn Taylor was thrilled with Laguna Hills’ victory over Moorpark, but afterward, when he spoke to fans over the public address system, he made no promises.

“I can’t guarantee anything,” Taylor said, “but we’ll play our best against Brea on Saturday.”

That would be a good idea, because Laguna Hills didn’t look its best in its 60-41 victory over Moorpark in the Southern California Regional Division II girls’ basketball semifinals Thursday.

They won despite Tamara Inoue (11 points) and Tayyiba Haneef (20 points, 16 rebounds, four steals) getting in foul trouble.

They also won despite getting caught up in the run-and-gun tempo that Brea will probably employ against the Hawks in Saturday’s 1 p.m. showdown at the Pond pitting the state’s top two ranked teams. At stake will be a trip to the state final.

“That first half had me sweating--we couldn’t get control of the tempo,” Taylor said. “[Moorpark] pushed the ball up the floor and we got caught up in it.”

Inoue got two fouls in the first quarter and left the game. In 74 seconds, Moorpark cut a six-point deficit to 12-9.

“I had to put her back in because we were losing control of the tempo and really losing control of the game,” Taylor said.

Inoue’s return sparked a 6-2 run over the next two minutes and Laguna Hills took a 25-17 lead into halftime. The Musketeers never got closer than nine after that.

Haneef, who made five of six shots from the field in the first half, made four of six in the third quarter. Because Inoue slowed the tempo, Laguna Hills cut down on the turnovers that plagued the offense in the first half and took better shots. The Hawks made nine of 14 field goals in the third quarter (26 of 54 overall) and stretched the lead to 16 points, 44-28.

Haneef (10 for 15 from the field) picked up her fourth foul early in the fourth quarter.

Whitney Houser (11 rebounds, four steals) and Mary Tims scored 11 and 10 points for the Hawks.

Damaris Hinojosa scored 10 of Moorpark’s 11 third-quarter points. She finished with 30 of is 41 points, including 12 of 24 shooting. Moorpark was 17 of 55 from the field.

“[Haneef and Inoue] hurt us,” Moorpark Coach Brent Milburn said. “We knew what they were going to do and we couldn’t stop them.”

Tims suggested that might be the case Saturday, too.

“Tonight wasn’t about beating people by a big amount, it was about getting a W and getting a game against [Brea] and showing them what basketball is all about,” Tims said. “They haven’t played real basketball until they’ve played us.”