No. 8 Tritons Rebound by Beating No. 2 El Toro

San Clemente opened the season ranked second in Orange County and promptly lost three games in its first two weeks.

The Tritons were happy to see themselves ranked eighth this week. Tuesday they played like the team everyone expected, scoring a 61-55 victory over second-ranked El Toro in a nonleague game at San Clemente.

The victory was the 200th of Mary Mulligan’s coaching career, but was more important “because of the performance against the opponent,” Mulligan said.

“We didn’t just need a win, but we needed a win over a good team.”

The Tritons (3-3) got that behind Colleen Turnbull, who has struggled this season. But she said she’s finally getting acclimated to playing small forward (moving from strong forward last year). The result? She scored 27 points and grabbed 10 rebounds.

“It’s a whole different game outside,” Turnbull said.

She looked comfortable against the Chargers (4-1), who cut a 10-point deficit in the waning seconds of the third quarter to 48-47 with 4 minutes 28 seconds remaining.

Turnbull then had baskets from 15, 15 and 19 feet, all on the wing, as part of a 7-0 run.

Turnbull was 10 for 18 from the field but seven for nine in the second half.

El Toro tied the score at 19 in the second quarter, but went scoreless the next 3:06 as Turnbull scored four in a 6-0 run that helped provide a 29-23 halftime lead.

“She felt like she was standing around being a decoy,” Mulligan said of Turnbull’s early-season slump. “I told her tonight, ‘You have total freedom--go wherever you want, cut to the ball and Debby [Caine] will get it to you.’ ”

Caine, like Turnbull a first-team player on The Times 1997-98 all-county team, scored seven points and made several nice assists. But it was the performance of unheralded 5-foot-10 junior Kimberly Noble that played such a big role; she scored 11 and had 15 rebounds, six in the fourth quarter. San Clemente outrebounded El Toro, 44-25, while making 23 of 48 from the field.

Giuliana Mendiola scored 21 for El Toro and Gioconda Mendiola scored 13. The Chargers were shooting 54% from the field going into the game with impressive victories over No. 7 Esperanza and San Diego County power Vista, but were only 19 of 54 against the Tritons. The Mendiolas, who struggled to get good shots early in the game, were a combined 11 for 29.