Sturdivant Gets Hot for Simi Valley, 55-43

There’s nothing like a cold shooting night to get the competitive fires burning.

Earlier in the week, Simi Valley High guard Jamie Sturdivant struggled from the outside, but it only served as motivation to scorch Thousand Oaks on Friday night in a Marmonte League girls’ basketball game at Simi Valley.

Sturdivant made four three-pointers and finished with 28 points in the Pioneers’ 55-43 victory over the Lancers.

Her performance was the by-product of a determined practice session on Thursday.

“In our last game, I wasn’t hitting anything,” she said of Simi Valley’s victory over Westlake on Wednesday. “I stayed an hour after practice [Thursday] and shot nothing but outside shots.”

The extra work certainly paid off for the all-league guard, who scored 19 of her points in the second half, when the Pioneers overcame a 20-18 deficit.

“It sure did,” Simi Valley Coach Dave Murphy said. “Every great shooter from Larry Bird to Pistol Pete [Maravich] has spent a few extra hours in the gym.”

Sturdivant, a junior, also made 10 of 13 free-throw attempts, including four of six in the final two minutes, when the Lancers were forced to foul.

Thousand Oaks led, 16-9, in the second quarter and 20-18 at halftime before Simi Valley outscored the Lancers, 37-23, in the final 16 minutes.

Thousand Oaks enjoyed a distinct height advantage over the Pioneers. Lancer frontcourt players blocked 11 shots and outscored Simi Valley, 32-11.

Senior forward Liz Nesbitt scored a team-high 11 points before fouling out, while senior Amy Haslam added nine.

Few of those scoring opportunities, however, came after intermission.

“We wanted to get the ball inside a little more and we just didn’t,” Thousand Oaks Coach Chuck Brown said.

“We certainly didn’t play as well in the second half.”

It didn’t help that the Lancers were missing one of their best players, senior guard Melissa Simonetti.

Simonetti sprained her right knee in Wednesday’s 61-38 victory over Camarillo and sat at the end of the Thousand Oaks bench with her leg heavily bandaged.

Her absence left Sturdivant free to roam the perimeter, where she scored more than half of her team’s points.

None of her teammates scored more than six points.

The victory pulled Simi Valley (9-5, 3-1 in league play) into a tie with Thousand Oaks (8-4, 3-1) for second place in the Marmonte League.

Royal (15-1, 4-0) is alone in first place.

Thousand Oaks, two-time defending co-champion, lost for only the fifth time in 32 league games over parts of the last three seasons.