Wilde Regains Touch, Capistrano Valley Wins

Capistrano Valley’s Leah Wilde made her first five shots of the season--four of them three-point baskets--but hadn’t been the same since.

That changed Tuesday in front of a hostile crowd, when Wilde again found her touch. She connected on six of eight three-point shots, scored double her average, and lifted her fourth-ranked Cougars to a 67-63 South Coast League victory over No. 2 San Clemente.

San Clemente (17-4, 3-1 in league) held Monique Mathews to 10 points, 7.5 points less than her average, while Wilde scored 22, 11.5 more than hers to provide the margin of victory.

Wilde’s performance for Capistrano Valley (14-3, 4-0) capped a comeback from a 12-point deficit with 5 minutes 42 seconds left in the third quarter.

Cougar Coach Pete Belanto, upset at officiating all night, was assessed a technical foul with 6:06 left in the third. Colleen Turnbull (20 points) made two free throws and Taryn Commins scored on a steal and layup that gave the Tritons a 47-35 lead.

“When [Belanto] got the technical, I felt a little sketchy about our chances,” Wilde said. “But it seemed to be a booster. They gave us a couple of make-up calls and we came back and made some really big shots.”

That wasn’t all, said San Clemente Coach Mary Mulligan.

“We’re up by 12, and my girls think the game’s over and we stop playing,” she said. “Silly fouls, defensive errors--then Capistrano Valley’s all fired up because they’re right back in it.”

Natasha Combs scored 10 of her 16 points after the technical.

There were eight ties or lead changes in the fourth quarter. The last came when Wilde connected on a three-pointer with 2:00 left for a 64-62 lead. She followed with a putback of her missed three-pointer with 38 seconds left to make it 66-63.

Mary Anderson’s defense on San Clemente’s Debby Caine (10 points) caused a 30-second violation with eight seconds remaining, and Anderson’s free throw made it 67-63 with eight seconds left.

Critical to Capistrano Valley’s first victory over a high-caliber opponent was surviving more than 5 1/2 minutes without Mathews (foul trouble) in the second quarter, in which they were only outscored, 11-6.

In other league games:

No. 6 Mater Dei 73, Trabuco Hills 45--Cassie Pappas scored 12 points and Kyra Melville had 10 for Mater Dei (10-9, 3-1), which outscored visiting Trabuco Hills, 42-21, in the second half.

Dana Hills 42, Mission Viejo 31--Jeri Howard scored 14 points to lead Dana Hills (9-9, 1-3), which took a 21-15 halftime lead. Lindsey Huie led all scorers for Mission Viejo (7-9, 0-4) with 16 points.