Lawrence Glitters, South Wins

They were all stars, but Kevin Lawrence shined the brightest.

The senior forward from Moorpark High scored 18 points to help the South to an 86-77 victory over the North in the Ventura County Coaches Assn. boys’ game Saturday night at Ventura High.

“I’ve haven’t played in a while, but this was fun,” Lawrence said.

“We’re all all-stars, and it’s awesome to play with so many great players on the same team. I really enjoyed myself.”

So did Daniel Bobik of Newbury Park, despite being held scoreless until the third quarter.

Bobik, honored as the coaches’ association player of the year between the third and fourth quarters, wound up with 12 points in what was to be his last hurrah for quite some time.

Although he has a scholarship to Brigham Young, The Times’ Ventura County player of the year plans to go on a mission for the Mormon church for the next two years.

“This should be it,” he said. “This was probably my last time I’ll be playing for a while.

“I sure didn’t shoot well at first, that’s for dang sure, and the first half was a struggle. But I knew everything would eventually come around, and it was just fun to be playing in a game like this.”

Bobik gave the South its biggest lead, 73-53, with a three-point basket to open the fourth quarter.

Although the North never got closer than nine points after that, Oregon-bound Chris Christofferson of Nordhoff helped his team close the gap somewhat with nine of his 15 points in the final quarter.

Ryan Fay of Buena scored 17 points and Joey Riccio of Santa Paula added 12 for the North.

The South took a 43-34 halftime lead with a 13-2 run in the last three minutes.

In the girls’ game:

North 67, South 44--For one half, the South kept it close.

But in the third quarter, Karen McAleney, Renae Hofmann and Robyn Frost of Buena High turned the game into a rout.

McAleney scored the first seven points of the third quarter and the North extended a 27-24 halftime edge into a 10-point lead.

“I was just playing hard,” McAleney said. “I didn’t have any pressure and was just able play comfortably. Once I did that, I just started hitting my shots.”

The South made only four of 11 free throws and three of eight shots in the quarter.

McAleney, a 5-foot-8 forward who is headed to UC Davis, finished with nine points.

Hofmann, a 5-6 guard who will attend Ventura College, also had nine points and added a basket in the decisive first four minutes of the third quarter.

Frost, who scored six points, opened the fourth with two free throws that extended the North’s lead to 15 points with seven minutes left.

Sosanna Hallahan of Santa Clara had 14 points and nine rebounds, and Erin Barker of Nordhoff added 15 points for the North.

“I’ve been excited to play this game for a while,” Hallahan said. “Coming from a small school, it was a chance to show my stuff. I felt real good about this.”

The North made just two of 14 shots in the first quarter, missing its first five. The South made four of 10 shots and took an 11-8 lead.

Despite its cold-shooting first quarter, the North wiped out the early deficit and took a 17-11 lead with a 9-0 run to open the second quarter.

But the South responded with five of the next seven points to stay close, for a while.