GIRLS’ BASKETBALL / MARINA TOURNAMENT : Mater Dei Proves It Deserves Ranking by Winning Title

HUNTINGTON BEACH â€”  It was a comment that appeared in the newspaper that got Mary Hauser’s attention.

A columnist quipped, “What, Mater Dei’s got a girls’ team?�

Hauser, the girls’ basketball coach, was lamenting that attitude earlier in the week. And she wants people to know: Yeah, Mater Dei has a girls’ basketball team.

The third-ranked Monarchs, who play in the shadow of their top-ranked male counterparts, showed that they deserve their No. 3 ranking.

The Monarchs won the Marina tournament Friday in front of 1,200 with a 69-62 victory over fifth-ranked Marina.

Over three nights, Mater Dei (9-0) beat the county’s fourth-, sixth- and fifth-ranked teams. The first night, a 27-point run with a three-point lead beat Newport Harbor. The next, a 17-2 fourth-quarter run after trailing by one beat Fountain Valley. And Friday, it was a 23-6 run after trailing by 10.

The latter got the best of Marina (11-2), which led, 30-20, but let Mater Dei back in the game after Shandy Robbins got her third foul early in the second quarter.

“That’s when I knew it was our chance to come back,� Hauser said of Robbins’ departure with 6 minutes 33 seconds left in the first half. “Had she not gotten in foul trouble, they could’ve been up by 20 at halftime.�

Instead, tournament most valuable player Melody Peterson (28 points) scored seven of the Monarchs’ next 11 points and cut the deficit to 34-31.

“Losing Shandy was a definite deficit to them,� Peterson said.

Marina had a 10-6 rebounding edge in the first quarter, but undersized Mater Dei matched Marina with 10 rebounds in the second quarter.

With Robbins--who finished with 19 points--playing all of the second half, Mater Dei overtook the Vikings by making 15 of its 30 shots.

Mater Dei shot 48% (27 of 56) for the game; Marina shot 45% (27-60).

“I think we’re as good as they are, but they outplayed us in the second and third quarters,� Robbins said. “They hit their shots and that’s what killed us.�

Marina was spectacular in the early going, taking a 23-11 lead with two minutes left in the first quarter. The Vikings shot 56% (10 of 18), getting eight points from 6-foot-3 Kirsten Cappel.

The Vikings exploited their size advantage: in addition to Robbins, Cappel had 19 points and eight rebounds.

Rhonda Gondringer had 11 of her 17 points in the second half; her basket with 6:43 left in the third tied the game at 36, and Peterson’s three-point play four seconds later gave Mater Dei the lead for good.

In the third-place game:

Fountain Valley 74, Redmond (Wash.) Eastlake 56--Jennifer Ludwicki and Nicole Strange combined for 55 points, including Fountain Valley’s first 25. Ludwicki had 32 points and 12 rebounds, and Strange scored 23 and pulled down 12 rebounds for the sixth-ranked Barons.

Eastlake (6-2), Washington state’s ninth-ranked team, got 18 points from sophomore Kim Sorenson.

Newport Harbor 49, Ocean View 40--Fourth-ranked Newport Harbor (10-1) made seven of nine free throws in the final 1:33 after making only two of its first 10, to hold off Ocean View (7-7). Andree Verhulst scored all eight of her points in the final quarter, and Jenny Jennings scored seven of her nine points in the same span. Mandy Clayton and Dianne Pulido each scored a team-high 12 points. Becky Fraser led Ocean View with 18 points and 13 rebounds.