Girls basketball: Mesa rolls past CdM, 43-30

Richard Dunn

COSTA MESA - The longest current playoff streak among all sports in

the Newport-Mesa School District moved closer to its 13th straight CIF

Southern Section postseason appearance.

Costa Mesa High, which has struggled at times this season, earned a

43-30 Pacific Coast League girls basketball victory Tuesday night over

visiting Corona del Mar -- and now the Mustangs are thinking playoffs.

“If we beat Laguna Beach (Thursday night), that will give us 11 wins

(overall) and we’re guaranteed to be tied for third place,” Costa Mesa

Coach Jim Weeks said, following his team’s second-half comeback, in which

the Mustangs (10-15, 4-5 in the PCL) trailed by two points, then enjoyed

a 16-0 scoring run from the middle of the third quarter to early in the

fourth.

If Mesa beats Laguna Beach on the road and Northwood defeats host

Corona del Mar (7-17, 2-7) in the regular-season finale, the Mustangs

will play the Timberwolves Friday night at University at 7 p.m. for third

place.

“We should get that 11th win against Laguna Beach,” Weeks said. “We’re

expecting to get it. So we’ll either get into the playoffs as an at-large

team through petitioning CIF, or we’ll get in as the third-place team.

The CIF has never said no to a team with 11 wins.”

After Corona del Mar’s Kelliann Klein scored on a layup with 5:46 left

in the third quarter, the Sea Kings took a 20-18 lead, after Mesa led at

halftime, 16-15.

Klein, who scored a team-high 11 points, tied the game, 18-18, after a

pass inside from senior point guard Andrea Gruber (six rebounds).

But it was all Costa Mesa after senior Christine Caron scored on a

putback with 3:32 left in the third quarter to trigger the Mustangs’ 16-0

surge.

“That was the turning point in the whole game,” Weeks said, “because

it was a nice putback and (Caron) has had a bad ankle, but she’s still

playing on it. She’s a warrior. Then Rhondi Naff scored on that bank

shot. Those were two big-time plays.”

Naff, Costa Mesa’s 5-foot-11 senior leader, scored a game-high 19

points and drained 9 of 10 from the free-throw line, including a running

bank shot on an inbound pass with 2:50 remaining in the third to give the

hosts an edge they would never relinquish, 22-20.

Despite shooting 4 of 28 from the field in the first half, the

Mustangs had a one-point lead at the break.

“But, in the second half, we made some clutch shots and our defense

was great,” said Weeks, whose team built a 27-20 lead by third quarter’s

end, thanks to Stacee Sanchez’s three-pointer with 0:37 left.

Costa Mesa made its first three shots from the floor in the fourth

quarter and scored seven straight points to open the final period as the

Mustangs amassed a 34-20 advantage.

Their biggest lead of the game, 38-22, came after two Naff free throws

with 3:36 to play.

Caron added 11 rebounds for Mesa, while teammate Jasmine Grewal had

seven boards. Mesa’s Rickell Reeves came off the bench to grab six

rebounds before fouling out.

Cassey Brick nailed a three-pointer for Costa Mesa with 1:07 left in

the first quarter as the Mustangs managed an early 9-2 lead, then Gruber

canned a trey for CdM with 10 seconds left.

The game was tied, 11-11, in the second quarter for almost four

minutes, until Mesa’s Crystina Poncher hit two at the foul line.