GIRLS BASKETBALL: Minutemen fall short in finals

By Roger Murray, Staff Writer

LONG BEACH - Maranatha High School pretty much negated any impact Whittier Christian's inside game might have made, but in doing so the Minutemen paid a heavy price on the outside.
Whittier Christian made seven 3-point baskets that were instrumental in defeating Maranatha, 37-31, as the Heralds won their second consecutive CIF-Southern Section Division V-AA girls basketball championship Saturday morning at the Walter Pyramid in Long Beach.
The two Alpha League teams have relied on much of their offense coming from their big players inside most of the season, so it figured it would be a battle royale in the paint.
It also figured that the team whose outside shooters stepped up would have an inside track to victory.
"Those 3-point baskets hurt us a lot," Maranatha coach Annie Miller said. She also cited the Heralds' defense that held the Minutemen to their second lowest point total of the season.
"I thought our girls really executed in the first half," Miller said, "but in the second half, we didn't take care of the basketball when we needed to."
Maranatha committed 19 turnovers, including eight in the second half and seven of those in the fourth quarter.
The loss was the Minutemen's third in as many games against Whittier Christian this season.
And although the Heralds were outrebounded, 35-22, and shot only 31.1 percent for the game, their 54 percent shooting from 3-point range (7-for-13), including 5-of-7 (72 percent) in the first half, was the most damaging blow to the Minutemen.
"Their 3-point shooters, that was how they took us out," point guard Lauren McGee said. "We were concentrating on (stopping) their inside game, and we gave them a lot of open shots outside."
The Heralds' first five baskets were from 3-point range.
"Our shooters definitely came to play today," Heralds coach Bill Crammer said after his unbeaten Alpha League champions improved to 24-7 on the season.
He also cited the Heralds' hard-working, pesky defense.
"For us, it was a matter of slamming our foot in the door until we got enough points to win," Crammer said. An adjustment he made at halftime proved to be a key.
Switching from their primarily zone defense used in the first half to a version of man-to-man in the second half, the Heralds gave the Minutemen few open looks at the basket.
Maranatha shot 27 percent (6-for-22) from the field in the final 16 minutes after making 47 percent (8-for-17) in the first half.
"After we made the switch at halftime," Crammer said, "we pretty much shut them down as far as scoring opportunities."
McGee agreed.
"Going man (defense), that surprised me," McGee said. "I thought they'd stay in their 2-3 zone."
Natasha Herring had four points and McGee had a basket and an assist as the lead changed hands five times before Maranatha finished with a 10-9 advantage.
Three-point baskets from Callie Rohrbacker and Amy Woodward sparked a 10-7 edge in the second quarter that produced a 19-18 Whittier Christian lead at halftime.
Maranatha battled back with baskets from Patricia Paziouros, McGee and Natasha Herring, the latter's a putback that tied the count at 24-24 with 3:51 left in the third period.
Whittier Christian responded with a 9-3 run and, led by four points on back-to-back layups from Jacqueline Joseph, a follow by Kristen Schaefer and Woodward's 3-pointer, took a 33-27 advantage going into the final period.
It was that run that opened the door to victory.
With Whittier Christian's defense continuing to step up, a Maranatha scoreless streak that began late in the third quarter reached 9 minutes, 25 seconds before Kirstie Mitchell scored on a rebound putback off Mian Dingle's missed free throw to cut the deficit to 35-29 with 1:06 to play.
Woodward took game-scoring honors with 10 points while Joseph had nine and Elissa Ronquillo eight. No Heralds player had more than three rebounds but Schaefer had four assists and Whitley Brown had three.
Herring paced Maranatha's scoring with nine points while Dingle added eight. Herring also led the way with nine rebounds. Mitchell added eight rebounds.