Girls Basketball: Muir loses in Division 3A title game

At least the Mustangs will have a chance at redemption – they’ll play in the state tournament beginning next week. Pairings will be announced Sunday…

By Keith Lair, Staff Writer

SANTA ANA – It was the wrong time and the wrong place.

The Muir High School girls basketball team has done just about everything right this year. After starting the season with a 1-6 record, the Mustangs ran through opponents, winning 20 of 21 games. Then they finally got through that three-year stumper called the CIF-Southern Section semifinals.

It all fell apart, though, in Thursday night’s Division 3A championship game against Santa Margarita. The Mustangs failed to get into any offensive rhythm and shot only 24.5 percent (12of49). Santa Margarita shot only slightly better but finally found its range en route to a 52-39 victory.

“It was the toughest I’ve ever had,” Muir senior guard Taylor Gomez said.

It was the Mustangs’ 12th appearance in a CIF-SS championship game, and for the 10th time Muir had to accept that it’s the bridesmaid. It’s Santa Margarita’s second title in three tries.

“The shots and turnovers dug us a hole,” Muir coach Gary Johnson said. “The shots just weren’t falling. We weren’t executing. Our offense looked bad. It wasn’t that they were playing tough defense.”

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Third-seeded Muir led 9-2 in the first quarter when the top-seeded Eagles were shooting even worse than the Mustangs – Santa Margarita shot 16.7 percent (3 of 18) in the period.

But the Mustangs, who shot an inept 12.5 percent (2 of 16) in the quarter, failed to score during an 8-minute, 43-second span, and the Eagles scored 17 consecutive points to take a 19-9 lead. Jermani Daniels’ layup broke the run with 3:28 left in the half. Daniels, who had a team-high 10 points, scored off a turnover and Ashia Owens put in a baseline jumper to make it 19-15.

The Eagles’ man-to-man defense and pick- and-roll offense then seemed to take over, and the Eagles scored the next 11 points to take a 30-15 lead.

Lauren Spaker and Jessica Joseph shut down Muir’s high-post offense, which revolves around Daysha Thomas, who made only 2 of 12 shots and had five points.

“I don’t know,” Thomas said. “We weren’t hitting our shots. We weren’t focused.”

The Eagles also put their best player, UC Santa Barbara-bound Melissa Zornig, on point guard Gomez. The Mustangs’ sharpshooter missed her first seven shots before knocking down a 3-pointer, and finished 2 for 12 from the field with eight points.

“They knew I was the shooter,” she said. “They were on me and I couldn’t get a pick. I should have knocked down shots in the first half. In the second half, they were right on me.

“I don’t know where our heads were at, and that’s the team.”

Zornig, who averages 23 points per game, was shooting as poorly as the Mustangs, making 9 of 25 shots. Most of her game-high 19 points came on layups off steals. Instead, she ran the pick-and-roll with 6-foot-4 center Elise Lorenz, who had 14 points.

Muir’s 39 points was its lowest total since a 68-32 Dec. 26 loss to Colony in the Ayala Tournament.

keith.lair@sgvn.com