Costa Mesa sends Valley away, 45-37

Bryce Alderton

A steal here, a dive for a loose ball there and knocking down

clutch free throws when it mattered gave Costa Mesa High’s girls

basketball team a much-deserved win Saturday night in front of their

home crowd.

The Mustangs (9-6, 1-0 in the Golden West League) teetered on the

brink of a loss more than once against Santa Ana Valley (5-7), but

once the hosts took the lead late in the second quarter they never

gave it up.

Kally Kibin rebounded one of Valley’s 38 missed shots and ran the

fast break up the sideline, dishing to senior Rickell Reeves for a

layup, one of her nine points on the night, and Costa Mesa had the

lead, 19-18 with 39.7 seconds left in the first half.

From a first half that saw four lead changes and the Mustangs

overcoming an 8-2 deficit, the second half was a lesson in

perseverance, and Mesa showed its determination.

Senior Rhondi Naff scored nine of her team’s 14 fourth-quarter

points, including hitting 7 of 8 free throws in the period as Mesa’s

full-court defense forced several errant Valley passes and

off-balance shots. She finished with 13 points to lead the Mustangs,

the 14th time in 14 games she had led Mesa in scoring. Mesa won one

game by forfeit.

Costa Mesa didn’t score until Naff hit two free throws with 4:10

remaining to give the hosts a five-point lead after Valley had cut

the lead to 31-28 less than a minute earlier following put-back by

Agueda Martinez off a rebound.

Mesa forced 11 of Valley’s 15 turnovers in the final two periods.

“In the final quarter we did what we know best and that’s ‘Mesa

basketball,’” Reeves said. “We like to play fast and press. It wasn’t

one of our better games but we never gave up.”

Reeves led the team with seven rebounds. Weeks put her on Valley’s

Allison Clark following a first quarter that saw the Falcon score six

points as the visitors built an 11-7 lead. Clark only scored two

points after that.

Mesa’s defense received strong play from Susan Trujillo, who came

off the bench to make three steals, including one where she stripped

the ball from a Falcon at the Mustangs’ end. Trujillo also tallied

six points.

Senior Stacee Sanchez hit Mesa’s first two shots of the second

quarter, a driving layup and a three standing near the Mustang bench

to get the Mustangs even, 13-13, a minute and 28 seconds into the

second quarter. Sanchez tallied 12 points, including a two-pointer

standing on the three-point line as the buzzer sounded to give Mesa a

21-19 halftime edge.

A layup by Trujillo on a back cut two and a half minutes later

gave Costa Mesa the advantage, 15-14.

Brittany Vergara had three points on a trey in the first half and

Cassey Brick tallied two points while grabbing three rebounds and one

assist.

Costa Mesa returns to league play when it hosts Orange at 7 p.m.

Tuesday and city-rival Estancia Thursday.

“If everyone contributes we can beat Estancia,” Naff said.

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