HIGH SCHOOL GIRLS ROUNDUP : Fallbrook Rolls, Gets Poway Next

Fallbrook used an 8-0 run midway through the fourth quarter to power its way to a 59-52 victory over visiting Southwest in a Division I quarterfinal game.

Although Fallbrook was able to outmuscle the smaller Southwest Raiders, the Warriors may find themselves on the receiving end when they play Poway in the semifinals Wednesday at a site to be determined.

“They’re huge,” Fallbrook Coach Gerry Port said of Poway. “We’ll have our work cut out for us.”

And it is a task Fallbrook has faced before. Poway defeated the Warriors twice in Palomar League play, including 49-34 on Feb. 8.

Southwest may not have sized up player to player with Fallbrook, but it was by no means buried by the fourth-seeded Warriors.

Southwest (16-6) kept pace with Fallbrook the entire game. It wasn’t until the 8-0 run that gave Fallbrook a 54-43 lead with 2:45 remaining that the Raiders were put away.

Guard Marcia Jeffries scored six of Fallbrook’s eight points in that span and finished with 18. Michelle Hendricks and Jessica Paris added 12 apiece for Fallbrook (18-7).

“We made a couple of adjustments at halftime to take the inside game away,” Port said. With its inside game erased by a sagging Fallbrook defense, Southwest was forced to shoot from the outside most of the second half. Tameeka Hall scored 11 of her 20 points and Janet Eleazar got 10 of her 12 in the second half.