Girls basketball: Mesa puts in a full day

Barry Faulkner

CYPRESS - While most folks knocked off early Friday, eager to begin

their extended holiday weekend, Costa Mesa High’s girls basketball

players prolonged their work day well into the evening.

And the Mustangs seemed to enjoy every minute of a 64-36 win over

Fontana in an Artesia Tournament consolation semifinal at Cypress High.

The win propelled Mesa (6-4) into today’s 2:10 p.m. consolation

championship game against Gahr at Artesia High. The Mustangs lost to

Gahr, 67-65, in overtime earlier this year.

But the only overtime to consider Friday was the relentless effort by

Coach Jim Weeks’ Mustangs, who outscored the Steelers (3-10) in every

quarter, breaking open a 33-25 lead midway through the third period to

initiate their third one-sided triumph in a row.

“The one thing this team has is intensity, which makes it really fun,”

Weeks said. “What I liked most tonight was our consistency. We played

hard in every quarter.”

Even wholesale substitutions failed to slow Mesa’s defensive

dominance, as its inspired man-to-man pressure forced 21 turnovers and

limited Fohi to 28% shooting from the field (13 of 47).

Senior guard Leigh Marshall, Mesa’s emotional energizer, scored a

game-high 14 points, hitting 5 of 9 field-goal attempts and all four foul

shots.

Senior point guard Nancy Hatsushi added 13 points and eight assists,

while Laura Muniz and Rhondi Naff came off the bench to chip in 11 and 10

points, respectively. Muniz, another senior, collected a team-high seven

rebounds.

Junior reserve Christina Ponchar netted her first varsity field goal

to help the Mustangs put together a 13-3 run in the final 6:19.

Senior Miranda Cooper (four points and two steals) and junior Lauren

Carich (six boards and two points) also added a spark off the bench for

Mesa.

ARTESIA TOURNAMENT

Consolation semifinal

Costa Mesa 64, Fontana 36

Score by Quarters

Fontana 11 10 10 5 - 36

Costa Mesa 17 14 16 17 - 64

Fontana - Allen 17, Cozine 8, Mack 6, Smith 2, Debose 2, Avila 1.

3-pt. goals - Allen 1.

Fouled out - None.

Technicals - None.

Costa Mesa - Marshall 14, Hatsushi 13, Muniz 11, Naff 10, Trejo 4,

Caron 4, Cooper 4, Carich 2, Ponchar 2, Lazos 0, Bello 0, Le 0.

3-pt. goals - Hatsushi 1.

Fouled out - None.

Technicals - None.