Mesa wants full game

Everything that Coach Jim Weeks imagined could’ve gone wrong for Costa Mesa High did in the first half Saturday.

The Mustangs were on their way to missing their first 14 three-pointers and the defensive lapses frustrated Weeks during the second round of the CIF Southern Section Division IV-AA playoffs against La Quinta.

But Costa Mesa survived to beat La Quinta, 65-56. And Weeks is happy about that as the No. 3-seeded Mustangs play at No. 11 Fairmont Prep of Anaheim in the quarterfinals tonight at 7:30.

“The first half was really tough, because we weren’t focused at all, our defense was pretty weak,” Weeks said. “But we corrected those problems.”

Seeing Costa Mesa (18-10) go on two spurts in the second half helped the Mustangs advance to the quarterfinals for the first time since 2001.

Fairmont Prep (17-11), the San Joaquin League’s third-place team, could pose problems for the Orange Coast League champ.

Like La Quinta had in 5-foot-11 junior center Yesenia Gomez, Fairmont Prep has a low-post force in 5-9 sophomore Jordan Esparza. She’s averaging 15.8 points and 10.4 rebounds per game.

Gomez was plagued by foul trouble against Mesa, but still managed to finish with 16 points on seven-for-eight shooting. Weeks’ plan is to neutralize Esparza with 6-foot junior center Jasmine Werdel.

The Mustangs will also need to slow down the Huskies’ top shooter, Liz Thai. The senior guard is averaging 22.6 points per game and 2.9 steals per game. Amy Gentling and Miriah Malapira will most likely guard Thai.