SANTA ANA – On the back of its T-shirts, the La Jolla Country Day girls basketball team has a slogan:
“Go hard or go home.”
The Torreys went hard, never letting up against Los Angeles Marlborough yesterday in the Southern California Regional Division IV championships at Mater Dei High, and because of it, they aren't going home.
Instead, LJCD is headed to Sacramento after an impressive 69-53 victory. They will play Vallejo St. Patrick/St. Vincent for the state title Friday at 3:30.
“We know what it takes to win state; we're ready,” said Arizona State-bound 6-foot-3 center Janae Fulcher, who scored 17 points, pulled down eight rebounds and played intelligently after collecting her third foul midway through the second quarter.
“It's a team thing, not a senior thing. The entire squad is ready to contribute like tonight.”
They're going to state for the first time since 2004 as a determined, experienced and very focused group. It was just one year ago that LJCD went into the fourth quarter against the same Mustangs with a four-point lead, got outscored by 11 and watched as Marlborough grabbed its awards before rolling to the state title the next week.
“We watched that game on tape Friday,” said LJCD coach Terri Bamford, whose club had lost to three different teams at this stage of the state playoffs in the past three years.
“The players were very determined; they said they had to win this time. They saw how Nikki Speed took over the game. Chelsea (Burns) did a great job on Speed.”
After scoring 19 points in last year's game, 11 in the final quarter, Speed was frustrated by the blanket defense of Burns, who held her to just six points on 3-of-7 shooting. The befuddled Speed fouled out with 4:55 remaining.
Burns, in turn, tossed in 12, two more than Marlborough's leading scorer, Dominique Chen.
The Torreys gained control early and by the time the fourth quarter came around, Marlborough was down by 11 points, which quickly expanded to 16 and then 19 before LJCD cruised in a foul-plagued final eight minutes.
“They set the tone early and it's hard to come back when you go down against a good team like that,” said Marlborough coach Trenton Jackson.
It seemed every time the Mustangs (23-10) made a surge, USD-bound Dominique Conners was there to quell the rally. Conners hit 5-of-8 from the field and converted 10-of-16 free throws for 20 points to lead all scorers and added 10 rebounds.
LJCD (26-5), ranked No. 1 in the state in Division IV, showed the composure of a champion as it sank 16 free throws and scored 26 points in the fourth quarter.
“We have six seniors who really want to win state,” said Bamford. “I can call a timeout and make an adjustment. After playing together for four years, they knew what we wanted.”
What they really want is to hoist a championship trophy next week in Sacramento's Arco Arena.
Steve Brand: (619) 293-1854; steve.brand@uniontrib.com
