Rancho Alamitos Holds Off Morningside to Advance

GARDEN GROVE — Rancho Alamitos fell behind early, but relied on its defense in the second half to defeat Inglewood Morningside, 86-78, in the Southern California Regional playoffs Thursday night at Rancho Alamitos.

Rancho Alamitos will face Brea-Olinda at 9 a.m. Saturday at the L.A. Sports Arena.

Although the Vaqueros (23-2) scored first, they were held scoreless for the next six minutes, while Morningside built a 13-2 lead. With 3 minutes 42 seconds left in the second quarter, Rancho Alamitos was behind, 32-21. But three steals and five layups later, Rancho Alamitos had closed the gap to one, holding Morningside (18-11) scoreless for almost three minutes.

With Morningside holding a 38-34 halftime lead, Coach Bob Becker said he didn’t need to motivate his team, just switch his defense to a triangle-and-two.

“I didn’t have to say much,” he said. “They know they deserve to be here. They had me scared at the beginning--I think we were intimidated.”

The defense allowed Rancho Alamitos to contain Morningside forward Tina Thompson and guard Kameisha Prewitt, holding Prewitt to only six second-half points. And while Thompson pulled down 19 rebounds, it was short of her season-high 29.

Leading by as much as 12 in the fourth quarter, Rancho Alamitos allowed Morningside to tie, 78-78, with 2:38 left in the game. But the Vaqueros went on an eight-point run and eliminated the Monarchs’ chances for a comeback.

Point guard Shannon James contributed eight steals to Rancho Alamitos’ total of 24, and hit five three-pointers, three in the second half. She and center Anita Stecker led the Vaqueros with 21 points each.

The two teams combined to make 17 three-pointers, 10 by Morningside.