MISSION VIEJO – It came suddenly, like a bolt out of the blue, about midway through the first quarter.
Trabuco Hills, playing host to fourth-seeded Oxnard, was locked in a tie score. Neither team looked sharp yet, and the youth of each program was on full display.
Then it happened. Three straight 3-point baskets from three different players on three consecutive possessions by Oxnard. Three shots, nine points, followed by a putback by a fourth player for an 11-0 run that gave the Yellowjackets a lead they would never relinquish.
It played a critical role in a 64-53 victory over a Trabuco Hills program that was playing its first-ever CIF-SS quarterfinal, according to coach Calvin Mackey.
Oxnard (21-11) is making its run though the Division 3 playoffs the hard way – on the road.
The Yellowjackets won their second-round game at Aliso Niguel, 37-34, and will play its semifinal at Murrieta Valley on Saturday. That’s a lot of miles, but the long drive home is a lot easier after a win.
Trabuco Hills finished the season 23-5.
Mackey downplayed the 11-0 run by Oxnard in the first quarter.
“I wouldn’t say that decided the game,” he said. “Our lack of execution on offense definitely decided the game, and second efforts and rebounding were also struggles that we had.”
If the first quarter barrage didn’t decide the game, it gave Oxnard enough margin for error to withstand a late Trabuco Hills rally.
Oxnard led at halftime, 33-27, and by as many as 12 points, 44-32, with 3:31 left in the third quarter before Trabuco Hills mounted its comeback effort.
Down 51-41 entering the last eight minutes, Trabuco’s defensive pressure stoked a 12-4 run.
Elizabeth Tapper, who scored a team-high 13 for Trabuco Hills, made a layup with 4:10 remaining to pull her team within 55-53.
But coming out of an Oxnard timeout, Becerra knocked down a 3-pointer. A steal led to Angell’s coast-to-coast layup at 3:30 for a 60-53 advantage, and Trabuco Hills went 0 for 5 shooting the rest of the way.
“We like to push the ball in transition and get fast layups and 3s, but the game plan was to focus on defense, focus on getting stops,” said Mustangs senior Kelsie Wong, one of two senior starters for the team. “We like to play defense, we like to be aggressive. I think that’s what helped a lot of our success. That was mainly the game plan.
“Not executing the game plan is what really hurt us.”
Senior Sam Rynders scored nine and freshman Melika Gharavi scored eight for the Mustangs, who were 4 of 15 from the field in the first quarter and 17 of 29 the rest of the way.
Gia Angell scored 23 points for Oxnard and Jenika Becerra came off the bench and scored a career-high 17.
Becerra’s performance had to have caught Trabuco off guard. She had been out for eight games with an ankle injury before returning to action for a few minutes against Aliso Niguel.
“That first quarter, girls hitting shots, getting confidence, realizing they can play, that was our concern coming in,” Oxnard coach David Guenther said. “With a young team, how much can we ride this wave? Closing out the quarter with an 11-0 run, going into the second quarter, I felt they were ready to go.”