HUNTINGTON BEACH – The opportunity to knock off a marquee county opponent presented itself just 11 days ago when Aliso Niguel welcomed Orange Lutheran on campus for a nonleague showdown.
A week and a half after squandering a fourth-quarter lead to the two-time defending CIF champ Lancers, the Wolverines still couldn’t help but feel like they wasted a prime opportunity to solidify themselves as one of the area’s top squads.
Fortunately for Aliso Niguel, it earned a second crack at Orange Lutheran on Wednesday night and ultimately accomplished what it previously failed to do.
After building a healthy 22-point lead in the second quarter, it took a handful of timely defensive stops in crunch time for Aliso Niguel to fend off a late Lancers onslaught and preserve a 48-46 victory in the semifinals of the Larry Doyle/Dan Wiley O.C. Tournament of Champions at Edison High.
The Wolverines (9-3) will play Long Beach Millikan at 7:30 p.m. on Thursday in the championship. Orange Lutheran (11-3) will play Sonora in the third-place game at 6 p.m.
“The good thing is the girls overcame so much adversity,” Aliso Niguel coach Lindsey Sundin said. “We built that huge lead, which was a nice bumper, and we never lost it. It was almost the same thing when we played them two weeks ago, but we were able to hang on this time around. Just so proud of these girls.”
With junior point guard Madelyn Brauer pushing all the right buttons and running an efficient offense in the first half, the Wolverines built up a 27-5 advantage with four minutes to play before the intermission. The Lancers made just two of their first 22 attempts in the opening 12 minutes, but closed out the half on an 11-3 run to stay within striking distance at 30-16.
Orange Lutheran senior guard Jessi Matson scored 12 of her game-high 17 after the break. The Lancers trailed by seven going into the fourth, and twice cut the deficit to a single point in the fourth, ramping up their defensive intensity which led to a handful of transition buckets.
The Lancers had a total of seven possessions in the final 3:30 of play in which they could have taken the lead, but the Wolverines drew stops on every occasion.
Brauer finished with a team-high 14 and Charlotte Vurgun added 13. Both sank late free throws to send Aliso into Thursday night’s final.
Also in the O.C. Tournament of Champions:
Long Beach Millikan 61, Sonora 35: The Raiders had no answer for Rams 6-foot-4 center Tyler Frierson, who scored 19 of her game-high 25 points in the first half. Sonora will play Orange Lutheran on Thursday in a rematch of last season’s CIF-SS Division 3AA championship game.
Contact the writer: kconnolly@scng.com
