San Clemente Has Its Running Game in Gear

VISTA —  San Clemente guard Debby Caine said she couldn’t tell if the Tritons’ transition game was wearing out Rancho Buena Vista.

“I wasn’t really looking at their faces,” Caine said. “I was too busy running.”

They ended up running second-seeded Rancho Buena Vista right out of its gym. The seventh-seeded Tritons trailed by four points entering the fourth quarter, then put on the after-burners and blew away Buena Vista, 73-56, Tuesday night in the first round of the Division I Southern California girls’ basketball regionals.

Caine scored 13 of her 18 points in the fourth quarter and her running mate Kelly Kruger added 14 points, most on fast-break layups with RBV players still languishing at halfcourt.

“Our transition game was a little too frantic for them,” San Clemente Coach Mary Mulligan said. “They were taking a lot of off-balance shots, leaving themselves out of position. I told our kids to keep running and running and running.”

If the Tritons’ fast break didn’t lead to a layup, it usually resulted in an open jump shot.

“They’re used to a slower paced game down here,” Caine said. “With our steals, rebounds and outlet passes, there was nothing they could do.”

Rancho Buena Vista (24-3), the San Diego Section champion, appeared to be in control entering the fourth quarter. Forward Eisha Bohman, who has signed with Colorado, gave RBV a lift with a last-second three-pointer, putting the Longhorns ahead, 49-45. But RBV went scoreless for the next six minutes, while San Clemente was scoring 15 points.

“I don’t know what happened,” RBV Coach Kathy George said.

Bohman, who led all scorers with 22 points, had only a meaningless three-pointer and a free throw in the fourth quarter.

“They were really frustrated in the fourth quarter,” Mulligan said. “We put three players on Eisha.”

The surprise star for San Clemente (27-5) was center Marissa Ficklin, who scored 17 points, more than doubling her average. Ficklin was hot from everywhere, hitting open 15-foot-jumpers, runners in the lane and twisting lay ups.

“I’ve seen her play a lot and she doesn’t hit those shots normally,” George said. “She came in tonight and she really, really hurt us.”