Cypress Girls’ Basketball : Mission Viejo Puts Away Mater Dei

Kristen Okura scored 16 points and Tina Ranker added 14 points and 13 assists to lead Mission Viejo High School to a 54-41 victory over Mater Dei Friday night in the final of the Cypress girls’ basketball tournament.

Okura, who was named the tournament’s most valuable player, scored 14 of her points in the first half as the Diablos (10-0) built a 25-18 halftime lead. Mission Viejo, which also got 13 points and 10 rebounds from Derrie Nauta, led at the end of the third quarter, 38-28.

Then Mater Dei, playing without two injured starters, Kelly O’Brien (back) and Janet Austin (knee), outscored the Diablos, 8-2, in the first 4 minutes of the fourth quarter to narrow the Mission Viejo lead to 40-36.

Enter Jennifer Rohring.

The 6-foot-2-inch Rohring, who wasn’t expected to play Friday because of a migraine headache, was inserted into the Diablo lineup and her inside play proved instrumental as Mission Viejo scored 8 consecutive points to put the game out of reach.

Rohring, who didn’t show up until early in the second half, scored both her baskets during the Mission Viejo spurt.

“When I left for Cypress, I wasn’t even sure that she was even going to be there,” said Steve Asay, Mission Viejo coach. “I really appreciated the fact that Jennifer showed up and played, but I thought that we could have won the game without her. The kids who played the first 28 minutes without her showed a lot of character out there, and they deserve a lot of credit.”

Said Mater Dei Coach Brenda Yecke: “Rohring’s late-game presence did have an effect, but the fact was that they outplayed us throughout the game even without her.

“We have no excuses to offer. We had to pressure them defensively if we were to have a chance to beat them, but we didn’t get the job done.”

Okura, who played center in Rohring’s absence, asserted herself early as she scored 6 of her points in the first 4 minutes of the game, helping Mission Viejo to an 8-0 lead.

Mater Dei then outscored Mission Viejo, 10-4, in the quarter’s last 3 minutes to narrow the Diablo lead to 12-10 at period’s end.

Ranker scored 5 of her points in the second period while Okura and Nauta added 4 each as Mission Viejo outscored the Monarchs, 13-8, in the quarter to take a 25-18 lead.

Mary McCarthy, who scored 10 points in the second half, led Mater Dei with 16 points. Teammate Melissa McDonald added 13.

In the third-place game:

Marina 55, Cypress 44--Melisa Sortino scored 19 points and grabbed 8 rebounds and Allison Krause added 14 points and 5 assists to lead the Vikings (9-2). Erika Manning paced Cypress (7-4) with 19 points.

In the fifth-place game:

Ocean View 57, Woodbridge 37--Fabiola Nunez scored 19 points and Cossette Smith and Jenny Sullivan added 10 each to lead Ocean View (9-2). Woodbridge (8-4) was led by Leslie Rathbun, who scored 14 points.

In the consolation final:

Los Alamitos 48, Cerritos 46--Allison Arredondo scored 7 of her 20 points in the fourth quarter as Los Alamitos held off a late Cerritos rally. Kim Engel added 14 points for Los Alamitos. Cerritos was led by Shannon Haraga, who scored 14 points.