San Clemente Overcomes Errors, Cougars

Fourth-ranked San Clemente overcame early mistakes, then capitalized on late errors by Capistrano Valley to defeat the host Cougars, 49-45, in a South Coast League girls’ basketball opener Thursday night.

Sarah Flanagan hit a three-pointer with 2 minutes 10 seconds to play for the Cougars, cutting the Tritons’ lead to one, 43-42.

San Clemente (12-2, 1-0) extended the lead to 46-43 before the wheels fell off for the Cougars.

Back-to-back turnovers, on a five-second violation and a bad pass, hurt the Cougars (10-5, 0-1), and San Clemente’s Cassie Kruger sank two free throws with 19 seconds left to put the game out of reach.

Kruger’s free throws were well-timed. As a team, San Clemente was only six of 17 from the line.

Whitney Jones led all scorers with 14 points and Kristin Jenkins had 13 for the Tritons.

Flanagan and Jessica Voisard each finished with 13 for the Cougars.

The Tritons applied an effective full-court press in the first quarter, but they also committed 10 turnovers. As a result, they fell behind, 18-10, midway through the second quarter, even though they had Capistrano Valley handcuffed on its side of the court.

“That happens to us sometimes,” San Clemente Coach Mary Mulligan said. “Almost every game we have a scoring drought. But we’re a team that plays good defense.”