CHINO HILLS, Ca -- There were lots of good vibes coming from the sparsely attended gymnasium once the finals of the third Lady Husky Tournament concluded on Friday night.
Two of the Inland Empire area’s best teams – Norco and Vista Murrieta – reached the championship game. Crowd-wise, it almost seemed like a junior varsity game.
When Brittney Reed started taking charge in the Lady Mustangs’ 71-51 win over Norco, it was just one of many pieces of evidence that this was no JV game.
Reed’s line – 29 points, 12 rebounds, six assists, three blocks and two steals – while running the game. When the shots went up, it was Reed and teammate Nasrin Ulel crashing the boards.
Throw this in: Vista Murrieta, a seventh-seeded Open division team that beat Mark Keppel-Alhambra in last year’s playoffs before losing to No. 2 seed Long Beach Poly, could be better than its 24-8 season.
Consider that All-Southern Section Open Division pick Jaelyn Brown – Cal Berkeley-bound – is recovering from a knee injury. She probably won’t play until late this season.
Norco (23-10 last season), too, was missing Dalis Jones.
As the likely requirement to test itself for Southern Section title runs – defense – Vista Murrieta threw a blanket over Norco.
“This is big,” Vista Murrieta coach Kurt Ruth said. “We have to play four games in a row. It’s good preparation for the bigger (CIF) tournament we’ll have later in the season.”
During a 6:20 stretch in the second half, however, the Broncos ran off 18 straight points, holding the Cougars scoreless during that span.
“We were,” said Ruth, “a little out of position before that.”?
In the opening stages of the game, he said, “we tried a little too hard and got too emotional.”
Norco’s Lindsay Kilgore, all-tournament guard Naomi Yim, and freshman Anna Babineaux combined to hit five 3-pointers during a 2:25 stretch. It gave the Cougars a 26-15 lead in the early stages of the second quarter.
Ruth noted Yim’s 31-point game earlier in the tournament, the sophomore coming into the game hitting at 18-points-a-game. By contrast, Reed was hitting at 16.1 points.
Said Ruth: “We had our eye on (Yim).”
The Lady Broncos ripped the game open with a frightening defensive assault that started just after Yim drilled a 21-foot three-pointer with 4:47 left in the third quarter, cutting Vista Murrieta’s lead to 45-42.
What happened next was frightening. Ulel, an all-tournament pick, and Reed made almost every point.
Ulel followed in a missed shot, adding a pair of free throws. Reed, meanwhile, took the game over with free throws, dribble drives, a running floater, as well as feeding another all-tournament pick, Keilani Cooper, for a basket.
By the time Babineaux buried a 21-footer from the right corner, Vista Murrieta’s 18-0 run had taken its toll.
It’s also kind of frightening that Brown’s absence didn’t hurt. Last season, she provided 17.9 points, 11.4 rebounds and 4.1 assists.
Ruth, meanwhile, kept Reed (16.2 last season) and Nasrin (10.6 points) in this game without any bench sitting.
“I told Brit and Nasrin we were going to save their legs a little bit earlier in the tournament,” said Ruth, “because we were going to need them tonight.”
With 47 seconds left, he finally pulled both players.
They’d beaten Santiago-Corona (0-3) by 36 points, host Chino Hills (3-2) by 15 and Alta Loma (5-2) by 37 to reach the inevitable final round against Norco (6-1).
As for losing that second rounder to Poly in last year’s Open Division, the Mustangs advanced to the State Tournament, beating Eastlake-Chula Vista by 10 and West Torrance by six before state finalist Serra-Gardena eliminated Vista Murrieta, 71-56.
Just about every important Lady Bronco player has returned in 2015-2016.
Ruth, meanwhile, could be the team’s biggest change. Last year’s coach, Chris Jones, landed a job coaching the boys team at district rival Murrieta Mesa. Ruth, who has served Vista Murrieta as the school’s first-ever boys’ hoops coach, left that post to coach the Mustangs’ baseball team for two seasons.
As boys’ hoops coach, he wasn’t bad – 101 wins over six seasons.
Taking over an elite team like Vista Murrieta’s girls, though, must be done carefully. Vista Murrieta’s girls have reached the Southern California Regional semifinals twice in the past three seasons.
Ruth has served his area well – baseball coach, not only in the high school but also as American Legion coach. He stepped aside in 2012 to spend time with family. Stepping up to take over as Lady Broncos’ hoops coach only reinforces his commitment to Vista Murrieta’s campus.
There was some celebrating at the end. Cooper and Ulel were tabbed all-tournament at the Lady Husky. There should have been no doubt about Reed’s selection as tournament MVP.
Reed was all smiles as she accepted teammates’ hugs, smiles, head pats, verbal “atta-girls,” not to mention the tournament hardware.
It might be fun to see if Loyola-Marymount University, Reed’s college destination, will play Ulel’s future college, Cal State Fullerton. Yes, indeed, on Nov. 17, Fullerton edged LMU, 75-73.
As for Brown, maybe she’ll be around by Jan. 23. That’s the date of the Norco Extravaganza, a one-day showcase that will include plenty of top teams, including a matchup between Vista Murrieta and Valley View-Moreno Valley.
Said Ruth: “This is a good team. We have a lot of basketball left in us.”
