Just weeks before the season began, Scripps Ranch High School\u2019s girls basketball team was dealt a serious blow.<\/p>\n
Senior Clare Valentine, bound for Idaho State, a second-team All-CIF player as a junior when she averaged 19.9 points, underwent shoulder surgery and was lost for the season.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe were shocked,\u201d said 6-foot-2 senior Katrina Purcell. \u201cWe didn\u2019t know what to expect.\u201d<\/p>\n
Added sophomore Marissa Antonio: \u201cWe were all shocked.\u201d<\/p>\n
After a sluggish 1-4 start, the Falcons have gathered themselves and are now on a roll.<\/p>\n
Scripps Ranch opened Western League play Friday night at Morse and dealt the Tigers a 45-33 loss.<\/p>\n
It was the Falcons\u2019 ninth win in the last 10 games as the visitors improved to 11-6. Morse dropped to 9-8. The Tigers have lost five of six.<\/p>\n
The key to Scripps Ranch\u2019s run has been a spread-the-wealth, balanced attack. Six different players have led the team in scoring this season. The Falcons came into the Morse game with only one player, senior Averie Bristow, scoring in double figures; she averaged 10.7 points pregame. But three others averaged 7.1, 7.4 and 9.5 points per game.<\/p>\n
\u201cAny night, one can go off,\u201d said head coach Roger DiCarlo, in his first season as the Falcons\u2019 head coach after coaching at San Marcos for 20 years.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe don\u2019t have one superstar now. It\u2019s a team,\u201d said Purcell. \u201cIt doesn\u2019t matter if it\u2019s a freshman or senior or whoever. We all just believe in each other.\u201d<\/p>\n
Against Morse, sophomore guard Marissa Antonio carried the heavy scoring load, scoring 14 points. Bristow and freshman Maxine Long both scored nine.<\/p>\n
The first half was not an offensive clinic. Scripps Ranch led 17-9. Both teams committed 14 turnovers.<\/p>\n
In the third quarter, Scripps built its biggest lead of the night at 30-16. With 4:32 to play in the fourth quarter, Morse pulled to within six, 32-26.<\/p>\n
Scripps, though, didn\u2019t panic. First, sophomore Esme Martinez hit a 3 from the corner. Next trip down the floor, freshman Alex Hare dropped a 3 from the wing. The lead was up to 12 and Morse would get no closer than nine.<\/p>\n
\u201cMe, personally,\u201d said Purcell, \u201cI\u2019m mature enough that I don\u2019t get too panicked in those moments. I feel we\u2019ll settle down, keep doing our plays, keep moving the ball, trust our shots will go in.\u201d<\/p>\n
Purcell is an inside presence. She grabbed seven rebounds against Morse, scored four points and recorded four blocks. She came in averaging a section-leading 4.3 blocks.<\/p>\n
\u201cI have a long wingspan to start,\u201d said Purcell. \u201cI played volleyball for two years, that helps. And I have good timing.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI think they\u2019re playing with more confidence,\u201d said DiCarlo. \u201cThe truth is, this is a very young team. (Two sophomores and two freshmen see significant playing time.) Earlier in the year we would have lost a game like this.\u201d<\/p>\n
Junior Khamyah Rockett scored 20 of Morse\u2019s 33 points.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Just weeks before the season began, Scripps Ranch High School\u2019s girls basketball team was dealt a serious blow.…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":505336,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5134],"tags":[5229,1582,276,3102,1370,3549,7264,62,67,586,132,5230,68,2969],"class_list":{"0":"post-505335","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-san-diego","8":"tag-america","9":"tag-ca","10":"tag-california","11":"tag-high-school-sports","12":"tag-latest-headlines","13":"tag-san-diego","14":"tag-sandiego","15":"tag-sports","16":"tag-united-states","17":"tag-united-states-of-america","18":"tag-unitedstates","19":"tag-unitedstatesofamerica","20":"tag-us","21":"tag-usa"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/115868939405255896","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/505335","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=505335"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/505335\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/505336"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=505335"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=505335"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=505335"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}