Division I Girls : Point Loma Uses Its Defense to Solve Lynwood’s Pressure

Point Loma High School did what no other girls’ basketball team in either the Southern Section or the Southern Regional playoffs could do--solve Lynwood’s swarming defense.

Point Loma’s antidote was defense. The Pointers threw the Knights off balance just enough at the right times to record a 53-50 Southern Regional final victory Saturday night at the Sports Arena.

Point Loma advances to the State final against Sacramento Grant, the Northern Regional winner, Saturday at Oakland.

As had been the case in Lynwood’s upset victories over Ventura Buena and Pasadena Muir in the Southern Section 4-A playoffs, the Knights’ scrappy defense and quickness made up for their lack of height against one of the taller teams they had played.

Michelle Collum was not only the Pointers’ best player on defense, she also was their best on offense.

Collum hounded Lynwood’s speedy guard Trise Jackson and still managed to score a game-high 19 points.

“They were a very, very, very fast team,” Collum said. “That girl I was guarding (Jackson) was just like a bullet.”

Jackson, a 5-foot 8-inch sophomore, had a team-high 14 points. But Collum, a 6-0 senior forward, held her scoring in check early on when Point Loma (30-1) led by as many as 10 in the first half.

When Jackson made a layup and Antoinette White hit a short jumper, the Knights trailed, 48-46, with fewer than three minutes to play.

The Pointers held off every Lynwood charge in the final minutes, however. And with Point Loma leading, 53-50, underdog Lynwood’s improbable run through the playoffs ended on an improbable play.

It happened with 21 seconds left when Kim Bivins, who is the only Lynwood player taller than 6-feet, on the free-throw line with a one-and-one opportunity.

Point Loma’s Liza Carrillo and Lynwood’s Anita Martinez leaned a little too far into the key as Bivins prepared for her free throw. Martinez took a nose dive into the key: lane violation, ball to Point Loma.