PREP GIRLS BASKETBALL: No Classic effort by Poway in tournament

By TOM SHANAHAN - For the North County Times | Friday, July 18, 2008 12:16 AM PDT ∞

SAN DIEGO ---- Jay Trousdale, standing with his head bowed, described the feeling as "déjà vu all over again."

The Poway High girls basketball coach considers the first game of the San Diego Classic to be the most important of the summer. He wants a victory to set a positive tone and send his team into the winners' side of pool play to face competition against the best teams.

But for the second straight year, Poway didn't look like one of San Diego's top teams, as the Titans are projected to be again this winter after winning the CIF San Diego Section Division I title last season.

The Titans fell to St. Joseph's of Santa Maria 48-33 Thursday at UC San Diego on the first day of the 22nd annual San Diego Classic.

"I'm very upset with the way we played," Trousdale said. "Where do I start? I'm not happy with the offense. We didn't shoot well. That's the first time we've struggled against a matchup-zone defense. Usually that's no problem for us. The girls need to play like basketball players."

Poway played without two returning starters: Katie Kuklok, a 5-foot-8 sophomore guard/forward, and Mariah Horvath, a 5-10 junior post player. Kuklok is recovering from a torn ACL suffered while playing for Poway's girls lacrosse team last spring. Horvath is taking a break from basketball this summer.

But Trousdale wasn't accepting excuses.

"We made it to the championship game of a tournament last week," he said, referring to a runner-up finish at an event in Ojai.

The San Diego Classic, with 328 teams this year, is the largest girls basketball tournament in the nation involving high school teams as opposed to travel ball teams. It's a good gauge for a coach to measure his team against far-flung competition.

But the only encouraging sign Trousdale saw was the play of Callie Rhoads, a 5-9 junior. She was Poway's only player in double figures with 19 points.

"She's really stepped up her game this summer," said Trousdale, who is entering his 22nd season as the Titans' coach. "She has a good feel for the game. She is going to do a lot of good things for us next year."

Poway kept pace with St. Joseph's at the start and took a 14-12 lead on a basket by Rhoads with 6:15 left in the first half (the games are two 20-minutes halves with a running clock).

But when Katie Holiday, a 5-10 junior, went to the bench with her third foul with 5:30 remaining, the Titans were outscored 13-5 the rest of the half to trail 27-19. Then, St. Joseph's put together an 8-0 run early in the second half.

The San Diego Classic continues this weekend at sites throughout the county. Check the San Diego Classic Web site at www.sandiegoclassic.com for more information.

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