San Clemente girls basketball team gets some revenge with 67-62 victory over Uni at South Coast Classic

University’s Malia Goldsmith is defended by San Clemente’s Jolie Johnson (left) Monday night.

A motivated San Clemente girls basketball team got a little revenge against University Tuesday night in the opening round of the South Coast Classic at University.

A couple weeks ago, University defeated San Clemente 54-40 to capture the championship of the Norco Tournament.

But Monday night, the Tritons captured a 67-62 victory over University behind strong performances by Ella Gardiner (19 points), Jolie Johnson (17 points) and Theresa DeGree (11 points).

“They’re a fabulous team, they’re well coached, they have great players and it’s always a challenge to play them,” said San Clemente Coach Kerri Husbands of University.

“We were really focused and we had a good week of practice. We were really determined to come out here and have a better game than the last time we played them.”

San Clemente held a 37-29 lead at halftime, but University (4-1) got untracked in the third quarter, outscoring San Clemente 20-13 to get back into it.

University’s Claire Kawata sank a 3-pointer at the close of the third quarter to cut the lead to 50-49 going into the final stanza.

But San Clemente moved out to a 57-51 lead on a 3-pointer by Kylie Krebs and held on for the win.

Goldsmith had 23 points and Kawata 21 points for University.

University is back in action Tuesday night at 6:30 p.m. against Box Hill SCC of Australia while San Clemente plays Huntington Beach Wednesday at 6:30 p.m.

FULL SCHEDULE FOR THIS WEEK’S SOUTH COAST CLASSIC