Borba scores 4 goals, but Miner-powered West wins

By the middle of the second quarter of Monday’s Tulare-Kings All-Star girls’ water polo game, East coach Richard Taylor called timeout.

It probably wasn’t to discuss strategies because all 14 girls from both squads rushed to the sides and clung to the walls to catch their breaths.

“I was dying after the first quarter,” Monache’s lone All-Star representative, Elyse Borba, said.

That’s no surprise considering the last time any of them had played was late November.

With an extra reserve on the sidelines, the West outlasted an East squad made up of Orange Belters from Porterville up to Exeter, 10-7.

Still, Borba felt her team put up a fight in a pace that slowed progressively throughout the game, causing officials to shorten the length from six-minute quarters to five minutes in the second half.

“We only had two or three practices and I thought we still did really good,” said Borba. “We said, ‘Let’s just play our best and see what happens.’ Everyone was phenomenal.”

Borba tied West’s Brittani Marquez for game-high scoring honors with four goals and, as a result, earned the East’s MVP award that was simply icing on the cake for her.

“I wasn’t expecting that (award) and I thought it was a great way to finish my high school career,” she said. “It was an awesome experience.”

The recent Marauder graduate quickly scored the game’s first goal in less than two minutes after shoving in a missed shot from teammate and Exeter All-Star Shelbey Kleinhans.

But the West, a team made up entirely of Division II Valley champions El Diamante and one Redwood player — Kyra Muhs, responded with three straight goals to take a 3-1 lead at period’s end.

“I wish we’d had more girls from other schools,” said El Diamante coach Jon Conrad, who guided the West girls to victory in his first All-Star game, “but it was great to coach these girls again.”

Conrad admitted his team’s familiarity with him and the Miners’ playbook posed a significant advantage over the East.

“Absolutely,” he said. “They already knew me and I was able to run some plays at the end that they all knew.”

Kleinhans and Porterville’s Ally Whiteman each scored in the second period to close the gap to 4-3, but El Diamante’s Tiffany Norys squeezed in a final goal to make it 5-3 at the half.

Borba showed little sign of slowing down in the third quarter, however as she scored two more — one from the 2-meter hole and another off the rebound — and nearly scored a third to open the quarter. Borba had beaten the field for a pass that landed between her and West goalkeeper Libby Falat, who fouled Borba as they both raced to the ball. But the Marauder would miss the ensuing penalty shot, which was blocked by the 6-foot-2 Falat, an All-American second-teamer.

Porterville’s Kimber Methvin, who was named to the All-America third team, scored her lone goal — a rocket from 11 meters with five seconds left in the third.

When Borba, who will attend Willow Internation in Fresno but hopes to walk on with Fresno State’s club polo team, scored her fourth goal off Methvin’s miss in the final quarter, the West was already up 10-6 and the game was all but out of hand.

“What a great opportunity to honor the seniors one last time,” Conrad said. “I’m proud of all of them and I’m already looking forward to making it happen again next year.”