Setong Catholic girls basketball coach Karen Self doesn't hide from competition no matter her roster. The benefit of playing in the Highland Thanksgiving Tournament and the NIke Tournament of Champions the last several years has brought its share of losses, but invaluable experience to her teams -- state champions or not.

One of the those learning experiences was absorbed Monday morning as Mission Bay, Calif. used its athleticism and transition game to defeat Seton, 53-22, in the opening day of play at the 16th Nike TOC at San Tan Junior High in Chandler.

Seton, which dropped to 9-4 with the lopsided loss, met a very athletic Mission Bay squad (4-2). Mission Bay recently competed and held its own in the La Jolla Sweet Sixteen Tournament that featured a top-notch field. Seton couldn't match up athletically with Mission Bay. So Self explained the best way to compete in this one would play a half-court game. That didn't happen, at; least not often enough.

"We felt like we would be best if we could keep them in a half-court set," Self said. "We got them in that situation for awhile. We did a good job and ai thought held our own. But they had too many opportunities in transition We're not good enough offensively to overcome 6-0 or 8-0 runs like they got in this game."

Seton committed 17 turnovers in the first half and 12 more in the third period. Mission Bay didn't shoot well from the field for the day, but most of the baskets it did connect on were layups either directlly off steals or in transition Twenty of Mission Bay's 24 field goals were from eight feet or less.

"Our game is transition," Mission Bay coach Sa'de Wiley-Gatewood said. "We thought coming out we could pressure and get some steals and easy baskets. We'd just as soon not have to run a play."

Seton's top scorer, sophomore post Julia Barcello, was bottled up all game. With two strong inside defenders in Yusra Graham and Onjalise Hilliard often in the paint, Barcello had trouble  taking the ball to the basket. Tougher than that was getting her the ball to begin with due to pressure exerted by guards Briteesha Solomon, Keyahndra Cannon and Briajunae Shepard. That trio garnered most of the steals and combined for 35 of Mission Bay's 53 points. Barcello finished with two points. Guard Susan Spinner led Seton with six points.

"These are games and teams we want to play," Self said. "That's why were here. We could go to other tournaments, but not get  the competition we get here. The idea is to get better. Even if we take our lumps, it's of benefit to us."