SAN DIEGO —— Sometimes Carlsbad High's girls basketball team doesn't play its summer games with the same rhythm and efficiency that carried the Lancers to the CIF Division I title last winter.

Take Thursday's first-round game in the San Diego Classic, a 33-29 loss to Manhattan Beach Mira Costa that was played at the Alliant International University Sports Center. Carlsbad started slowly, falling behind by double-digits for most of the first half, before rallying for a 29-27 lead late in the second half that didn't stand up down the stretch.

"We're working on our team chemistry," Carlsbad coach Mark Pixley said. "We're not too worried if we win or lose. What we want this time of year is to have good effort the entire game. Sometimes in these tournaments it's hard to get a good rhythm because I'm trying to see who can play and who can't play. It's basically about learning. If we win, great; if we don't, we learn from our mistakes."

But no matter how many wins the Lancers end up with in the San Diego Classic —— a summer tournament for high school, not club teams —— they figure to be ahead of where they were last year when practice begins in November.

Last season, Pixley was the girls junior varsity coach at San Marcos High until three weeks before the season started, when he was hired as Carlsbad's varsity coach. Long-time coach Joe Heath stepped down for health reasons, and Pixley found himself hired the same day he interviewed for the job.

"I had a pretty mature group last year, and they adjusted quickly," Pixley said. "Coach Heath did an excellent job with fundamentals, so it worked pretty well when I put in a new offense and defense."

Carlsbad won the Avocado League title with Lauren Aadland, now on scholarship at the College of William and Mary in Virginia, as their go-to player. But this year the Lancers feel they will need to spread the ball around more to be successful.

Carlsbad returns seven seniors and a tall lineup. Sabrina Gonzalez, a 5-foot-10 guard who is tough to match up with when she rotates to the point, Nikki Boone (5-10), Lindsay Campbell (5-11) and Emily Allen (5-10) all saw time as starters last year.

Boone isn't playing in the San Diego Classic. She is competing out-of-town with her club team this weekend, but that allows Pixley to use more players. He said Allen has been his most improved player since the season ended in March.

"We're working on sharing the ball instead of getting it to one player," Allen said. "We're also working on some new defenses. These summer tournaments are good for getting a new team focus and getting ready for the season."

One major change in the summer under Pixley, 29, a San Marcos elementary school physical education teacher, is he has entered the Lancers in more summer league games and tournaments.

"We're playing a lot of summer basketball," Gonzalez said. "We're working on our team chemistry. I think our biggest advantage is we're very close on and off the court. We're basically starting over compared to last year when we didn't have the coach we have now this time last year."

Pixley's major concern is his team isn't taking advantage of its height.

"We're trying to be better on defense and rebounding," he said. "Rebounding will be a big key to our success or failure this year. We've got good size, but sometimes we don't rebound. We've got to be more aggressive on the offensive and defensive boards."

Down the stretch of Thursday' game, Mira Costa converted two key offensive-rebound baskets.

Carlsbad's second-round game in the tournament is at 1 p.m. today at Grossmont College.

The San Diego Classic is the largest girls tournament of its kind in the nation. Competition for the 348 teams finishes Sunday.